Editing Hawaii State Hospital

On January 6, 1930, the Oahu Asylum closed, and the U.S. Army moved the 549 patients to the new Territorial Hospital in Kaneohe. Even at its opening in 1930, the newly named Territorial Hospital was overcrowded, and overburdened facilities have been the situation ever since. Despite great advances in the hospital program itself, it was not yet possible for the Legislature to provide sufficient appropriations to maintain adequate buildings and staff. In 1939, the control of the Territorial Hospital was changed from the Board of Health, where it had been since its opening, to the newly formed Department of Institutions.

World War II prevented further growth in the psychiatric field for a few years, but almost immediately after the war, starting in about 1946, a rapid surge of growth in our psychiatric facilities was noted. The private practice of psychiatry as a specialty received more interest, and additional offices opened one by one. The Territorial Hospital in Kaneohe was able to modernize and develop its treatment program further. The year 1948 marked the organization of the Neuro-Psychiatric Society of Hawaii.

In 1972 there were only 200 patients actually in residence at the State Hospital (even though the rate of first admissions has continued to climb as the population of the State soars over 750,000). The Windward Community School now uses some of the older original buildings.