Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 5, 1 May 1988 — Original Intent of Queen Emma's Will is Aim of Senate Resolution [ARTICLE]

Original Intent of Queen Emma's Will is Aim of Senate Resolution

A resolution urging Queen's Hospital (Queen's Medical Center) to return to the original intent of the will of Queen Emma to provide free medical aid for indigent, sick and disabled Hawaiians, was introduced in the Legislature this spring by State Senators Malama Solomon and James Aki. Senate Resolution 157 and Senate Concurrent Resolution 153 were passed out of a joint hearing Apr. 12 before the joint Senate committees on Health and Housing, Hawaiian Programs and Natural Resources. At press time, the resolutions had gone to the House of Representatives for eonsideration. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs supports the resolution as a start to meet the continuing need for medical assistance for indigent, sick and disabled Hawaiians, who onee received free medical care through the express direction of the Will and Trust of Queen Emma, who left her lands in trust for that purpose.

According to the resolution, Queen Emma Kaleleonalani and her husband King Alexander Liholiho, Kamehameha IV, anguished overthe decimation of the Hawaiian people by European diseases, and proposed the building of a hospital primarily for Hawaiians. They personally undertook to raise funds through private donations to help build Queen's Hospital. As a result of their efforts, the first dispensary

opened with 18 beds in 1859, and a 124-bed hospital opened in 1860. The hospital's charter proclaimed that its purpose was to provide medical aid to "indigent, sick and disabled Hawaiians as well as such other foreigners and others who may choose to avail themselves of the same." In the first year of its operation, Queen's Hospital provided medical aid to 1,354 Hawaiians. At her death in 1885, Queen Emma in her will named Queen's Hospital as one of two principal beneficiaries of her estate to ensure its ability to fulfill its mission to the people of Hawaii. The hospital continued to provide free medical assistance to hundreds of Hawaiians until 1950 when the Territorial Supreme Court invalidated Queen Emma's trust and redirected the assets.

As a result, today Queen s Hospital is one of the largest fee simple land owners in the State. Also providing testimony in favor of the resolution was the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs (AOHCC), whieh has long supported a return to the original intent of the will and estate of Queen Emma. AOHCC President Jalna Keala said in written testimony, "The Hawaiian community is aware that the native beneficiaries of the Queen's will have been disenfranchised, and see SR 157 and SCR 153 as a beginning to correct the cumulative wrong-doings."