The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Family Medical Center – a gleaming beacon and a major investment in the well-being of the residents of the Leeward Coast. – Photo: T. Ilihia Gionson

Wai'anae health center blesses new building

By T. Ilihia Gionson / Ka Wai Ola Loa

On a steep mountainside between Mā'ili and Wai'anae, O'ahu, stands a gleaming beacon, a major investment in the well-being of a community. The Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center held a blessing on Dec. 4 for their newest addition, the three-story, $12 million Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Family Medical Center.

The health center offers integrated care that incorporates different disciplines of health in one place that highlights the values of the community it serves.

"The model of care in a community like ours isn't a medical center, it's a health center," CEO Richard Bettini explained. For example, a patient with diabetes may also be dealing with obesity, diet issues, depression and dental problems. Rather than have the patient run back and forth between three or four doctor's offices, "the whole idea is to be a medical home, a one-stop shop."

The new building will allow for more efficient delivery of these integrated services to patients.

"Physicians, behaviorists, dentists, social workers and traditional healers are all on site," Bettini said, offering complementary therapies as diverse as root canals and behavioral health services to lā'au lapa'au and ho'oponopono. "We've gotten the Western practitioners and traditional practitioners to work together."

Hula and music help celebrate a new phase in medical care for the Leeward O‘ahu community. – Photo: T. Ilihia Gionson

But the traditional healing services are not simply an option offered in a Western medical setting. Guided by a kupuna council, the center's guidelines are clear for traditional healing therapies. "It's not like a referral to a specialist," Bettini said. "(Our kupuna council) said that the patient must make the first step toward seeking traditional healing."

And perhaps the most significant floor of the new building is the basement learning center. One of Wai'anae health center's mandates is to fill staff positions as much as possible with people from the Leeward O'ahu area, which it serves. Currently, about 80 percent of the staff of 500 is from the area, Bettini estimates. And the new learning space will allow for more education in health fields in the community.

"A big part of what we do as a medical home is train people, so these jobs can go to people from here," Bettini said.

Among the educational programs that will be housed in the new learning center is the health center's partnership with A.T. Stills University, a community-based medical school that provides graduate-level health education. The health center also operates the Wai'anae Health Academy, which has trained 1,000 people in partnership with the University of Hawai'i Community Colleges. Staff members are also offered the opportunity to take college credit classes on the Wai'anae health center's campus.

The community welcomes the new $12 million Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Family Medical Center, the newest addition of the Wai‘anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center. – Photo: T. Ilihia Gionson

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation was the largest single contributor to the center, but support came from all corners of the community. The federal and state governments, the local business community, local foundations, the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center's board of directors, community members, and even employees all contributed significantly to bring the new building to fruition.

Hundreds of dignitaries and community members were present at the blessing ceremony for the new building, including U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI).

"I'm proud of the leadership and staff and how they've improved health care for the people of the Wai'anae Coast. Their intentions to use culturally appropriate methods for better health is the future," Akaka said. As for the new building, the senator said: "The facility is beautiful and means they can provide better service. It truly is a community effort."

All of this comes back to the health center's mission to care for the Leeward O'ahu community, which includes many Native Hawaiians.

Health and community leaders welcome well-wishers to the new facility. – Photo: T. Ilihia Gionson

"We look at Native Hawaiian health as an issue. … If you're going to have a successful medical home in a Native Hawaiian community, the governance needs to be at a community level," Bettini said.

Out of the current 17 board members, 10 are elected from community, and many are Native Hawaiian.

A big part of the center's mandate is to care for people with limited means and the uninsured. Bettini estimates that Wai'anae health center gives away between $3 million and $4 million a year in services and medications to the community. "Nobody gets turned away, everyone is welcome, and we treat everyone the same," Bettini said.

"Our health center serves 26,000 people a year, and more than half are Native Hawaiians, most of which are low-income," he said. "We are the medical home of 14,000 Hawaiians."