Like so many other Molokai residents, Crivello's mother, Aunty Mae Helm, had to move to Honolulu for dialysis treatment. She was a patient at St. Francis Medical Center for most of her two years on Oahu, said Crivello, GTE Hawaiian Tel manager for Molokai and Lanai. Molokai residents, in community health planning, said they wanted to die on their own island. But her mother couldn't return home, Crivello said. She died in a hospice in Nuuanu.
Home is where the family is at.
Her mother's wish is finally coming true. It's taken more than 10 years, but Molokai residents will have their own kidney dialysis facility by Thanksgiving. About a dozen patients will begin using the facility, said Roberta Lovely, administrative director of St. Francis Medical Center's Renal Institute of the Pacific. Some Molokai residents who had moved to Oahu and Maui for kidney dialysis will be able to return home, she said. Judy Mikami, manager of Molokai General Hospital's Kidney Health program, said at least five residents plan to return.