New Hawaii State Hospital faces more delays

State health officials say they face additional delays in moving patients into the Hawaii State Hospital’s new, 144-bed psychiatric facility, after assuring state lawmakers in early April that all the patients would be moved in by this month. The state Department of Health now says the target date is the end of June.

As of this week just one-third, or 48, of the patients had been transferred to the pristine, $160 million building, which has sat empty for more than a year.

It’s not exactly clear what has caused the additional delay. DOH cited ongoing repairs, though the state Department of Accounting and General Services, which is overseeing those fixes, disagreed.

“We have been on target,” said state Comptroller Curt Otaguro, who oversees DAGS. While there had been supply chain delays, he said the repairs would be completed this week.

Meanwhile, DOH and the union representing many of the staff are still consulting over new policies for the building.

The facility was turned over to the Health Department in April 2021, but since then state officials have cited various reasons for why it’s taken so long to move patients out of the overcrowded and dilapidated buildings that are situated elsewhere on the campus.

State health officials led a media tour in May 2021 to unveil the new, $160 million building in Kaneohe, which is equipped with state-of-the-art security as well as athletic courts, a game room and open dining room. At the time, state officials said that the new building would begin accepting new patients in August.

But as the months dragged on, the building remained empty.

The Hawaii Government Employees Association told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in October that a dispute over the vision for the facility was causing months of delays. Rather than a new hospital designed to treat mental illness, the union said state officials needed to approach the new building like a prison housing individuals with mental illness and that the polices and procedures needed to reflect that.

Randy Perreira, HGEA’s executive director, said in a statement Tuesday that it’s still consulting with the state over the new patient facility, though this time the issues seem to pertain more to the building’s construction.

“We’re aware of numerous safety and health issues arising daily from the poor quality of construction of the new facility, and we understand that a complaint has been filed at (the Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division) over these issues,” said Perreira. “We will continue to fight to ensure employee and patient safety is a top priority.”

DOH officials conceded in April that they should have begun drafting an operating plan and policies and procedures much earlier, while the building was being built, but said the pandemic had created challenges. DOH spokeswoman Kaitlin Arita-­Chang said Tuesday that her department “continues to consult with our union partners on policies related to the new patient facility.”

The state mental hospital primarily houses patients with mental health issues who have been ordered there by the courts after committing minor or serious crimes, or while awaiting evaluations on whether they are mentally fit to stand trial.

In early April, alarmed by the delays, state lawmakers called a legislative hearing where DOH and DAGS officials explained that design flaws that they blamed on the contractor, as well as problems recruiting staff, had caused delays.

DAGS said that three or four of the showers drained in the wrong direction, and 50 of the showers weren’t sufficiently sloped, creating issues with ponding and even flooding.

DAGS also said that there were problems with doorknobs and door hinges that needed to be replaced to prevent suicidal patients from using them as a means to hang themselves.

DOH told lawmakers at the time that 48 patients would move into the building’s third floor as soon as April 13, and another 48 patients were expected to move into the second floor by late April, with patients occupying the first floor by May.

The State Hospital has battled problems for decades, including lax security and high rates of assault by patients against staff. In 2017, Randall Saito, a patient who was sent to the hospital in 1981 after being acquitted of murder by reason of insanity, walked out of the facility, called a taxi that took him to the airport, and boarded a chartered flight to Maui and then a commercial flight to San Jose, Calif. Another patient escaped in March and was captured the next day.

The new building is designed to combat those security issues and includes hundred of digital cameras, clear lines of sight and elevators that separate staff and potentially dangerous patients. There are also padded rooms to prevent unstable patients from injuring themselves. The new space also includes ample room for classrooms for therapy and anger-management sessions.