LIHU‘E — Myra Ornellas, the administrator for the Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital, said the very first patient admitted to the hospital in Kapa‘a was admitted Thursday, exactly 95 years ago. Ornellas was joined by hospital staff members and residents of
LIHU‘E — Myra Ornellas, the administrator for the Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital, said the very first patient admitted to the hospital in Kapa‘a was admitted Thursday, exactly 95 years ago.
Ornellas was joined by hospital staff members and residents of the hospital’s Long Term Care Unit on a special visit to the Mayor’s Office at the Mo‘ikeha Building, Lihu‘e Civic Center, where Mayor Bernard Carvalho, Jr. presented the entourage with a proclamation celebrating the 95th anniversary of the facility, which is part of Hawai‘i Health Systems.
“This is a big deal for the residents,” said Josie Pablo, the Mahelona recreation director. “They wanted to make the trip to come and visit the mayor. After this, we’re just going back, but the residents were still excited.”
Mahelona Hospital was founded in 1917 as one of the first hospitals on Kaua‘i, and its first patient was admitted on July 19.
Named in memory of Samuel Mahelona, the deceased son of Emma Kauikeolani Napoleon Mahelona Wilcox, wife of Albert Wilcox, the hospital was designated to serve tuberculosis patients on Kaua‘i because Samuel had succumbed to the disease at a young age, the proclamation states.
Over the years, the facility expanded and grew to accommodate increasing numbers of patients and services and in the early 1950s and 1960s, when antibiotics established the cure of tuberculosis, Mahelona Hospital started focusing on long-term care needs and admitted patients with acute mental illness.
This led to a separate psychiatric unit being added to the existing long-term care and ancillary service facility in 1983.
In 1996, the medical center became part of the Kaua‘i Region of Hawai‘i Health Systems Corporation, a move which brought the community many benefits including upgraded technology such as teleradiography, telemedicine, video teleconferencing and advanced clinical information systems.
The hospital continued to grow and meet the needs of the community by becoming East Kaua‘i’s Critical Access Hospital and opened as a 24-hour emergency department with five acute care beds in December 2005.
Today, 95 years following the first patient being admitted, Mahelona Hospital cares for more than 5,000 patients annually through its emergency department, located at the north end of Kapa‘a town.
The latest expansion in 2011 added specialty primary care clinic services with Dr. Bridget Collins as the hospital-based physician caring for patients through their hospital stay.
With about 145 employees, the vision of the Mahelona campus is to become a Geriatric Center of Excellence — a wellness center with particular emphasis on issues on aging, states the Hawai‘i Health Systems Corp. website.
Carvalho proclaimed July 27 as Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital Day, coinciding with the special anniversary lu‘au the hospital is hosting to celebrate its legacy of community caring.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
