Kevin Nietzer figured it would take months for the word to spread that a new dental facility is open in North Kona. ADVERTISING Kevin Nietzer figured it would take months for the word to spread that a new dental facility
Kevin Nietzer figured it would take months for the word to spread that a new dental facility is open in North Kona.
But demand for dental services at the new West Hawaii Community Health Center in Kealakehe has been so brisk in a single month that Nietzer, the facility’s dental director, said it’s time to look into hiring more staff.
“It’s probably the nicest, newest place in town and it’s been busy,” said Nietzer. “The waiting room has filled up and most of our patients live within a couple of miles.”
That proximity to patients in need is the whole concept behind the new 10,500 square-foot dental and medical center, the sixth and only facility of the WHCHC that was specifically built for the purpose it serves.
This latest addition to West Hawaii health services was feted Saturday in a grand opening celebration that gave the broader community a look at the $9 million facility and treated them to a variety of activities to celebrate.
The facility, on four acres leased from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, is at the heart of the Lai Opua Community Center complex, which at full buildout would include a preschool, a community center offering an array of programs and services, an aquatics center and gymnasium, recreation center, an amphitheater, intergenerational daycare facility, park and gardens and other features.
The center offers medical, dental and behavioral health services — the outcome of a 2008 partnership with Lai Opua 2020, the native Hawaiian non-profit organization that invited WHCHC to the site to serve Native Hawaiian homesteaders and others within the Kealakehe ahupuaa and surrounding area.
The dental side has eight operatories, with one adult care dentist and two pediatric dentists. The center provides emergency care for adults, and the dental care for children under 18 is covered under Medicaid.
The medical side features eight exam rooms, behavioral health consultation rooms and a patient service area, and is staffed with one doctor, two nurses and a psychologist. A physician’s assistant is being brought on board, said Lauren Avery, director of development and marketing for WHCHC.
The center offers sliding-scale billing for the uninsured and takes patients under various levels of insurance coverage. About 70 percent of WHCHC patients have incomes below the federal poverty level.
With 25 total employees, the facility will serve 5,200 patients within a year, administrators say.
“We will be adding providers as we grow,” said Richard Taaffe, the center’s executive director. “There are assumptions out there that we will close other facilities. We will not be closing those facilities. The need is too great.”
“We have talked about this being a modern puuhonua — a place of wellness, safety and healing,” Taaffe said. “That’s what we want to make it.”
Adjacent to the medical center and its 4,000 square-foot outdoor pavilion, grading has been accomplished for the parking lot of a new community center building. Bo Kahui hopes to seek permits for the planned $7 million, 14,000-square foot facility by the end of the year.
“It’s not just about the medical center, it’s about the aquatic center, the community park, the facilities to improve the quality of life,” said Kahui, executive director of the Lai Opua 2020.
The designs for the community center — to house a business incubator, workforce development and social, educational and cultural programs — have been completed and Lai Opua is in the process of raising funds for construction.
Gov. David Ige released a $950,000 grant-in-aid in March for the parking lot and development of the road to the community center, located off Keanalehu Drive.
In regard to the medical and dental center, a proclamation from Ige’s office touted the increase in access for several thousand new patients and reduced waiting times for those needing care.
The grand opening also marked the 10th anniversary of WHCHC. A decade ago, the center operated out of three exam rooms at the facility on Hualalai Road and Kuakini Highway, serving just over 900 people in the first year, Taaffe said. Today, that number is 13,000 residents and a total of more than 48,000 patient visits.
