By COLIN M. STEWART
By COLIN M. STEWART
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer
The Hilo Veterans Administration clinic is looking for a new location in town to call home.
For the last 12 years, the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System’s Community-Based Outpatient Clinic has been located across Waianuenue Avenue from Hilo Medical Center, said Craig Oswald, a facility strategic planner for the VA. But after the lease ran out about a year and a half ago, administrators learned they would have to search for a new building. They’ve continued leasing the property on a month-to-month basis since.
“We were taking steps to renew the lease, when we were confronted with two different realities,” Oswald said. “One was (new) federal requirements on certain federal seismic standards. … The second was that the hospital has other plans for use of the space we’re in. So, they are trying to help us find another suitable location.”
Updated federal guidelines state that VA clinics can’t be located in tsunami or flood inundation zones, Oswald said, and the buildings they use must be able to withstand earthquakes to a certain standard. The clinic’s current location does not meet that earthquake standard, nor do many of the buildings in Hilo, he added.
“It’s difficult, because the building has to be newer, and a lot of the buildings in Hilo are older,” he said.”
Meanwhile, the hospital has said it would like the VA to vacate its current location by November, Oswald said.
“We like being near the hospital because we do a lot of veterans business with them. … Our interactions with and use of Hilo Medical Center has been exemplary for many years,” he said. “There’s a strong partnership between us and a lot of aloha there, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
In an emailed response on Wednesday, Hilo Medical Center Director of Marketing Mary Stancill said that the hospital notified the VA in February that its lease of the second floor of the building would not be renewed.
“HMC intends to relocate the Hawaii Island Family Medicine Residency Program to the space formerly occupied by the VA,” she said. “Following the VA’s move from the space (which is anticipated in November), HMC will begin refurbishing the space to meet the needs of the Residency Program, one of which is to be close to the hospital.”
Oswald was careful to be clear that whatever solution the VA decides upon in searching for a new home, veterans in Hilo will not see any kind of interruption in service.
“Whether we have to build a new building, which could take … up to a couple years, or whether we establish a new lease in a different location, we are not ever going to close or stop any form of veterans care. This will all be seamless,” he said.
The VA has been communicating with area landlords and ran an ad in the Tribune-Herald for about three weeks seeking possibilities. The clinic requires between 7,000 and 9,000 square feet of medical office space to serve its 2,800 patients, and a parking lot that can accommodate 50 vehicles. In addition, public transportation must be within .25 miles of the office.
For more information, contact contract specialist Jerzy Brozyna at 3801 Miranda Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304, by phone at (650) 493-5000, ext. 62090, or via email at jerzy.brozyna@va.gov.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.