Kuakini Medical Center is closing its Pali Adult Day Care Center at the end of the month after 24 years of operation in the Nuuanu area.

The impending closure has affected about 20 patients, most of whom have already left the program, and six staff members.

Jan Shishido, managing director of long-term care for Kuakini Geriatric Care Inc., informed families in June that Kuakini’s Pali Adult Day Care Center on the grounds of the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin temple would end operations Aug. 31.

“The closing of the Pali Adult Day Care Center was based on a steady decline in the number of participants over several years,” said Kuakini spokeswoman Donda Spiker. A worker at the facility on Pali Highway said the center had around 40 patients at its peak in recent years.

Kuakini opened the first adult day care program on Oahu in 1972. The Pali Adult Day Care Center, which offers respite for families of elderly patients during the day, opened in the Nuuanu area in 1991 and then moved to the current site in 2002.

“There are currently 11 similar-type adult day care programs in downtown Honolulu, and at least one new program is expected this year,” Spiker said.

Kuakini also operates the Aiea Adult Day Care Center on the campus of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church near Pearlridge Center.

“It is our hope that attending the Aiea Adult Day Care Center … is a viable option for you,” Shishido said in a letter to families of patients.

Kuakini, which is celebrating its 115th anniversary this year, said the closing of the adult day care facility is not related to financial problems or collaboration talks with the nearby Queen’s Medical Center.

In April, Queen’s notified employees in an internal memo that it was in “preliminary discussions” with Kuakini on a potential partnership to strengthen the hospital system.