The Family Letter

If a picture is worth a thousand words… (Click for larger images!)

Peace!

As the clergy and seminarian readers will likely know, when us clergy types move into a new call it takes some time to get to know the new hospital or hospitals. Back in Pennsylvania I primarily visited Sharon Regial Health System's hospital on State Street, and occasionally the branch ofUPMC in Farrel, PA. I have no idea how many beds each had, but suffice to say that in the grand scheme of things both hospitals were on the small side. SRHS had maybe five floors in the tallest wing (how quickly I forget–though I am pretty sure if you dropped me someplace inside I could still find my way out).

The "new" hospital at this call is going to be Tripler Army Medical Center. It serves the active duty and retired population here on Oahu and, indeed, from around the Pacific.¹

Tripler is not what you would call small. It may not compare with some of the larger university hospitals out there, but it is at least the size of the hospital where I did CPE–if not bigger. It is a mite bigger, I think, even than the hospital² Rev. Ref. is most likely to visit. It is, in fact, a base unto itself, with housing, lodging, and other services on a large campus. The photo here shows only the hospital itself… (All photos in this entry are links… Click for larger images.)

It sits up on the side of the mountain just a bit north east of the church³ It is… Pink. And yes, they paint it that color. Needless to say, you can see it from all around this area of the island. You can see it taking off and landing at the airport. It was, in fact, one of the first things I noticed on my first trip out here⁴

The elevator I got on today (oceanside, inside the central-most complex) had 11 floor buttons. I'm skeptical about how many of those are functional floors, but I haven't had time to explore yet. Like most hospitals there are all sorts of odd connections. You can't get to floor three in wing D from floor three in wing B, for example. To get from ocean side to mountain side you have to be on floor four of mountain side, and you drop down to floor three of ocean side in the process. There may be other connections, but that's the one I found today.

Fortunately for new pastors they do give out maps. I snagged one yesterday and studied it last night, so that when I got the room number for the parishioner in question this morning I had an idea of where to park⁵ and where to go once parked.

The map doesn't do the inside justice… It looks as though there are a few simple hallways. But it depicts just the simplest, probably the ones most visitors need. And it really only shows one floor worth… As I say, some things are different on different floors, including the connection.

Despite the size-shock (Sharon to Honolulu) I think I'm doing quite well. When I went in last night just to look around I managed to find the chapel⁶ straight away, having only been there once before.⁷ I then made it back to the car without once getting lost. Today I parked in the right spot and made it right to 5B1 where I needed to be, and to NICU with only minor direction. So while I hope I'm not there too much, it isn't as intimidating as it was at first.

The funny experience of the day: Walking boldy into the oceanside lobby today I met an elderly clergy person walking towards me, and said good morning. He stopped me and… You guessed it… Asked directions. Oy. I listened for a bit until I heard him say "VA" and "therapy," then suggested he try the separate building (upper left on the map), surrendered my map, and said a small prayer for guidance. I still have no idea if it is possible to drive from where he was parked to where he needed to park without going around the whole complex. Let's just hope he isn't still driving!

1. I've heard a number people comment on cases being "flown in" from around the Pacific. I gather that when someone is hurt in the Pacific theater they get patched locally then make their way back to Tripler, just like folks in the other direction often end up in Germany or on the east coast. [back]
2. CLINIC [back]
3. About a 15 minute drive in good traffic. [back]
4. One year ago last week! [back]
5. I've never seen so much parking–and all of it FULL. [back]
6. On 3D, right above the picture of the cresting wave on the map, above. [back]
7. Mind you it was locked up tighter than Fort Knox. Sigh. [back]

2.0 to be exact.

Mahalo Lynn!

Nuff said.

A lot has been happening… Let's see if I can summarize:

Three weekends ago the church took part in a state-wide fundraiser for the Hawaii Food Bank. It was the first time I'd collected money at a major road, in this case Kam Highway in Pearl City. It was quite a day, and we raised a lot of money that day. And I picked up a major sunburn on my scalp. Ouch!

The weekend following that we had a huge work-day at