Pat Duarte is president and chief executive officer of Kahala Senior Living Community Inc., which operates the Kahala Nui retirement community.

Q. Is there a great demand for services like those offered at Kahala Nui?

A. The communities that are existing in Honolulu right now are all at pretty much full capacity. There may be a few openings here and there, but they've all been pretty busy. There are a couple of new facilities that are coming up, and those seem to be progressing pretty well. It is an industry that is growing. The need is certainly there. We have an aging population and eventually people will need some type of independent living accommodations where they may need some assistance as well.

Q. You've worked at a lot of nonprofits, but you have to run them like a business. What's your business philosophy?

A. Certainly my business philosophy would be influenced by the type of organization I'm in. In most of the organizations, we certainly put the customers first. We want to make sure that we take good care of the stakeholders, our customers, our clients, and fulfilling our mission. But also we have to balance the financial aspects of the business as well, so we need to consistently stay in a good operating condition financially because unless you can succeed financially, you'll never be able to deliver the services and fulfill your mission.

Q. What other challenges do you and your industry face?

A. One of the biggest challenges is there certainly are needs out there, but we need to meet those needs in a way that is within the financial reach of the majority of the people that need the services. The real challenge is we can provide the service, people know how to do it, the expertise is there, but it's very costly to do. To be able to do it in a way that's affordable is the biggest challenge that we face.

Q. What are some of the solutions to providing affordable care?

A. It's going to take cooperation from a lot of different people. If the financing is made available so that it would be less costly to develop the communities, that would help. Regulations, depending on how they're set up, would influence the cost of operating the communities. In some cases, there may be a need for some subsidies from the government. Contributions from organizations and foundations that are able to do so would certainly help. I don't think it's one thing. There are a lot of things that have to come into play in order to make the services affordable.

Q. You have an extensive business background. Why did you choose to work at Kahala Nui?

A. It was something that I really was attracted to. I was recruited for the position, but when I heard about it I was very interested because I have a background in healthcare and had been working very closely with senior communities for a long time and it was something that I certainly enjoyed. I had an opportunity to do some work in the continuing care retirement community industry and did some research and was very impressed with what I found. I've always felt that this was an excellent model for retirement living.

Q. How long have you been with Kahala Nui?

A. I've been here about four months.

Q. You were with the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Bishop Museum, Hawaii Dental Service and other large nonprofit organizations?

A. After leaving the healthcare industry, I took a little bit of a detour and got involved in some very interesting organizations. They're all not-for-profit organizations, and that was something that I enjoyed doing.

Q. Why the nonprofits?

A. I like the nonprofit environment because for the most part they're mission-driven and they're measured not so much in how much money they make, but in terms of what they do for the community. It's something that you feel good doing and it's not just for the monetary rewards, but it's for the value that you contribute to the community as a whole.

Q. How challenging is it to raise funds?

A. It always is. Like they always say, you can't fulfill your mission unless you generate some money. So you definitely have to run it like a business. But again you're not just looking at the financial bottom line, you're looking at what services you're providing to the community.

Q. Is raising funds different for each organization?

A. Yes, very much so. Some nonprofit organizations depend on a lot of contributions and others will work on contracts with the government, contracts from private businesses and some like hospitals will deal with insurance companies, and deal with the government a lot too. So, yes, it's very different from organization to organization.

Q. What's the primary source of funds at Kahala Nui?

A. At Kahala Nui, being a continuing care retirement community, our residents pay an entrance fee and they also pay a monthly fee. So that's our primary source of revenue.

Q. How many units are there?

A. We have 270 independent-living units. These are apartments where individuals can live on their own. The apartments are one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units. We also have a health center where we have assisted-living units. We have about 60 assisted-living units, and about 22 of those are memory support units for people with dementia or Alzheimer's. And we have another 60 units for skilled nursing. We provide several different levels of care, so that's why we're called a continuing care retirement community.

Q. Are you still involved with other nonprofit community organizations?

A. I've been quite involved with Aloha United Way, probably for more than 25 years now. I've been involved in its community building committee, which handles the allocation of the funds that are raised by Aloha United Way. I'm also involved with an organization called Mental Health Kokua, which is a nonprofit that provides a continuum of services, mostly residential services to individuals with mental illness. That's another organization that I've been involved with for about 12 years. It's very important to support the community in whatever way you can. Every business should give back to the community, whether they're a nonprofit or for-profit. This is our community and we need to take care of each other. We need to help each other, and a lot of these nonprofit organizations are the ones that are actually doing the work. They're providing the safety net to the community and by volunteering and by contributing, we can help the community as well.

Q. Is retirement in the near future for you?

A. I'm enjoying it here. I think this is a great organization. It's something that I've wanted to do, so I'm very pleased with what I'm doing here, and I'd like to continue doing it as long as I can. If and when I do leave, I hope that we are in a better place. The Kahala Nui is what we call our community, and it's doing very well. I hope that it will continue to do well and I hope that we will be able to not only do well for our residents, but I also hope that we will be able to do well for the community. As part of our mission, we want to be an integral part of the community and want to be able to contribute to dealing with the issues that seniors encounter, especially in housing and also in dealing with their long-term care and living during their retirement.