GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Dr. A.Y. Wong looked at newspaper articles retrieved yesterday from a time capsule sealed at the dedication of Maui Memorial Medical Center in 1952. Wong said there have been a lot of changes.
WAILUKU >> Patients paid $13 to $14 a day for a private hospital bed. Polio was still the scourge, and a freshly cut pound of T-bone steak cost 81 cents. Seeing Maui as it
was 50 years agoA time capsule at Maui Memorial
was opened this weekBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comThe documents and newspapers retrieved this week from a 1952 time capsule at Maui Memorial Medical Center reveal glimpses of a rural Valley Isle preparing for a leap forward in health care.
Nearly 50 years to the day after the hospital's dedication on Aug. 17, 1952, scores of people were on hand yesterday at Maui Memorial to take a look back at the improvements and celebrate the government-funded institution's birthday.
Two more floors have been added to the once three-story hospital, and there have been a number of expansions, including centers for cancer treatment and sleep disorders.
"There's been a lot of changes," said Dr. A.Y. Wong, 85, the general superintendent of the hospital in 1952.
Wong recalled when the hospital opened, it had an iron lung to help polio patients with their breathing problems.
The discovery of a vaccine has virtually eliminated polio in the United States.
Where once there were 11 physicians on the staff, all of them general practitioners, the hospital now has close to 200 doctors with many of them specializing in fields of health care.
"We have really come a long way," said Helen Tanaka, a former chief of nursing.
Tanaka noted that even the nurses now have specializations, including trauma and infant care.
In 1952 the Territory of Hawaii was seven years away from becoming a state, island leaders were looking at tourism as an alternative industry and the population of Maui was about 40,000 compared with more than an estimated 100,000 people today.
The establishment of the hospital marked a major move away from health care at plantation hospitals and a consolidation of medical talent on the island.
Then as now, Maui Memorial served as the "safety net" for health care on the Valley Isle, island leaders point out.
"In our day this was something really fabulous," recalled U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink, who grew up in Paia and remembers the hospital's opening.
As a birthday gift, Mink (D-Rural Oahu, Neighbor Islands) presented hospital officials with a U.S. flag that has flown over the nation's Capitol.
Also presented was an aerial photograph of the current hospital and staff that will be included in the new time capsule.
Hospital officials are still considering other items that might be included in the capsule.
A 1952 newspaper from the capsule showed the cost of construction was low by today's standards.
Some 50 acres bought for the hospital from Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. Ltd. cost $25,000, and the estimated cost of construction was about $2 million.
Legislators estimate today the most recent expansion will cost $38 million, including $3.5 million for planning.
