Kahuku General is the only certified hospital
within the Ko'olau Loa Region and is currently being
operated by the State of Hawaii. Without this
hospital emergency medical services are not
locally available to more than 24,000 residents
within a 30 mile radius. The Ko'olau Loa
Revitalization Plan calls for purchasing the
hospital, restructuring its operation,
developing a new focus for the organization,
and creating additional and unique services.
The hospital will be renovated using state-of-the-art technologies in renewable energy, waste management, and bio-hazard destruction. A photovoltaic cell system will be employed in a size large enough to supply the hospital's entire electrical needs, thereby reducing its dependency on fossil fuel generated power. Additionally, renovation of the hospital will employ material that is proven environmentally sound and comes from easily renewable sources; e.g., bamboo flooring.
By doing so, KLP will rebuild the hospital into the Ko'olau Loa Regional Medical Center (KRMC), enhance the service quality of the organization, and change the focus from the treatment of "acute care" in-patients to the "preventative medicine" treatment of out-patients; while retaining its critical care, labratory, and emergency medical capability. KRMC will focus its energy on becoming the premier center for the research and treatment of diabetes and its related illnesses in the Pacific region.
KRMC will develop as a centralized general care hospital supported by a myriad of specialized clinics, such as; an Ambulatory Surgical Center, a Renal Treatment and Kidney Dialysis Center, a "Triage" Center, an Oncology Center, an Orthopedic Center. These specialist centers will be assisted by a Skilled Nursing Division, a Department of Social Services, an Appointment and Patient Records Center, and centralized Housekeeping, Administration, and Risk Management departments.
KRMC will be upgraded so that it is capable of providing the patient service quality and professional staffing necessary for it to obtain certification as a teaching hospital for rural doctors and registered nurses, and as such will work hand-in-hand with the proposed Ko'olau Loa Vocational College by providing the college with a physical location to provide practical training for its nursing students.
The enhancement of the hospital will ensure that the residents of the Ko'olau Loa region of O'ahu will have high quality medical care available for themselves and their children. Without this project, the hospital will fall to being supported by the State of Hawaii which intends to sustain the level of services previously provided, leaving well child, degenerative disease research and treatment, family medical practice, ambulatory surgery, long term medical treatment, and care for the aged unavailable within the immediate area
Through the Ko'olau Loa Revitalization Project, the communities within the region will receive dramatically enhanced medical services and an improved quality of life. It is estimated that KRMC will maintain approximately 200 existing jobs within the region that may be lost if the hospital is operated by the State of Hawaii, and be responsible for the creation of as many as 500 new, meaningful jobs for the region's current and future population.
