Pali Momi Medical Center is celebrating 25 years of serving West Oahu with 82 employees who have been there since the beginning.
"They have seen the community grow," said Chief Executive Officer Jen Chahanovich. "They are a part of the solution to make sure that we have that great patient experience."
The nonprofit center has 1,307 staff members and last year admitted 6,797 patients. Of the employees who have stayed put since the facility’s late July 1989 opening as an affiliate of Hawaii Pacific Health, 35 are physicians.
Among them is Dr. Bryan Matsumoto, an internist with Pearl City Medical Associates. His group, which has 10 physicians, was created in 1958 and moved to Pali Momi in 1989. What the group liked about the hospital, Matsumoto said, was its convenience of having numerous services located in one area.
What Matsumoto finds most satisfying is the opportunity Pali Momi offers to develop close relationships with patients, sometimes caring for entire families.
"We’ve been taking care of this community for all those years and … multiple generations," he said.
Chahanovich said the center’s close ties with the surrounding Aiea area and other communities help shape the lineup of services.
"Pali Momi Medical Center, it is so unique the way that it goes out into the community, finds the services that’s needed and they put those programs in place," she said.
Pali Momi is the only hospital in the state to use a team triage approach in the emergency room.
The emergency department’s manager, Jocelyn Granier, helped establish that approach, through which patients are promptly evaluated by an emergency physician. Since the triage effort was put in place about seven years ago, Granier said, "We found that this has cut down our through-put time," which spans from arrival to either admission to the hospital or leaving the ER to go home.
Granier, who started out as a staff nurse in the emergency department, said patient-centered care "was just what I wanted," adding, "So I stayed."
The hospital also features fresh technology such as a robot named Steve that can perform minimally invasive surgeries while under the control of a surgeon, and a CT machine that can produce a heart study in less than one heartbeat.
In the 2-year-old Women’s Center, each exam room, from flooring to furniture, has an individualized look to help patients feel as comfortable as possible. Chahanovich said some cancer patients who have negative memories associated with generic exam rooms appreciate the varied assortment.
Matsumoto said he’s optimistic that in the next 25 years Pali Momi, which has 126 beds and more than 400 physicians on staff, will continue to develop its services and serve the growing community.
"It keeps getting better," Matsumoto said. "I think a lot of this is a result of excellent leadership. (The) administration has been very hands-on."
