Power restored to Ka‘ū Hospital 11 days after Hurricane Lala struck Big Island

Power was restored at Kaʻū Hospital on Thursday after 11 days of being forced to run on generators due to damage caused by Hurricane Lala.

“As soon as the power went on, we started hearing some cheering from one of the back rooms,” said Denise Mitchell, regional chief of long-term care and critical access hospital administrator for Ka‘ū Hospital. “We looked out, and we saw our food service manager, who said her AC was on.”

The staff of about 70 has been working with no air conditioning and limited light. Power wasn’t expected to be restored until Sept. 8.

Since the Category I storm hit the island on Aug. 15, Hawaiian Electric has been working to restore power to tens of thousands of customers islandwide.

“Honestly, it’s a relief, and it’s just amazing,” Mitchell said.

Lala did not make a direct hit to the Big Island, but while it skirted South Point, it still brought sustained winds of 70 mph and heavy rainfall, which turned small streams into raging rivers, smashing up roads and cutting off communities.

The hardest-hit communities were Nā‘ālehu, Wai‘ohinu and Pāhala. The rural hospital was left isolated for a couple of days after the storm because Highway 11 was impassable in areas with raging floodwaters and high winds that caused washouts, leaving behind mud, rocks and fallen trees.

Mitchell said the past week and a half has been scary in certain ways.

“We were running on a generator and certainly had many backup plans in place and things ready should the generator have failed,” Mitchell said, “And yet it was still like walking on eggshells.”

The Ka‘ū Hospital is also a partial nursing home with 16 residents, an emergency room and a clinic.

The facilities are part of East Hawaiʻi Health Clinics, which are rural health clinics under the East Hawai‘i Region of Hawaiʻi Health Systems Corporation that also includes Hilo Benioff Medical Center.

Mitchel, who also oversees operations at the Honoka‘a Hospital, said people were so excited when the power came back on. She watched Thursday as Hawaiian Electric crews restored power to the Ka‘ū Hospital.

Mitchell praised Hawaiian Electric for getting the power back up sooner than anticipated. She also noted the rapid progress made on Highway 11 that was “literally washed away.”

In less than two weeks, Mitchell said crews have improved the highway fronting the hospital from what it was before it was damaged in Lala.

“It’s just amazing what they were able to do to restore access to the community,” she said.

There were so many construction vendors that were called into action from the community,” Mitchell said.

From Hawai‘i County Civil Defense Agency to Hawai‘i Department of Transportation to local companies, the hospital administrator noted that everyone came together to help.

Mitchell praised the hospital staff for providing ongoing care amid challenging circumstances.

“The dedication and the caring about each other, it’s just shown,” she said.

Mitchell said Hawai‘i Gov. Josh Green was at the hospital Thursday to tour the facility and other hurricane-impacted areas. He spent part of his medical career working as a doctor at the rural facility before entering the political realm.

In hindsight, Mitchell thinks that Lala has opened up opportunities to be better prepared for future disasters.

“You see what the needs are because you’ve experienced it, and I think looking at the community, looking at the hospital and what we went through, I think we’ve identified that we really could use a helipad out here,” she said.

During the first few days of emergency response to the district after the hurricane, helicopters were used to bring in food and essentials to communities that were cut off because roads were blocked by mudslides and debris.

Mitchell said the hospital will use the parking lot to land medical transport helicopters, but it’s not ideal because that means moving the cars.

“The governor seemed excited about the idea we presented to him today,” she added.