By TOM CALLIS
Tribune-Herald staff writer
The Puna Community Medical Center, after opening its doors only three years ago, is now seeking to bring emergency care to the state’s fastest growing area.
The state’s Board of Land and Natural Resources today will consider an “approval in concept” of the clinic’s request to use public land on Highway 130 for a “stand-a-lone” emergency facility.
If granted, the board’s action would authorize the clinic to develop an environmental assessment and other documents needed before receiving a lease for the five-acre property located near the police and fire station in Pahoa.
The concept is still in its early stages, and construction could be about three years away, said Dan Domizio, clinical programs director.
But its impact would be huge for residents who are 30 minutes or more away from the nearest emergency room in Hilo.
“There’s no doubt about it,” he said. “It will save lives.”
The clinic hasn’t developed a design yet for the proposed facility, but Domizio said it could cost around $4 million to build.
The facility would host less than 20 beds, and would likely have limited hours at first, Domizio said.
The intent is for it to eventually run 24 hours a day.
“It’s a very expensive proposition,” he said, adding that state, federal and private grants are being sought to cover building and operational costs.
To date, the clinic has received an $80,000 HMSA Foundation grant for the project.
Domizio said few funding sources will be available until the property has been set aside.
The clinic is also waiting to have a guranteed lease before it designs the facility.
“We really can’t move forward on this parcel of land unless we have site control,” he said.
Hilo Medical Center has thrown its support behind the project.
“Ambulance response times, coupled with the drive to HMC on a two-lane road, equate to an hour’s journey, even when the traffic is light,” Howard Ainsley, east Hawaii region CEO for Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, said in a letter of support for the proposal.
HMC Marketing Director Mary Stancill said the hospital has the state’s second-busiest emergency room, which treats more than 40,000 patients a year.
“Certainly with Puna being the growing community that it is, it would be great for all of us for them to have greater services,” she said.
Domizio said the clinic, which he referred to as a “band aid” for the community’s medical needs, sees 5,000 patient visits a year.
That’s a number that is expected to grow.
“We’re not building for now,” Domizio said. “We are building for what we see is going to happen.”
The clinic is seeking a 65-year lease.
The agency has offered to lease the property, formerly the site of Puna Certified Nursery, for $480 a month, the lowest amount it can receive.
