Next Stop:
Home
Young patients have another reason to smile when they leave Kapi‘olani Medical
Center for Women & Children. In January, new mini trains began giving discharged keiki
rides from their rooms as a celebratory goodbye. The trains are the result of a series of
events involving a premature birth, a long friendship and a donor's dying wish. Adding
to this train tale, is the long journey taken to make this a reality, from the inspired idea
on Maui, to creation in North Carolina and the final destination in Honolulu.
IT BEGAN WHEN Upcountry Maui
couple Barry Wurst II and his wife
Julia were expecting their first child.
Everything was going as planned
until, at 32 weeks pregnant, Julia
discovered she had preeclampsia.
“I was medevacked to Kapi‘olani
the same day I was diagnosed,”
she said. “It was a very scary experi-
ence. I didn’t know what was going
to happen.”
“I had Beatrice a few days later at
Kapi‘olani and she was perfect, just
really small at 3 ½ pounds. I spent
some time in the Intensive Care Unit
and Beatrice was in the Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit for five weeks.”
When the healthy baby returned to
Maui, the extended family shared
details of Beatrice’s early arrival with
friends—including Barry’s dad, Barry
Wurst I. The senior Barry told his
best friend Bob Douglas about the
lifesaving care his granddaughter
received at the state’s only children’s
hospital. Bob decided he wanted
to help.
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Project on Maui in 1994 which gave
Christmas trees and food baskets
to families in need. The program
grew to support Moloka‘i families as
well, with as many as 100 trees and
baskets donated annually in the final
years of the project.
Bob Douglas
Bob called the Kapi‘olani Health
Foundation and said, “I’m inspired
to make a gift and it’s going to be
something big.”
In meetings to follow, the Kapi‘olani
team got to know Bob and under-
stand his desire to donate. Bob was
legally blind and made a career of
giving to others. One of the projects
he started was the Christmas Cheer
Now Bob wanted to make the road
to recovery a memorable one for
kids from the moment they started
their journey home. “Bob was very
detail oriented, and made going
home so much more fun and special
for our patients,” said Martha Smith,
CEO of Kapi‘olani. “The trains have
custom Hawai‘i license plates that
say ‘Powered by Bob,’ there is a train
whistle and with the press of a button,
a child’s voice says ‘Next stop home.’
Bob thought of everything!”
The fun design was inspired by a
similar train Bob funded for Levine
Children’s Hospital in North Carolina
a year before. Bob wanted trains for
both hospitals, two for Kapi‘olani
and another for Levine, to launch on
the same day at the same time in