Bart Mulvihill of Lahaina:
a daughter almost dies at birth because of the distance to the hospital. a ruptured kidney at Lahainaluna High School
Bart told us that he was living in Lahaina when his wife went into labor a month early. She had what was later diagnosed as an abruptio placenta, which can result in both the mother and baby bleeding to death. He said that he drove 100 miles an hour to the hospital.
The doctors delivered the baby, a girl, and told him she would likely either die or be severely brain damaged. The baby made it through all right and is a straight A student today. Her even surviving is credited with how fast Bart was able to get to the hospital.However, he never wants to repeat a 100-mile an hour car trip like that one.


In his own case as a youngster, Bart played football for Lahainaluna High School. Severely injured with a ruptured kidney during a game, he waited one anguishing hour for an ambulance and then spent another hour in the ambulance getting to the hospital. Ultimately he was flown to UCLA Hospital for surgery to be performed. He is healthy today but "stunned" that West Maui still hasn't gotten its own hospital. "I returned to Maui last year after 13 years.
When I moved back, I couldn't believe there wasn't a hospital on the West side yet," he said. "We have 5,000 hotel rooms in Ka'anapli and another 9,000 condominiums filled with vacationers. The NFL Conference was just held here. Every year 32 of the world's best golfers are here competing. If something happens to one of these people and they can't get to the hospital in time, you can kiss tourism goodbye."