Posted on: Friday, August 31, 2001

State Hospital may be eased

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

State Health Director Bruce Anderson said yesterday a quick $1 million rehabilitation of an aging building at Hawai'i State Hospital may be an a interim remedy for drastic crowding there.

Anderson said U. S. District Court Magistrate Kevin Chang suggested the temporary reopening of the Gunsberg Building at the hospital in Kane'ohe as a way to meet federal requirements that crowded conditions be dealt with promptly.

The health director, who met with Chang yesterday, said he hoped an agreement in principle could be realized by today, meeting a month-end deadline for completion of a plan to ease crowding.

Another option, he said, would be to erect portable modular buildings for staff, freeing up other space for patients, either instead of or in combination with the Gunsberg repairs.

Anderson said the drive for more space is not related to what he called an outrageous incident in which a man being transferred to the hospital from the Oahu Community Correctional Center on Wednesday was left handcuffed to a fence gate by a prison guard when hospital officials did not immediately admit the man as a patient.

He said he met with State Public Safety Director Ted Sakai yesterday, and that Sakai agreed the guard's handling of the situation appeared to be completely inappropriate and would be thoroughly investigated.

The patient, who was released from the handcuff within minutes by state hospital staff members, has been housed in a spare room not normally used for treatment.

Anderson said the hospital is caring for about 168 patients in space designed for about 108.

The Gunsberg Building, erected in the 1930s, was shut down in March because of electrical fires and other safety hazards apparently related to roof leaks.

The Gunsberg repairs could be done in about eight months, Anderson said.

In the meantime, the state is continuing other short-term efforts including transfer of some patients who have completed hospital treatment to residential treatment programs in the community. The state also hopes to divert as many as a dozen others — who do not present security risks — to The Queen's Medical Center and other private facilities.

In the long term, the health director said, the hospital probably will need a new, fifth unit to bring ultimate capacity to at least 140. The new unit probably would be for high-risk patients and would be completely fenced, he said. The Gunsberg building could then be shut down again.

Anderson said the administration would have to ask the Legislature for money for the Gunsberg rehabilitation and the new unit.