Postcard from Waikiki, Honolulu

4/22/2008

Question: If you had only one day to spend in Hawaii, what would you choose to do?

Answer: Why, of course, you would want to visit a Psychiatric Hospital!

Yes, friends, we only had 12 hours ashore in Honolulu, while the ship refueled and took on provisions, so Jim took 8 students to tour Hawaii State Hospital. This was a different experience for the kids, as HSH is a forensic hospital where one has to commit a crime and be declared insane or unfit by the courts to get in.

HPPA laws nonwithstanding, we encountered the highest security / confidentiality practices here – not only could we not take pictures of the patients, but also couldn’t take pictures of most of the buildings or the chickens in the yard! (The administration is embarrassed that they can’t seem to keep the feral chickens out, so didn’t want us to photograph them.)

This hospital was cited in the textbook for Jim’s class as being one of the worst hospitals in the US back in the 80s, so we were interested in the facilities. Happy to say, most of the hospital has been rebuilt as a result of the public black eye it received back then. If you’ve got to be crazy somewhere, I’d recommend this place!

HSH has over 600 staff for 200 patients, and a patient to nurse ratio or 5:1. One of the social worker we spoke with told us the patients say HSH stands for “Home Sweet Home!” We spent much of our time out in the Aloha Garden, where patients maintain vegetable and flower gardens, practice ikebana (Japanese flower arranging) and cooking classes with the produce that they grow. We held hands and the social worker sang a Hawaiian Aloha chant to increase our harmony… what a nice morning!

After lunch, we took a city bus to Waikiki Beach, and then a taxi to Diamond Head crater. This is a huge crater formed when a volcano exploded many moons ago, and is the highest point of the island. It is a tourist attraction to climb to the summit, so the path was cement and had hand-rails and steps… hardly a challenge for mountain climbers like Jim and me! We were all breathing hard by the time we got to the top, but the view, as always, was worth it!

After descending and grabbing a cab back to the beach, we walked around Waikiki like proper tourists, admired the clear blue water and the bikini-clad, did some shopping, and had dinner at a revolving restaurant that overlooks the city – lovely!

Arriving back at the ship, we were surprised at the long line of students having their bags searched – the kids spent their one day at Wal-Mart and Costco, stocking up on chips, salsa, peanut butter and sugary cereal. With only 3 weeks left of the cruise, they brought enough junk food on board to last another 6 months! One of the boys said, “It feels so good to be back in the US, it makes me want to go to Wal-Mart and buy a gun – just because I can!” He turned around to see the look on my face, and hastily added, “only kidding Mom!”