Hamakua-Kohala Health to expand services with grant

Hamakua-Kohala Health is expanding behavioral health and substance abuse treatment services with ongoing funding from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.

An initial grant of $253,000 will renew annually to facilitate Hamakua-Kohala Health’s outreach and treatment programs at its Honokaa and Kohala primary care centers. “This is great news for North Hawaii as Hamakua-Kohala Health can now better address the critical need for expanding behavioral health services and its community outreach and treatment of substance abuse,” said CEO Irene Carpenter.

Hawaii ranks 22nd in the nation for the prevalence of suicide. While the state’s overall suicide rate is decreasing, the rate of suicide in Hawaii County is increasing. On the Big Island, 29.8 percent of teens report depression, 16.9 percent report suicidal thoughts, 15.2 percent made plans for suicide and 10.7 percent attempted suicide, according to the state’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey Module, 2011-2013.

“We are fortunate to have a great behavior health team that provides services to one or two suicidal patients per week — but we need to grow our treatment resources and identify people with substance abuse before they show up as suicidal,” Carpenter said County Councilwoman Margaret Wille applauded Hamakua-Kohala Health’s expanded ability to focus on this critical issue.

“Many of us have brothers, sisters, cousins, friends and neighbors who are addicted to meth and other dangerous drugs. We want to point to services in our local community that can help them make the change to a drug-free, healthy and productive life,” she said. “We can now enthusiastically point to Hamakua-Kohala Health as the support services that can help them make this change.”