Jennifer Shore recalls what a pleasure it was to go to Kaiser Permanente's Ala Moana Medical Center when she was pregnant with her second daughter in 1980.

“;It was such a joy to drive out, to come into Waikiki to go to the doctor. It was just a really nice setting to have the hospital overlooking the water,”; she said.

The hospital no longer is there. In its place is the Prince Hotel. But Kaiser Permanente has continued to grow with a 50-year legacy of health services for Hawaii residents.

Shore's daughter, Janah Pacheco, had her first baby May 16, 2003, at Kaiser's Moanalua Medical Center, which opened in September 1985, and expects to have her second child there in April. Both are boys, she said.

Pacheco also happens to be a registered nurse in the labor and delivery section of the Moanalua hospital, graduating from Hawaii Pacific University four years ago.

She does not know what it was like at the Ala Moana hospital where she was born, but said the new labor and delivery section at the Moanalua medical center is “;absolutely beautiful.”;

Changes in perinatal care at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii reflect the hospital's growth over the years with statewide clinics and 220,000 members.

As part of its anniversary observance, Kaiser Permanente Hawaii awarded $100,000 in grants to health-related organizations, hosted nearly 5,000 people at community events and collected more than 3,000 pounds of food and $3,500 for food banks.

Henrietta Kaiserleen Bellefeuille Moike, now living on the Big Island, was Kaiser's first baby, born Nov. 26, 1958, at the Ala Moana hospital.

Perinatal service was the first to move from the old hospital in Waikiki to Moanalua Medical Center at 6 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 29, 1985, recalled Melodee Deutsch, director of quality, accreditation and licensing for the Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Hawaii Region.

“;We brought moms and their infants (in car seats) by vans in groups of 4 to 6 couples,”; she said in a written account. “;Then the rest of the hospital patients moved. It was quite a day.”;

Kaiserlyn Toreka-Malo Sataraka was the first baby born there that day.

Perinatal services are located in the top floor of a new $141.7 million, six-story wing that opened at the Moanalua hospital in April. “;We refer to it as the penthouse,”; said MaryEllen Michaelidis, manager of perinatal services. (A second, $27.1 million renovation phase is due for completion in 2010.)

She said there are 18 postpartum beds, four antepartum beds (for women with premature labor or medical problems), nine labor and delivery rooms (each with resuscitation equipment for newborns) and two triage rooms.

Every room has climate control and flat-screen televisions, she said.

Labor and delivery previously occurred in separate rooms with few visitors allowed. Now they are in the same room, and significant others are encouraged to participate and support mothers, Michaelidis said.

Babies were kept in a central nursery at the old hospital so new mothers could rest. At the Moanalua hospital, she said, “;We keep babies in the room with the moms 24/7. ... It's a chance for the whole family to get to know each other before they end up going home from the hospital.”;