Supporters push state for $3M in aid to Wahiawa hospital

Supporters and staff of Wahiawa General Hospital turned out in force Wednesday to ask lawmakers to fund a $3 million bailout of the private, nonprofit facility, which has been struggling to stay afloat during the past nine years of increasing financial strains.

The hospital began in 1944 as an outpatient clinic for plantation workers, military personnel and rural Central Oahu residents, and it has grown into a 57-bed acute care hospital with an emergency room and a 107-bed, long-term care skilled nursing facility.

R. Don Olden, chief executive officer of the hospital, said revenue at Wahiawa in 2015 abruptly dropped by $7.5 million after the Queen’s Medical Center West opened in May.

The hospital, which is the largest private employer in Wahiawa, has had to cut its staffing by the equivalent of about 75 employees and needs state support, Olden said.

“We cut our budget by $9 million, and we are still at a point where we are running a deficit,” Olden said. “If we don’t obtain assistance from the state, we’re going to be forced to further eliminate programs, services, or reduce hours of operation and consider closing our doors.”

A standing-room-only crowd of hospital supporters and employees applauded as people testified before lawmakers about the value of the hospital to the Wahiawa and North Shore communities. One carried a sign imploring lawmakers, “DO NOT Send Us To the MORGUE.”

Many in the crowd were hospital employees, including Paul Seery, a radiology technologist. Seery recounted an incident several months ago in which a man appeared in the hospital emergency room with the right side of his throat cut. He described it as “just one case which is typical of what I see almost daily.”

“He was going down fast,” Seery told the committee. “It was so bad that the guy probably flat-lined three times, and the great emergency room staff at Wahiawa, we worked on him for two hours at least.”

He added: “For two hours, everybody was sweating. We just didn’t give up, and I’ve seen that kind of effort many, many times there. Many, many people that I’ve seen come through there would not make it, won’t make it to any other hospital.”

Olden said Wahiawa General serves a largely low-income and elderly population, with about 85 percent of the hospital’s patients on Medicare or Medicaid. The hospital loses money on those patients and does not have enough private-pay patients to offset those losses, he said.

The House Health Committee approved House Concurrent Resolution 118 and House Resolution 73, which urge Gov. David Ige “to provide financial assistance to WGH in a sufficient amount to enable it to operate while developing a new business model.”