New Hawaii State Hospital needs urgency, not 7 years

Somewhere resting in the quiet undisturbed silence of the state of Hawaii bureaucracy shelves, there must be a plan for every possible looming problem.

We can’t do much, but we sure can file away the study reports.

Today’s discussion is the 2012 "Special Action Team Report" prepared for former Gov. Neil Abercrombie by veteran government troubleshooter, Kate Stanley.

It is a comprehensive report about Hawaii’s mental health facility in Kaneohe, the State Hospital (HSH).

There are plans to fix it, just not soon.

Here’s the issue: The Kaneohe hospital does not take care of residents with mental health issues; instead, it is 100 percent filled with patients who were ordered there by the courts. It is also running a $4.8 million yearly deficit.

"Many of the individuals hospitalized at HSH either do not require inpatient psychiatric services, do not have bona fide mental illness, or remain in HSH much longer than clinically necessary," said Stanley’s report.

The patients have dementia, traumatic brain injuries, developmental delays, substance abuse and medical problems. According to the report, they are there because "courts either cannot require or cannot identify a more appropriate placement."

You don’t have to be sent to the Kaneohe hospital because the courts found you not guilty of a crime because of insanity; the courts could just be waiting for you to be judged sane enough to stand trial.

In fiscal year 2011, The Queen’s Medical Center said Honolulu police brought people with a mental illness to the emergency room 800 times. The next year, that number doubled to 1,600. A certain portion of those patients are homeless, but if they are not court-ordered to a hospital, they mostly go back on the street.

It was just back in 2007 that the federal government formally dismissed a lawsuit regarding the hideous conditions at the hospital. It took the state nearly 20 years to clear up the problems and there are indications they are returning.

Today the place is massively overcrowded, with all 202 beds always filled and another 40 patients at the privately run Kahi Mohala; staff morale is low; overtime and staff turnover are high.

The obvious solution is a new state hospital, and the state Health Department is proposing just that. But first it is updating its master plan.

The new plan calls for $160 million for a 144-bed facility, giving a total of 252 beds in Kaneohe.

The lawmakers running the Legislature’s money committees, Rep. Sylvia Luke with the House Finance Committee and Sen. Jill Tokuda, the Senate Ways and Means head, understand the problem, agree something must be done, but are fuming with the state’s timetable.

"They say it will take seven to eight years to build, that is definitely a timetable they can do better on," Luke said in an interview.

"I told them I wanted this thing done in three or four years and that was being generous," said Luke.

Tokuda was equally understanding of the need for new facilities and equally ready to tear up the timetable.

"I don’t view that as an acceptable timetable," said Tokuda, who pointed out that the Education Department was able to do a complete design and build of a new school in just 18 months.

"We have to be both aggressive and ambitious with this," Tokuda said.

The problem is serious and the solution is there; what is needed is a new state plan involving hammers and nails, not paperwork and delays.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.