Kula Hospital celebrates 115 years of providing care in Upcountry Maui

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Maui’s oldest upcountry hospital is celebrating its 115th birthday this year.

Kula Hospital was built in 1936. At the time, the facility was known as Kula Sanatorium, or Kula San for short.

“It was strictly a tuberculosis hospital,” said 89-year-old Pauline Shiroma, who worked there for more than 30 years as a registered nurse, at first taking care of tuberculosis or TB patients.

She recalls medical experts at the time believed the cooler, high-altitude air on the slopes of Haleakalā in Keokea was beneficial to help treat the respiratory illness which at the time was considered incurable

But thanks to the advancement of new medications, TB became curable and and in the 1970s, Kula San transitioned into Kula Hospital and shifted its focus to providing long-ter