Kahului, Maui—Dieting is usually hard but it is easy at Maui Memorial Medical Center, our only state hospital here that will soon be put in private hands. The only requirement foe this diet, which admittedly you would not want partake, is to have a hospital stay.  You would not find the dish below. 

Many hospitals have mediocre food. The food is so worse here  loved ones and friends of those in the hospital bring in takeout food. Waiting for your car at valet parking (you cannot park yourself because all the parking spaces are taken up by staff)—one out of two entering the front door  brings takeout food. You want decent food in a hospital that is healthy and lifts your spirit. 

By personal experience, you can get a nice turkey sandwich at the new nearby Safeway, the one reportedly inhabited by ghosts since it was built on the bones of long -gone Hawaiians. There is also Stillwell’s down the highway which sells a nice Chinese chicken salad.

If you are unfortunate to be in the hospital when you have your birthday, it seems only appropriate if you get a better meal. For that you can drive to Marco’s three miles away on Dairy Road and get a nice salmon takeout dinner. This was my way of saying happy birthday to my wife —to make the birthday  as happy as it could b. She was there three weeks and left a lot of—to my wife who was there nearly three weeks.

There is only one good thing about the hospital—its nurses and doctors, a very caring bunch. If you wasnt to find the cafeteria, however in the maze that is the hospital, you will find no directional signs except the one right around a corner a the cafeteria entrance. where you do not need a sign because it is obvious you are at the cafeteria.

This month the state hospital is even in a bigger mess. Since the state cannot afford to run it properly, it is being turned over to the private Kaiser Permanente  which has been here a long time and apparently serves its patients well. Maui Memorial was in transition to Kaiser Permanente, a multi step complicated process.

Wouldn.t you know one of the unions was unhappy because its members would lose their sick leave time, which was considerable. They sued to stop the transition. In one of the stupidest decisions in court  in memory, a federal judge approved a restraining order..halting the transition.

The hospital became short staffed since so many workers were taking their sick leave. Perhaps the judge did not know Memorial Memorial is the only hospital on Maui. The resulting chaos has not been good. for patients

Fortunately the wife is out of the hospital now and getting better again with no need for takeout food. She is on the mend after a serious procedure.

We can’t wait for Kaiser Permanente. Only on Maui.