Hawaii

The Packed Hawaii State Hospital May Soon See A Surge In Patients From A Private Facility

Published

2 years ago

February 15, 2024

The Packed Hawaii State Hospital May Soon See A Surge In Patients From A Private Facility

Health officials are seeking $14 million in emergency funding to try to improve security and reduce the patient population at the Hawaii State Hospital, but the psychiatric facility may soon have to make room for an influx of even more patients from the privately run Kahi Mohala facility.

The hospital has contracted for years with the nonprofit Kahi Moha to house 40 of its patients there, and most or all of those patients are “forensic” patients. That means they were committed to Hawaii State Hospital by the courts after being arrested.

Sutter Health network is now pursuing a deal to sell Kahi Mohala to The Queen’s Health System, and “Queen’s has indicated that the forensic patients will no longer be serviced at that campus,” said Marian Tsuji, deputy director for behavioral health for the state Department of Health.

The Hawaii State Hospital is licensed for 297 beds, but as of Wednesday morning had 345 patients. That census may increase even more if other patients who were hospitalized by the courts are returned to the hospital from Kahi Mohala. (Anita Hofschneider/Civil Beat/2021)

Tsuji told lawmakers Wednesday that the department is trying to reduce the number of patients at Kahi Mohala to prepare for the movement of patients from that facility back to Hawaii State Hospital. But the loss of the Kahi Mohala beds seems likely to aggravate already severe crowding at the hospital.

Kahi Mohala referred questions to a public relations firm, which said it didn’t have any information. Queen’s didn’t respond to a request for comment.

‘A Very Challenging Time’

Dr. Kenneth Luke, administrator of Hawaii State Hospital, told members of the House Health and Homelessness Committee on Wednesday the hospital is licensed for 297 beds, but as of Wednesday morning had 345 patients. That does not include the patients now at Kahi Mohala.

Public attention has focused on problems at Hawaii State Hospital since Nov. 13, when a patient stabbed to death 29-year-old nurse Justin Bautista with what hospital staff have described as a pocket knife.

The attack occurred on the hospital grounds in an unsecured cottage used for a state-operated specialized residential program, which functions much like a halfway house. Tommy Kekoa Carvalho has been charged with second-degree murder in the case and is being held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center.

The case was the first killing of a staff member on the hospital campus, but the hospital has long been the subject of complaints about abuse of patients and threats and violence against staff.

Luke said after the attack on Bautista that the hospital has been urgently trying to reduce the patient count, but the census numbers he announced Wednesday suggest the facility has made little progress on that front in recent months.

“Hawaii State Hospital is going through a very challenging time right now,” Luke told lawmakers.

“The types of patients that we’re getting are much sicker than we got maybe a decade ago. These are patients that have not only a chronic and severe mental illness, but they also have co-occurring conditions, oftentimes a substance abuse disorder, primarily methamphetamine,” Luke said.

“This really complicates their conditions, makes them much more acute, much more difficult to treat,” he said. Luke said 70% of the patients were “houseless” on the street, and are therefore less stable than patients of past years.

He described the hospital staff as “the best staff that any hospital could ask for … but I feel that we owe them what we can to make the place safer.”

Backlog In Evaluations

One problem has been the long delays in processing people sent by the courts to Hawaii State Hospital for evaluations to determine if they are mentally fit to proceed with their criminal cases, Tsuji said.

Marian Tsuji, deputy director for behavioral health for the state Department of Health, and Hawaii State Hospital Administrator Kenneth Luke brief House lawmakers on the emergency appropriation request. Tsuji said the process of evaluating patients for the court system needs to get quicker.

Those patients sometimes remain at the hospital for many months because of a backlog in the evaluations, which contributes to the high patient counts.

“We need to process people a whole lot quicker than what we’ve been doing,” Tsuji said. “We’re short forensic psychologists, evaluators at the courts as well as at the hospital, and so if we can get those evaluations done quicker, we can process them quicker.”

Crisis Shelters And Metal Detectors

House Health and Homelessness Committee Chairwoman Della Au Belatti questioned Luke and Tsuji about the request for an emergency appropriation to finance improvements to Hawaii State Hospital.

The original funding request in House Bill 1941 was for $5.975 million, but Gov. Josh Green is about to submit a governor’s message that will increase that request to $14.2 million, Luke said.

A consultant’s report last month recommended changes in hospital operations, and the money would be used to finance a reorganization, according to hospital staff. It would also pay for an expansion of the hospital’s existing network of community-based treatment facilities, Tsuji said.

