Nonprofit group advocates
Lahaina acute-care hospital
CORRECTION
Thursday, May 22, 2003» Healthmark Partners Inc. asked for $50,000 in seed money to look at whether to establish a hospital in West Maui. A story on Page A17 Sunday incorrectly named Triad as the company making the request.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.LAHAINA >> Joseph Pluta said he fears that one day someone will die while ambulance crews try to get him or her the long distance to Maui's only hospital.
To lessen that chance, the West Maui Improvement Foundation wants to put up an acute-care hospital in West Maui.
The nonprofit group plans to send out a request for proposals within the next 30 days.
Foundation President Pluta, also a real estate agent, said the lack of emergency medical care is also making people reluctant to buy homes in West Maui and forcing some people to move from the community to urban areas closer to acute-care facilities.
Pluta said the foundation has tentatively secured a commitment from Pioneer Mill Co. to donate 14.9 acres of land north of the Lahaina District Court.
He said the group completed a preliminary financial feasibility study earlier this month of a business developing a 50-bed West Maui Medical Center.
Pluta said the latest study, conducted by health-care consultant Leann Strasen, was done to help to prospective hospital developers in their financial decision-making.
Pluta said the foundation sent out a request for proposals last October that attracted interest by Triad Hospitals Inc., of Dallas, and Iasis Healthcare, of Tennessee. That was canceled, though, and the foundation is going out again to see if it can get more details and proposals.
He said Iasis expressed interest in spending $30 million on the project, but the foundation was not ready to proceed with construction because it still needed to obtain health and land use permits.
He said Triad asked for $50,000 in seed money to defray the cost of conducting its own feasibility study, and the foundation did not have the money.
Pluta said the facility, estimated to cost $40 million, would meet the emergency services and acute surgical needs of West Maui residents.
He said the facility would also provide outpatient services for more than 45,000 West Maui residents, part-time residents, commuters and visitors.
Pluta said based on projections, he expects some residents from outside West Maui will use the facility as well because the island's only general hospital, Maui Memorial Medical Center, is at or close to capacity in filling postoperative and intensive-care beds.
Although there are about a half-dozen medical clinics in West Maui, none are open 24 hours a day or equipped to treat trauma patients.
West Maui has ground ambulance services that take an average of more than 60 minutes to get from Napili to Maui Memorial Medical Center, exceeding the "golden hour" in which a majority of critically injured patients can be saved with surgery, Pluta said.
Maui Memorial's chief executive officer, John Schaumburg, said hospital officials conducted an analysis last year and determined an acute-care facility was not feasible in West Maui, although a long-term bed facility in West Maui was "definitely needed."
Schaumburg said two medical care facilities -- West Maui Healthcare Center and Doctors on Call -- were open until 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. respectively and that what residents really needed was an emergency air ambulance service.
A bill to authorize $1 million to fund an air ambulance service in Maui County is now before Gov. Linda Lingle.
Pluta said Schaumburg is using old information that does not include the services needed for visitors, part-time residents and commuters working in West Maui.
Pluta said he does not expect the state to put up money to build a hospital in West Maui, given the state and Maui County's financial condition.
Pluta said the foundation is hoping to set up a facility similar to the 35-bed community-owned nonprofit North Hawaii Community Hospital, which opened in Waimea in 1996.
The site for the hospital has been included in Kaanapali Land Co.'s "Kaanapali 2020" project, which proposes 2,810 single- and multifamily homes on land above Kaanapali resort.
The 14.9 acres of land is classified as agricultural and would require a change to urban use from the Maui County Council.
State health officials would also have to issue a certificate of need before the development can start.
Pluta said the foundation is looking for contributions to help it defray the projected $350,000 in administrative costs that will be incurred in coordinating the hospital development venture.
Donations may be sent to the West Maui Improvement Foundation, P.O. Box 10338, Lahaina 96761. For more information, call Pluta at 808-661-3042 or e-mail wmta@maui.net.
