Pahoa health center gets $5K

AlohaCare, Hawaii’s largest safety-net Medicaid and Medicare plan, recently donated $5,000 to Bay Clinic’s Pahoa Family Health Center and Pahoa Women and Children’s Health Center to help ensure continued service delivery for the residents of lower Puna in the wake of the June 27 lava flow.

Pahoa Family Health Center and the Pahoa Women and Children’s Health Center are two of the nine clinics operated by Bay Clinic, Inc.

Pahoa Family Health Center is ready to deploy a mobile health unit, staffed with physicians and other healthcare professionals, to meet the needs of residents who have been impacted by the lava flow.

“Although these residents may be cut off from seeing their physician or their pharmacy, we want to let them know they have not been forgotten,” said John McComas, AlohaCare chief executive officer. “We appreciate the rapid response and selfless concern demonstrated by these health centers, and this unrestricted donation is one of the ways we’re reaching out to support these healthcare professionals on the frontlines.”

“We appreciate the support and generosity of AlohaCare, especially at a challenging time like this,” said Harold Wallace, chief executive officer of Bay Clinic Inc., the Big Island’s largest nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center.

AlohaCare has made personal phone calls to the estimated 900 AlohaCare members affected by the Kilauea lava flow who live in Pahoa and Puna.

The health plan is directing them to the mobile clinics and urging them to seek the closest available pharmacy to obtain medications that may have been lost or need to be refilled.

Hawaii Island residents who are impacted by the lava flow and have questions about what their plan may cover during these circumstances may call AlohaCare toll free at 1-800-434-1002.