Historical Timeline
125 Years of Firsts
1883 Sisters of St. Francis Arrive in Hawaii
Mother Marianne Cope and six Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse, New York arrive in Hawaii in response to a plea from King David Kalakaua and church officials to care for patients with Hansen’s disease. More than 50 religious orders had already refused before a letter made its way to Mother Marianne. So moved by the plight of the outcasts, she believed that it was God’s will to answer the call.
1927 St. Francis Hospital
In 1924, the Sisters make their first major purchase in Hawaii: a 4.37-acre parcel in Palama for a staggering $24,000 to build a community hospital. Three years later, the dream – the opening of St. Francis Hospital with 70 beds – becomes a reality. The first patient is an 8-year-old girl for a tonsillectomy.
1957 Day Care Center
With a large concentration of working parents, some with children needing special care, in the hospital’s Kalihi-Palama neighborhood, Sister Maureen saw another community need for day care services. The St. Francis Hospital Day Care Center for mentally challenged children was started and served as a model in later years for state-funded special education and day care centers. In 1968, St. Francis opened the Child Development Center at the Community Church in Honolulu, for preschool aged children who weren’t mentally challenged but demonstrated emotional problems.
1962 St. Francis Home Care Services
Understanding that people recover faster in the comfort of their own homes surrounded by loved ones, St. Francis Home Care Services has been the first in Hawaii to specialize in home health care.
1965 Renal Dialysis
Through the efforts of Dr. Herbert Chinn and other supporters, St. Francis received its first dialysis machine in 1965. In 1966, Dr. Livingston Wong, a surgeon and friend of transplant pioneer Dr. David Hume of Boston, joined the staff. Dr. Wong was joined a year later by Dr. Arnold Siemsen, a nephrologist that served at Tripler Army Hospital.
SFMC’s Renal Institute of the Pacific Outer-Island Outreach Programs express St. Francis' ongoing commitment to provide renal services in emerging communities. The following facilities have emerged as a result:
Dialysis Center Openings
- Hilo Dialysis Facility – 1972
- Maui Dialysis Facility – 1975
- Kauai Dialysis Facility – 1976
- Leeward Dialysis Facility – 1977
- Kona Dialysis Facility – 1986
- Kahana Dialysis Facility – 1995
- Waianae Dialysis Facility – 1995
- West Kauai Dialysis Facility – 1998
- Molokai Dialysis Facility – 2000
- Groundbreaking for new Wailuku Facility 2005
The renal dialysis program was transferred to Liberty Dialysis-Hawaii in Jan. 2006.
1969 Organ Transplants
In 1954, the first successful human kidney transplant was performed by a Harvard Medical School team led by Dr. David Hume. In 1966, a member of Dr. Hume’s transplant team, Dr. Livingston Wong, joined St. Francis’ medical staff. Sister Maureen Keleher, well aware of the growing problem of kidney disease in Hawaii, gave Dr. Wong and three fellow physicians, Dr. Arnold Siemsen, Dr. Herbert Chinn and Dr. Young K. Paik the green light to start a transplantation program at St. Francis. Prior to undertaking a transplantation program, St. Francis sent Dr. Paik to U.C.L.A. to study techniques and technology for developing a tissue typing laboratory which was the critical first step in establishing the program.
In 1969, Dr. Hume came from Harvard and joined the St. Francis team in performing the first kidney transplants in Hawaii.
Nine years later St. Francis began to establish the foundation for bone marrow transplantation, assembling the necessary technology to go forward. At the time, only 15 medical centers in the United States were performing bone marrow transplants. St. Francis performed Hawaii’s first bone marrow transplant to save the life of an 11-year-old suffering from aplastic anemia, which prevents the growth of bone marrow.
In 1987, St. Francis applied for and received federal approval to perform heart transplants in Hawaii. St. Francis sent its team of surgeons and surgical nurses to study with Dr. Norman Shumway, the acknowledged dean of cardiac transplantation at Stanford Medical Center.
Thanks to the foresight of St. Francis’ physicians, and the wise and generous support of the Sisters of St. Francis, especially Sister Maureen Keleher, organ transplantation became a reality in Hawaii.
1971 WATCH (Women's Alcoholic Treatment Center of Hawaii)
In the Sisters’ former convent, St. Francis established the Halfway House of Alcoholic Women, the first all-woman treatment center in the state. Sister Maureen established WATCH because alcoholism had been regarded as a problem for men, and no public or private facility existed in Hawaii to treat the addiction in women.
The WATCH program was an expansion of an earlier program which had been limited to women who had been treated in the hospital for severe alcoholism, and in 1978 St. Francis accommodated any woman suffering from drug or alcohol abuse. Like many of St. Francis innovative, life saving programs WATCH was discontinued when other treatment programs for women opened up and the Sisters could turn their attention to other pressing healthcare needs.
1974 CARES
St. Francis was one of three hospitals in the country—and the first in Hawaii— to be accepted by the National Cancer Institute to start a Cancer Rehabilitation Services program (CARES), that focused on the care and life enhancement of cancer patients.
1977 Health Screening for Senior Citizens
When Sister Maureen realized that many seniors were going without proper medical care until they were hospitalized, St. Francis began the Health Screening for Senior Citizens program to provide health screening sites in six areas of Oahu. It became a model for other state and private agencies. The program changed to Health Services for Senior Citizens in 1982, focusing on bathing services.
