DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Lei Kalua, left, hugs nurse Celyn Villanueva as she stops by to check Kalua's husband and recent heart patient Joseph Kalua. Joseph said the bed was more comfortable than home and wanted to take it back to Hilo.
Hearts
beat happily
at Queen’s
Leilani Kalua was doubly pleased when her husband, Joseph, became one of the first patients to occupy a new cardiac unit at the Queen's Medical Center, because she was able to stay with him in the same room.
She said she had been staying in an apartment since her husband was flown from Hilo Medical Center to Queen's Aug. 28, "but I spent most evenings here (at the hospital), so it was hard.
"When they said they were opening a new wing and one family member was able to stay with him, it made it easier for me."
Not only that, she said, "everything is just gorgeous" in the new facility.
Her husband, 69, a retired Hawaii County lifeguard captain, had triple bypass surgery Sept. 2 after several previous episodes of heart trouble. He is a diabetic and renal patient requiring dialysis.
He was moved from a cardiac unit in the Pauahi wing when the new $13 million Cardiac Comprehensive Care Unit opened Tuesday.
"It's not that it's not good," Leilani Kalua said of the old unit. "It's that you're looking at white walls, a regular medical room."
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Nurses Honorata Balinowski, left, Cheryl Johnson and Thoa Thai stand near one of four heart monitors that each track the vital signs of 10 patients' hearts.
"This is a beautiful place," Joseph Kalua said Friday, adding that he planned to "kick back" in his room after undergoing dialysis the past week. Nice as it is, though, he said he looked forward to going home and regaining his health so he can go hiking and camping.
"I like to get way into the boonies where nobody's around and you can look at the beautiful sky and the beautiful stars."
While there are no sky or stars in the cardiac unit, it has a calming nature and garden environment with art, bamboo, rocks, soft lighting, extensive use of glass for visibility and curved architectural features. Three waiting areas have a tranquil Asian theme.
Borders on the walls have clusters of anthuriums shaped like hearts, a design requested by the staff, who call the unit "the heart of cardiac care." Ceiling tiles depict Hawaiian ferns.
Sharon Yamauchi, the unit's nurse manager, said it opened with new and previous patients in 32 of the 40 private rooms. Other rooms will be opened by the middle of next month, she said.
Yamauchi said the technology "is incredible," including computerized and automatic dispensing of supplies and medications, cabinets for easy access of charts and X-rays outside each patient room, and roving computer monitors so doctors and nurses can enter records and orders immediately after working with a patient.
Each room has a family area with a sleeper chair and is equipped for Internet access by the patient or family member. A family lounge also is available.
"The goal is to change the way care is delivered," said Dr. Robert Hong, chief of the Department of Cardiovascular Diseases. "Instead of moving patients throughout the hospital, we are trying to move resources to the patient. ... It's more cohesive for patients and families, and patients hopefully can recover at a faster rate."
