Kahuku rallies to save hospital
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KAHUKU — Area residents last night said they will take steps to try to help Kahuku Hospital become more financially stable after officials said its debt may force it to cut services or even close.
Advertiser library photo
During a meeting of the Kahuku Community Association, hospital supporters were urged to write to state legislators to ask them to approve the facility's request for a $1.2 million grant from the state, up from last year's request of $750,000.
Kahuku Hospital is the only critical-access medical facility between Kane'ohe and Wahiawa. About 22,500 people in the Ko'olauloa district have relied on it for 50 years.
If lawmakers approve the $1.2 million, Kahuku resident Rick Spencer said residents will have to take further steps to ensure the money is released.
"You'll need to get letters to the governor if your request gets past the legislators," Spencer said.
Another step would be for residents to patronize
North Shore doctors who use the hospital for lab tests, procedures and other services, said Don Olden, hospital administrator and CEO.
Don Hurlbut, Kahuku association president, agreed, predicting that people would die for lack of a facility.
"You got to use it to support it," Hurlbut said. "There's a lot of people who are going to Castle or Wahiawa when they could be coming here."
Kahuku Hospital has said that its existence is at risk amid growing operating costs and millions of dollars in debt.
It has taken several steps to resolve the problem, including exploring joining a larger healthcare organization to reduce costs. The hospital board is also considering cutting services and closing.
Kahuku Hospital is the only critical-access medical facility between Kane'ohe and Wahiawa, and an estimated 22,500 people in the Ko'olauloa district of O'ahu have relied on it for 50 years for everything from low-cost medical exams to emergency care. The hospital is the third-largest employer in the area, with about 70 employees.
Rep. Michael Magaoay, D-46th (Kahuku, North Shore, Schofield), who handles grants-in-aid for the House Finance Committee, said rural hospitals and community health centers are seeking state money to help finance their operations and Kahuku will have to convince the committee of its need.
But Magaoay said he also has told the hospital that it should present a business plan to legislators, outlining a strategy that emphasizes debt reduction and a long-term sustainability plan.
"I'll help but they have to do their part to survive," he said.
Sheila Toluta'u, a nurse at Kahuku for 16 years, said she's more concerned about the loss of services or closure than her job.
She could get a job tomorrow, she said, but the community would suffer, especially if emergency services were cut.
"There would be a lot more mortality/morbidity if people had to drive or get air (evacuated) out," Toluta'u said. "We have people (without insurance) come from the other side of the island because they know they can be seen here. We don't turn them away."
The nurses' contract ends May 31, with the potential for added cost to the hospital in a renegotiated deal.
The hospital has operated in the red for the past 12 years, said Claudine Tomasa, with the Collective Bargaining Organization of the Hawai'i Nurses Association. Tomasa, who negotiated an 8 percent wage increase for the nurses last year, said the nurses support Olden.
She said she was especially glad that Olden has made the $1.2 million request for the facility because the hospital must survive.
The hospital played a major role in the aftermath of the Sacred Falls tragedy five years ago and it will be a significant resource for treatment in the future, Tomasa said.
"That is an important hospital, a strategic hospital," she said. "But maybe they might have to evaluate the type of services they offer."
Besides a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week emergency room, Kahuku's 25-bed hospital offers general acute care, skilled nursing care, obstetrics, outpatient surgery and physical therapy. It provides low-cost services for people without health insurance.
Kahuku Hospital operates with an annual budget of $6.5 million, relying heavily on state financing, grants and private donations. Though Kahuku is a private hospital, it receives state money because it serves a rural area.
There are six other critical access hospitals in the state and four of them belong to the state hospital system. From 2001 to 2003 Kahuku received only $350,000 a year while five other rural hospitals received more than twice that.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