1978 Hospice
Through St. Francis Home Care, St. Francis provided support to dying patients in order that they could spend their last days at home beginning in 1962. In 1977, at a banquet held in her honor, Sister Maureen declared that the $140,000 that had been raised would be dedicated to starting the first “official” hospice program in Hawaii a year later. Ground was broken for Hawaii’s first hospice facility in 1986, and the Sister Maureen Keleher Center was formally opened in 1988. In 1997, a second hospice facility was opened by St. Francis, and fund raising for a third is underway. While the tradition of hospice acknowledges that it is more desirable to spend one’s last days in the familiar surroundings of home, St. Francis Hospice’s inpatient facilities provide an alternative for those who cannot be cared for at home. The centers also provide periodic relief for those who care for family members round-the-clock.
1983 Lifeline
St. Francis introduces the Lifeline program, a personal emergency response service that enables Hawaii’s frail elderly and disabled to communicate directly with an emergency response center with just a push of a button.
1989 Bone Marrow Registry
The Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry was established at St. Francis Medical Center in 1989 and joined the National Marrow Donor Program to help patients in Hawaii and all over the world find healthy and willing bone marrow donors. Only 30 percent of patients will find a matched donor within their families; therefore, others need to find an unrelated match. Matches are more easily found between people of the same ethnic background. Today, there are more than 66,000 registered donors throughout Hawaii, Guam, and American Samoa.
1990 St. Francis Medical Center-West
St. Francis Medical Center-West officially opens its doors and is the only major health care facility in West Oahu.
1992 MRI
St. Francis Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center-West form a joint venture with Castle Medical Center to acquire a mobile magnetic resonance imaging unit, the first of its kind in the state.
1993 Liver and Pancreas Transplants
The first liver transplant and first pancreas transplant are performed at St. Francis Medical Center.
1993 Parish Nurse Program
St. Francis initiates the Parish Nurse program to provide free health assessments and referrals to participating parishes.
1997 Mobile Care Health Project
St. Francis is known for collaboration with many community partners. St. Francis Healthcare System and the Office for Social Ministry of the Roman Catholic Church in Hawaii, joined forces to start the Mobile Care Health Project. Using Winnebagos equipped with dental operatories, the program provides dental care service to the uninsured and underinsured in West Hawaii. In 2007, dentists from the University of Iowa and Columbia University, in collaboration with the Mobile Care Dental Project, provided free dental service to children who have limited or no access to dental care.
1998 Gamma Knife
The first gamma knife procedure was performed at St. Francis Medical Center. The Gamma Knife is not actually a knife, but a radiosurgical device that serves as an alternative to neurosurgery. It provides a non-invasive, painless radiosurgical treatment for brain tumors and lesions. Conventional open-skull brain surgery takes five to seven days of recovery in the hospital with a day in the ICU. Gamma Knife is a one-day outpatient procedure.
1999 Bloodless Surgery
St. Francis is the site of the first bloodless open heart surgery to accommodate the religious beliefs of a patient opposed to blood transfusions.
2003 Groundbreaking for Franciscan Vistas Ewa
St. Francis conducts groundbreaking ceremonies for Franciscan Vistas Ewa, St. Francis’ first master planned residential care community in Ewa.
2005 Our Lady of Kea‘au
St. Francis dedicates Our Lady of Kea‘au, an outreach facility located on the Waianae Coast geared to prayer, refuge and recreation. The health care ministry was founded to provide outreach services to the homeless and promote health and healing of mind, body and spirit.
2006 Transfer of Ownership of Renal Dialysis Program
The year 2006 will be remembered as a pivotal point in the history of St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii. Major changes were prompted by the high cost of operating healthcare organizations and the Sisters of St. Francis’ decision to move beyond acute care services and to focus on long-term care.
In January, the transfer of ownership of the renal dialysis program to Liberty Dialysis-Hawaii, LLC was completed. Over the past years, the program had grown to become one of St. Francis’ Programs of Excellence with 11 satellite facilities on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Molokai, and the Island of Hawaii serving more than 1,000 patients. The program also provided dialysis services to visitors.
2007 Divestiture of St. Francis Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center-West
A major event that will underscore the new direction of St. Francis was the divestiture of St. Francis Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center-West. Important milestones were made, including finalizing the asset purchase agreement and obtaining the necessary approvals from the Vatican, the Office of the State Attorney General, the State Health Planning and Development Agency (SHPDA) and other agencies. With the transfer of ownership completed, the two medical centers are now known as Hawaii Medical Center East and Hawaii Medical Center West. Yet, the Sisters of St. Francis will leave a lasting impression, even in these medical centers. As part of the agreement, the new owners, a joint venture partnership between CHA-Hawaii and the Hawaii Physician Group, will abide by the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services and maintain a Catholic mission by continuing to care for the poor.
Meeting the Healthcare Needs of Hawaii’s People
St. Francis Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center-West statistics from 1990 to 2005 show that the two medical centers have been major service providers as evidenced by the volume of activity.
Patient Care Numbers – 1990 – 2005
St. Francis Medical Center
80,116 Patients admitted
49,620 Total surgeries performed
779 Transplants performed
128,430 Visits to the Emergency Room
1,613,730 Dialysis treatments
599,971 Diagnostic procedures performed. This includes cardiopulmonary, CT, EEG, EKG, MRI, Nuclear Medicine, Respiratory, and X-ray procedures
65,034 People registered to become bone marrow donors
Patient Care Numbers – 1990 – 2005
St. Francis Medical Center-West
48,391 Patients admitted
34,650 Surgeries performed
293,220 Visits to the Emergency Room, the second busiest on the island
4,636 Births until the maternity services department closed in 2001
575,648 Diagnostic procedures performed. This includes CT, EEG, EKG, MRI, Nuclear Medicine, and X-ray procedures