Those facilities are used to transition patients back into the community after they have completed treatment at the hospital. But some patients cannot be placed in group homes because they are full, which contributes to overcrowding as patients remain at the hospital until a community slot opens, Tsuji said.

She said the governor’s message will ask lawmakers to fund two licensed crisis shelters for patients, and two additional houses with 24-hour supervision. The state plans to award contracts to operate those facilities, Tsuji said.

Additional money is also being requested to increase the rates the state pays for existing group homes because in some cases those payments have not been increased in a decade, she said. Tsuji said she expects those rates will go up by 20% to 25%.

The hospital reorganization would involve creating a new “safety and security team” at the facility, and improving information technology, according to Naomi Yanagishita, associate administrator for administrative and support services at the hospital.

Another $650,000 would be committed to upgrading communications and information technology within the hospital, including fixing video cameras that no longer function, Yanagishita said.

Tsuji said some of the new funding would also be used to buy wand-type metal detectors to screen patients such as Carvalho who are allowed to come and go from the hospital campus. The hospital is also requesting money for drug testing, Tsuji said.

Tsuiji said the governor’s message will request $700,000 in construction funding to relocate the hospital’s guard shack to better control access to the facility.

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Hawaii

Hawaii police investigate alleged gun threat at Kealakehe Intermediate

Published

4 hours ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

Hawaii police investigate alleged gun threat at Kealakehe Intermediate

KONA (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Hawaii Police Department is investigating a terror threat at Kealakehe Intermediate School after a student reportedly intended to bring a gun to campus on Friday.

Police said they interviewed several students and, during the investigation, determined the student in question was absent and not on campus.

Authorities said they have not located anyone who directly heard the alleged threat, and the report has not been substantiated.

Police said the school remained open and its daily operations were not impacted.

Anyone with information is asked to contact officer John Antonio at (808) 935-3311 or by email at John.Antonio@hawaiipolice.gov.

Anonymous tips can be sent to Crime Stoppers by calling (808) 961-8300. All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.

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Hawaii

3 dead after helicopter crash at Kalalau Beach in Hawaii

Published

16 hours ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

3 dead after helicopter crash at Kalalau Beach in Hawaii

Three people are dead after a helicopter crashed at Kalalau Beach on Kaua’i in Hawaii, the island’s police department said in a statement.

Police said they received a “text-to-911” message around 3:45 p.m. that a helicopter had crashed into the ocean near Kalalau Beach. According to Kaua’i police, multiple agencies responded to reports of the downed chopper.

The helicopter was carrying one pilot and four passengers, and was operated by Airborne Aviation — a company that operates helicopter tours, police said.

It was not immediately clear which of the three passengers was killed, and their identities were not released.

The other two passengers were taken to Wilcox Medical Center for treatment, police said.

The Kaua’i Fire Department, the Kaua’i Emergency Management Agency, the United States Coast Guard, American Medical Response, the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Kaua’i Police Department all responded to the crash and “are actively involved in the response,” according to the police statement.

The statement said no further information is available at this time and updates will be shared when they are available.

Meanwhile, Hawaii has been facing historic floods that have wreaked havoc on the islands in recent weeks amid devastating “kona low,” or seasonal Hawaiian cyclones. The storms first caused destruction on Oahu and Maui last weekend, and alerts were up for the Big Island earlier this week.

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Hawaii

Hawaii baseball’s Ryan Inouye has friendly duel with former team Hawaii Pacific

Published

1 day ago

March 26, 2026

Press Room

Hawaii baseball’s Ryan Inouye has friendly duel with former team Hawaii Pacific

HONOLULU — Hawaii Pacific coach Dane Fujinaka joked with his staff that it was a lose-lose situation.

When HPU Sharks all-time saves leader Ryan Inouye took the mound in the ninth inning for the University of Hawaii against his former team Wednesday, there were plenty of mixed emotions in the Les Murakami Stadium visitors’ dugout.

“It was like we either come back and make a push here, and our guy obviously has to wear it,” Fujinaka said. “Or he shuts it out like he did, and we lose.”

The 5-foot-9 Kailua High graduate with the unorthodox right-handed mechanics limited the Sharks to a single to record his first save in a Kelly green uniform, as UH beat its crosstown opponent 4-1.

Former HPU pitcher, Ryan Inouye, gets the save in the Rainbow Warriors’ win against the Sharks. Hawai’i wins 4-1. Tsubasa Tomii gets the win, Noah Rhea gets tagged with the loss.#HawaiiBSB ⚾⚾⚾ pic.twitter.com/LdAuAZGdU1
— Spectrum Sports HI (@specsportshi) March 26, 2026

[Note: See below for more photos of Hawaii-Hawaii Pacific baseball.]

