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The nonprofit health center running the Waianae Coast’s only emergency room is doubling the number of rooms available to treat urgent cases and expanding its reach in Leeward Oahu.
On Saturday, scores turned out for the blessing for the Harry &Jeanette Weinberg Emergency Medical Services Building at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center. The building, slated to open in June, will house 16 exam rooms, up from eight, a laboratory and a radiology department, all to be open 24 hours a day.
The building also contains space for the A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine, which is already operating on center grounds.
Richard Bettini, president and chief executive officer of the Waianae health center, said the organization is evolving to be part of the solution for improving residents’ health and to address the rising costs of health care. In addition, he said the community center has opened school-based health clinics at Waianae’s public high school and intermediate school to address health problems at an earlier stage.
The health center, which opened its first emergency room in 1975, is planning to hold clinics at Nanakuli High &Intermediate School and already has satellite clinics in Nanakuli, Waipahu, Kapolei and Ewa.
Bettini said the center is the largest employer on the Waianae Coast, with 650 employees.
During the blessing, Gov. David Ige called the center an innovative healing center, a cornerstone of the community and the “pride of Hawaii.”
It is one of only two community health centers in the country with a trauma support facility, an emergency room that can prepare patients for transfer to a major trauma center, such as the The Queen’s Medical Center.
Completion of emergency room construction will wrap up a 10-year, $49 million capital improvement campaign that put up three buildings. The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, the namesake for all three, donated about $9 million to the project.
Edward Ho, emergency room manager, said the design of the new emergency room will increase efficiency and the number of patients treated. A specially equipped triage room will allow nurses, doctors and assistants to more quickly assess patients and either order further diagnostic testing and treatment or patch up the less serious cases and send them home.
Dr. Bob Bonham, an emergency room physician, said patients equate faster treatment with better treatment. In addition, emergency room staff will be connecting with other health care professionals in the area to ensure continuity of patient care.
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