Birth Center Will Close Pending Board Decision

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Wahiawa General Hospital will temporarily suspend its birth center by the end of the month to help stem a projected $3 million loss in the current fiscal year, the hospital’s CEO said last week.

“The final decision whether it’s terminated permanently is yet to be made by the board (of directors),” said CEO Don Olden. “The current plan is that it is suspended.”

The 162-bed acute-care hospital has not ruled out staffing changes “but we don’t have any major changes that are planned at this point,” he said.

Olden said the hospital’s Birth Place handles about 250 to 300 births a year, or about 25 percent of the area’s 1,200 annual births. The closure means expectant mothers from the areas it serves - North Shore, Wahiawa, Mililani and parts of the Leeward Coast - will have to travel to Honolulu. “We hope it will be an OK transition for them,” Olden said, admitting that it will be an inconvenience for many.

“For that we have empathy for them, but we felt it was important for the hospital to make this decision because there would be other services that would (otherwise) be placed at risk.”

Wahiawa General offers emergency services, diagnostic radiology and laboratory services, a senior behavioral health program, a long-term care facility with 103 beds, and general medical-surgical inpatient services including an intensive care unit. It also runs a family practice clinic in Mililani together with the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

The non-profit hospital grew out out of a World War II emergency medical facility established at Wahiawa Elementary School. Groundbreaking for a new hospital followed in 1957 and “a special blessing came on the first day of existence for the new facility: the birth of twins!”

The hospital expanded and modernized its obstetrics department in 1989.