Facility, personnel woes WAILUKU >> One stroke patient has been waiting for months to receive rehabilitative care.
plague Maui Memorial
Legislature considers $38 million
to relieve severe overcrowdingBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comAnother was afraid to sleep after the warning buzzer went off on her intravenous monitoring machine and she had to wait 45 minutes for a nurse.
All of the beds at Maui Memorial Medical Center and the skilled-nursing facility Hale Makua are full.
"It's a very severe problem for anyone to be taken care of in a timely manner," said Gladys Baisa, who is being treated for a liver abscess. "They're short of personnel."
Baisa, executive director of Maui Economic Opportunity Inc., said that early one morning, she was unable to call the nursing station after a warning buzzer went off on an intravenous monitoring device.
She said after pressing a call button and waiting 45 minutes, she used her telephone to reach the hospital operator, who alerted the nurses.
Baisa said she later found out the call button did not work, and neither did a call button close to a nearby patient.
The nurses said the buzzer would be fixed when the maintenance man returned to work at 8 a.m.
Baisa said she stayed awake from 2:30 until 8 a.m., afraid that if the buzzer went off again, she might not awaken in time to call for help.
"They don't realize the mental stress they put you through," Baisa said.
Alexa Basinger said she has been waiting to have her father, H. Rodger Betts, transferred to Hale Makua, where he can undergo rehabilitation for a stroke he suffered Aug. 9.
Basinger said her father has been confined at Maui Memorial in facilities ill equipped to help him in his recovery.
"One of the things about stroke rehabilitation is, you need to start immediately. ... He has been deprived of proper treatment," she said.
Maui Memorial's acting Chief Executive Officer John Schaumburg said the hospital has not turned away anyone requiring emergency surgery but has occasionally put elective surgery on hold, including plastic surgery.
He said he is seeking state approval to convert the hospital's outpatient area into an in-patient facility providing 10 additional acute-care beds.
He said he is hoping to obtain legislative authorization for $38 million in general obligation bonds to expand Maui Memorial.
State Sen. Jan Buen (D, North and West Maui-Molokai-Lanai) said the state Legislature authorized $38 million in revenue bonds two years ago.
But Buen said Gov. Ben Cayetano's administration did not move forward with the proposal, noting the state's community hospital system was not making money and would be unable to repay the revenue bonds.
The community hospital system would not have to repay the $38 million in general obligation bonds.
Basinger said $900,000 was authorized by the Legislature last year to fund expansion at Hale Makua, including 16 skilled-nursing beds.
She said Cayetano has not released the money so far. State budget officials were unavailable for comment.
Baisa said the lack of medical facilities could have an adverse impact on tourism and attracting wealthy seasonal visitors to the Valley Isle, if vacationers become aware of the problems at Maui Memorial.
"On Maui when you're sick, this is where you come," she said. "We deserve a first-class hospital for a first-class community."
County of Maui