Inouye, his face a neutral mask minutes later, resolved to keep his emotions the same way as he stepped on the turf.

“Gotta keep it the same even though I know a lot of the guys over there,” he said.

Afterward, he greeted old teammates and coaches and was warmly received.

Inouye posted 20 saves over the last three years with Division II HPU, including the program single-season record of 13 en route to second-team All-West Region honors in 2025. He learned last season that he had a year of eligibility restored from his time at Menlo at the front end of his college career. But by rule he also would not be able to apply it at the D-II level.

Once the season ended, Fujinaka reached out to UH pitching coach Keith Zuniga and head coach Rich Hill.

“I said, ‘Hey, is there any interest here? I think you guys like perfect fit. He lives five minutes away. He’s a different arm that a lot of your league hasn’t seen.’”

“It was an easy phone call, and he was out of Division II eligibility, so he wouldn’t have been able to come back to us anyway,” Fujinaka added. “I’m just really happy that that UH, Rich gave him a chance to continue playing.”

It was his seventh appearance for the Rainbow Warriors, but first since March 8 against Cal Poly.

Hill acknowledged it was “weird” to put Inouye in a situation to face his old friends. He was the last of seven pitchers to see work in the mid-week bullpen game.

“He went to war with those guys for a few years. But they understand,” Hill said. “And he loves his teammates and he loves his coaches on both sides. I don’t think that entered into it at all. He was just trying to execute pitches and get a save for his team.”

Four UH pitchers — Derek Valdez, Saul Soto, Jack Berg and Zac Tenn — took a combined no-hitter into the seventh, when the Sharks’ Owen Wessel singled to right off Tenn.

Shortstop Elijah Ickes threw Wessel out at home on Ethan Murakoshi’s fielder’s choice. Jayden Gabrillo scored on a wild pitch by Tsubasi Tomii to give the Sharks a momentary lead.

Ben Zeigler-Namoa started a four-run rally in the bottom of the frame with a single to right. Kody Watanabe tied the game with an infield single and catcher Jake Redding drew a bases-loaded walk for the go-ahead score.

After UH faced ex-‘Bows pitcher Rylen Bayne in the bottom of the eighth — Bayne got through old teammates Zeigler-Namoa, Ickes and Draven Nushida cleanly — it was Inouye’s turn to face old friends.

He got Blake Helsper to foul out with a nice sliding catch by third baseman Tate Shimao just in front of the UH dugout.

Noah Hata singled up the middle, but Inouye struck out Carter Jones on eight pitches and Gabrillo grounded out to first to end the game.

Inouye was teammates with all the batters he faced, save Helsper.

“Definitely wanted to get all of them out,” Inouye said. “But Noah got a hit, so he’s definitely gonna hold that one over me.”

UH (13-10, 3-6 Big West) now readies for Cal State Fullerton (11-13, 5-4) in a three-game series starting Friday.

Hill said he appreciated the closely played contest that tested his team’s nerve when the Sharks got on the board first late in the game. HPU hadn’t beaten UH since 1986.

“It felt like the game meant something,” Hill said. “It’s good for our guys to be in that situation heading into Cal State Fullerton. You can’t replicate that in practice.”

As for Fujinaka, it was encouraging to see some of his eight pitchers on the day work their way out of jams, a known trouble spot for his group.

His message to the players was, “Look, guys, like, we can play alongside anybody in the country, as long as we continue to throw strikes, play defense, do the fundamental stuff that we talked about all year.”

HPU (12-14, 10-10 PacWest), which beat Chaminade 11-7 on Tuesday, hosts Fresno Pacific in a four-game series at Hans L’Orange Park next Wednesday.

The Sharks have weathered a literal storm or two.

They had a four-game home series against Westmont washed out by the first of two Kona low storms to hit Oahu. HPU’s practice site at Keehi Lagoon was inundated by knee-deep water — something Fujinaka had never seen.

They will attempt to make three of the Westmont games up on the road, Fujinaka said, in a tough 11-games-in-12-days stretch in mid-April.

Hawaii pitcher Ryan Inouye threw a pitch against his former team, Hawaii Pacific, in the ninth inning. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

Hawaii third baseman Tate Shimao, sitting, made a sliding catch in foul territory near the UH dugout against Hawaii Pacific. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

Former Hawaii pitcher Rylen Bayne threw a pitch for HPU against his old team. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

Hawaii’s Jake Redding got caught in a rundown short of home plate as HPU catcher Brock Wirthgen stood in his way. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.

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