Kalaupapa: A Collective Memory

Chapter 38. Always This Line of Separation: A Cure, Barriers, and Lawrence Judd

455 38 AlwaysThis Line of Separation A Cure, Barriers, and Lawrence Judd in 1946, promin was introduced at Kalaupapa as a cure for leprosy, and changes were seen practically overnight. Bernard K. Punikai‘a: “When the sulfones arrived, promin, diasone, promacetin­. . .­ they changed our lives . . . and, you know, the interesting thing about how they brought the sulfones to Kalaupapa, to Hawaii, is because patients had threatened to go to court. In fact, as I understand it, a statement to the court was made that forced the Department of Health to change their minds. The sulfones were in use from the early forties . . . at Carville,­ Louisiana, and the success rate was so great. And yet, our physicians here refused to even consider it. Their rationale was that it was still experimental and there were no guarantees. And people were not asking for guarantees. Without the medication, the guarantee was that you would die. That’s it, plain and simple.”1 William Malo: “I was one of the first six people to try promin. Within six months, my sores started healing and I was a lot healthier and I became more active.­I was in the water more often, diving, fishing, and swimming.” Adeline Ogawa (whose mother was sent to Kalaupapa and who worked there for thirty-nine years): “Before promin, it could take a nurse over four hours to do the dressing on one patient.”2 Rose Marks (center, left side of the counter) and her father Manuel Robello Silva (front left) visit their family at the visitors’ quarters at Kalaupapa. On the right side of the counter are (front to back): Frank Silva, Paul Harada, Winnie Harada, and Eddie Marks. Cathrine and Jubilee Puahala are at the back, across from her family. This photo was taken after the chain-link fence that extended from the ceiling to the floor was removed. Courtesy of Winnie Harada.­ AlwaysThis Line of Separation    457 Frank Duarte: “When the promin came, I was only 104 pounds. I thought any day I would die. When promin came, that made us feel like human beings all over again.” Herbert Hayase: “We called it the ‘miracle drug.’” Olivia Breitha: “I couldn’t believe our good luck. I said to myself, ‘Well, the prayers of the ones before me have been answered,’ and I wasn’t gonna waste them. People were happy just thinking about the possibility of getting better. Every injection I took made me feel that I was closer to being able to go outside.” In 1947, Dr. Charles Judd Jr. landed at Kalaupapa. The twenty-six-year-old nephew of former Governor Lawrence Judd had just gotten his medical degree from Yale and kept a journal during his month at Kalaupapa. He described the new treatment with promin and diasone, as well as his feelings that conditions at Kalaupapa needed to change:3 It is ironical that these people should have to be isolated, even though this is a natural community in a beautiful location, while patients with tbc [tuberculosis] can go anywhere, just because you can see leprosy and can’t see the lesions of tbc. Tbc is much more communicable and kills many more people. . . . They have been using promine I-V [intravenous]­for 8 mos. with varying degrees of success to such an extent that the pts. are asking for it more and more and their morale is better. . . . There are insufficient funds to carry on an extensive Rx [treatment] program with these new drugs, but Dr. Sloan is nevertheless going ahead. Dr. Judd also described the friendliness of the community: “When a car drives by, it is customary to shout ‘Huba huba,’ and the riders will yell back ‘Hi Doc.’ . . . Made brief rounds and then went down to the reef to go fishing with John Cambra , a parolee, and Bill McCubbin. John is the fisherman of the community.” After evening discussions with Dr. Sloan and the other doctor, Rolf Von Scorebrand, Dr. Judd found himself thinking, “Life seems to mean more here, and one can think more clearly.” Dr. Judd was concerned over the medical and social situation he saw at Kalaupapa : “There is too much bureaucracy here and the root of the matter seems to lie with the administrator here, the supt. in Honolulu, and in politics. . . . I seem to sense that the happy spirit that keeps the people here working and busy is somehow 458   chapter thirty-eight...