Fact Sheet:

Proposed Hospital and Medical Center for West Maui

Revised 1/08

8-YEAR COMMUNITY EFFORT.  West Maui Improvement Foundation (WMIF), a non-profit community group led by its president Joseph Pluta, is in its 8th year of a community-wide initiative to raise money (Golden Hour Fund), acquire land, find private investors, complete an EIS and other studies and build a second emergency hospital on Maui. 14.9 acres of land have been donated, 1,500 people /foundations have contributed, all steps completed (zoning in Feb.), CON application in process, project ready to go soon with state OK.

NEED.  Hawaii puts 50,000 residents, workers and visitors at risk every day on Maui’s isolated West side that includes Lahaina and two major resorts (Ka’anapali and Kapalua)--an hour or more away from the island’s only emergency hospital; 1,400 housing units added since 2005, 17,000 more planned. Transport time fails golden hour test (chances of survival for life threatening illness increase when patient is treated within one hour).

DEVELOPER. Brian Hoyle, Newport Beach, CA, healthcare developer/operator, banker and investor. His Newport Hospital Corp. has signed a development agreement with WMIF for $70 million to build hospital and medical center on land Ka’anapali Land’s Pioneer Mill Co. has agreed to donate next to Lahaina Civic Center.  Group has built and operates 5 community hospitals. Southwest Health Group, Spring, TX, is also a participant.

QUALIFICATIONS OF TEAM.  Developers: Hoyle, founder, American Health Care, operator of nursing homes in four states, and principal of Southwest Health Group including partners with 140 years experience in field. Lahaina Community Architects with Uwe Shultz, AIA, (Maui), Steven Kodama, FAIA (San Francisco), and designer Steve Welck (Maui). CON preparation team: Randy Karns, CPA, KMH LLP Honolulu and Norma Provencio, healthcare financial consultant, Los Angeles, CA.

FUNDING. $70 million in financing from Newport Hospital Corp. and its investment partners including Southwest Health Group; 100 percent Medicare Medicaid reimbursement for critical care hospital; support from visitor industry; individual contributors.

CERTIFICATE OF NEED. Submittal planned first quarter ’08. Developer, WMIF believe application will meet all SHPDA criteria, including helping and not harming current medical care system on Maui.

COMMUNITY DYNAMICS.  SHIPDA denied plan by South Maui Group (unaffiliated with West Maui) to build second hospital close to existing hospital and many miles from West Maui.  Legislature then established Maui Health Care Task Force with 15 members from three islands to advise them on need and make recommendations before opening of '08 legislative session. Task Force findings singled out a hospital in West Maui as the number one priority. (See reverse for personal stories of hospital need.)

PERSONAL STORIES.

WMIF’s web site (westmauihospital.org) has captured personal stories related to the need for a hospital via an internet survey while offering anonymity to encourage honest comment.

It's 21 miles to an emergency hospital, 21 miles back over a two-lane road often jammed with traffic. An hour one or, more away, an hour or more back--2 hours when this ambulance is unavailable to pick up another Lahaina area patient as it crawls back to town. This dilemma would end with the building of West Maui Community Hospital.

According to the Hawaii Visitors Bureau, 50,000 people--residents, visitors and workers like those shown here--live, play or work in West Maui, one of the world's premier resort communities.

For unique reasons, the closest acute emergency hospital is anaverage 66 minutes away over a single double lane road that passes through mountainous terrain.

The West Maui Improvement Foundation and its affiliate, the West Maui Taxpayers Association, and the people we represent want a new full-service hospital of our own to address what physicians call the Golden Hour. If victims of critical heart attacks, strokes or accidents can receive treatment within this Golden Hour, the statistics show survival rates soar.

The case for a new hospital, backed by studies by one of the nation's leading health care firms, is clear. Two hurdles remain;

 

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