I often write about my readers’ favorite restaurants, theaters, parks, athletes, musicians, hotels, stores, radio stations, TV shows, military bases and schools.
Yet, in over 650 columns, I have rarely mentioned doctors. In my experience these are some of the brightest, kindest, most hardworking people in the state. Their care often makes a huge difference in our lives. It certainly has in mine.
So, two weeks ago I asked readers about their most memorable doctors. Today I’ll share more of their stories.
Sat and talked
“Many years ago I had gone to Dr. Stephen Arnold,” Doryn Matsuda said. “I was working at Straub in the lab and had gotten sick. It was the very first time someone pulled up a chair, sat beside me and explained what my pain was and what it meant.
“When he first took a seat, I was startled because no one ever sat down and spent a little time to talk to me about my medical situation.
“I found out that he always talked to his patients like that. It made a big impression on me. I’ll always remember what a caring doctor Dr. Arnold is. He was my ‘bestest’ doctor. No one compares to him.”
Kathleen Norris agreed. “Dr. Stephen Arnold cared for my parents, John and Lois Norris, for many years, and when my elderly mother was misdiagnosed with depression, he took the trouble to find the cause of her illness.
“It was neural pressure hydrocephaly, which is often labeled depression or dementia. He caught it early. He warned us that while the treatment he proposed might not cure the condition, it would prevent it from getting any worse.”
Dr. Arnold is retiring this summer, and the 2,500 patients he cared for will miss him.
Doctor and seamstress
Kathleen Sattler said, “Dr. Sharon Lawler is amazing. No white coat for this little tiny woman who wears jeans and boots during office hours!
“Sharon Lawler has a huge patient base and yet can walk into an examining room, call you by name and knows your medical history without even looking at your chart.
“I fell early one morning on my kitchen floor about 10 years ago and badly bruised my inner thigh. Within 24 hours the bruise had erupted into ugly, infected blisters.
“My brother Kerry took one look at it and said, ‘Get in the car. You’re going to see the doctor!’ Before I could say hello, Dr. Sharon Lawler took one look at my leg and sent me immediately to emergency, where a team of physicians was waiting for me.
“Her quick diagnosis and action saved my life. I spent five weeks in the hospital, undergoing surgeries and slowly recovering.
“After many follow-up visits, Dr. Lawler and I eventually became good friends and were talking about my upcoming wedding. She offered to sew my wedding dress! And she did a beautiful job as a talented seamstress!
“She is not only my favorite doctor, but a forever friend.”
‘Equal to half-dozen normal people’
Ted Ralston in Waimanalo said, “Dr. Robert Chu Ho Chung of Kailua was a master of caring for patients and the entire community. He is the source of energy that generated the Castle Medical Center, the first comprehensive facility in Windward Oahu. He was a founding member of its board of trustees.
“As a small kid in a family of six, I was totally impressed by his ‘whirlwind’ method of medical care. He was, it seemed, zipping all over Kailua in his car, making house calls to his patients.
“In the office his patient volume was bursting at the seams. It looked to me like he was equal to half-dozen normal people.
“His style of patient interaction matched his whirling-dervish work style. There were no excess words, just a sort of medical assembly line.
“A typical office interaction: After 45 minutes of horsing around with all of the other kids and parents in the waiting room, I got two minutes with him. No words, no nurse doing a pre-visit workup, just Dr. Chung.
“First the thermometer, then the stethoscope, then feeling around my neck for swelling. Then a quick scribble of an Rx, saying, ‘Take this for six days and see me in a week.’
“Then he’d have a big smile from his boyish face and be out the door in a flash, moving to the next patient in line.”
Dr. Chung died at age 47 in a plane crash in 1973. A pilot with 15 years’ flying experience, he reported engine trouble. He crashed mauka of Kamehameha Highway, half a mile from the airport.
House call
Jerry Bacon said, “Dr. Ian Okazaki was my wife, Mary’s, oncologist for the 15 years or so that she had various forms of cancer, finally passing in 2018. Thus ended our amazingly wonderful 50-year marriage. I still very strongly miss Mary every single day.
“Dr. Okazaki was the most caring physician, and I know he made her long journey much easier. Mary spent her last three days in hospice care at home.
“On the late afternoon of May 4, Mary breathed her last breath, finally releasing my hand, which she had held for two days.
“At that very moment there was a knock on my front door. I went to answer. It was Dr. Okazaki on his way home from work, and he was stopping by to see how Mary was doing. I told him that she had just taken her last breath, and he came in and examined her, confirming officially what we felt we knew.
“He sat with us for a while as we adjusted to what we had known was coming. He was just the most caring physician I have ever met. Every time I am in Straub, I look for him in the Oncology Department to thank him for his care of Mary. Yes, he is retiring this year, and Hawaii will miss him.”
350 open-heart surgeries without a fatality
Walter Dods said, “Dr. Richard Mamiya was a well-known open-heart surgeon in the early days of that new surgery technique. Time magazine wrote that he performed 350 consecutive surgeries without a fatality.”
He performed an estimated 10,000 heart surgeries and 20,000 other operations. He was a pioneer of heart bypass operations.
“Mamiya was a product of Palama Settlement. He was the quarterback at the University of Hawaii in the late 1940s. He set the single-game passing record of 302 yards in 1948 that lasted for 36 years. It was finally passed by UH quarterback Raphael Cherry in 1984.”
He was an early promoter of the medical school at UH and was its first professor of surgery.
Mamiya was the major donor to build a new performing arts center at Saint Louis School, which was named after him. He also donated to the Japanese Cultural Center, Palama Settlement, Honolulu Museum of Art, Bishop Museum and many more local nonprofits.
John Votsis said Dr. Mamiya performed a valve replacement on him in 1985. “Today, 39 years later, I’m incredibly grateful to Dr. Mamiya for my life.
“Upon retirement, Dr. Mamiya relocated to Japan to provide pro bono heart surgery on children of families in need — talk about giving back!”
Ankle tattoo overreaction
Mike Winchatz commented on an interaction he had with Dr. Sylvia Pager. “In the 1990s my daughter and I were entering our car following her school day and some shopping when I noticed a mark on her ankle.
“As a recent widower, I was alarmed and worried after being told that a classmate did it. So, we immediately drove to her pediatrician’s office, the very caring Dr. Sylvia Pager.
“Then, after first meeting with my daughter, Dr. Pager asked if she could meet with me separately. To my surprise, I did not get the supportive reaction I anticipated. Instead, I was asked why we were there.
“After hearing my worst fears, Dr. Pager professionally and good-naturedly lectured me and told me not to worry, as if getting tattooed by a classmate was normal behavior!
“This dashing of my fatherly instincts was only compounded further by personal embarrassment, because as we drove away, my daughter said to me, ‘Dad, those are mom’s initials.’”
Readers: Have you had a memorable doctor? I’d particularly like to hear about neighbor island MDs.
Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up for his free email newsletter at RearviewMirrorInsider.com.
