Hawaiʻi Island Community Health Center opened a new South Kona center located in Kealakekua.
The new 8,600 square foot health center, which features 7 new dental operatories and 16 exam rooms, is located in the Kealakekua Business Plaza Building, on Halekiʻi Street.
In addition to providing primary medical, dental and behavioral health care services, the center will provide enabling services including eligibility and enrollment support for the uninsured, underinsured and low income clients, referral services to specialists, assistance with prescription medication, language interpretation and translation services, care coordination for patients with chronic diseases and health education and community outreach programs.
“This expansion into South Kona has always been part of our long-term vision formulated over 18 years ago,” said Hawaiʻi Island Community Health Center CEO, Richard Taaffe in a press release. Taaffe continued, “The scale of the new facility will allow us to provide over 10,000 annual dental visits and over 20,000 medical visits to roughly 6,000 keiki and adult patients. We also anticipate providing 2,000 behavioral health visits annually.”
The opening of the new Kealakekua Health Center is the first of many new upcoming infrastructure projects planned across Hawaiʻi Island. Hawaiʻi Island Community Health Center is currently working on a new women’s health clinic in Hilo, and a new in-house pharmacy in West Hawaiʻi with many additional capital projects in planning over the next five years.
The new Kealakekua Community Health Center was made possible through generous support from the Hawaii Dental Service Foundation, Hawaiʻi Community Foundation Atherton Fund, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, William G. Irwin Charity Foundation, County of Hawaiʻi, and the State of Hawaiʻi.
For more information visit www.HICommunityHealthCenter.org or call 808-333-3600 for Eastside and 808-326-5629 for Westside info.
Photo credit: Hawaiʻi Island Community Health Center
