The Big Island is slated to get new kidney dialysis clinics in Hilo and Kailua-Kona.
U.S. Renal Care, or USRC, is planning to open a new facility on each side of the island, which together could care for almost 400 patients.
Both health clinics will occupy vacant Pier 1 stores, which closed statewide in early 2020.
USRC’s Hilo center, which will occupy Pier 1’s former space at Prince Kuhio Plaza, will house 30 dialysis stations and two in-house training rooms, accommodating up to 180 patients.
USRC’s smaller west-side location intends to take over Pier 1’s previous spot in the Kona Coast Shopping Center and will offer 12 stations and two in-house training rooms, serving up to 72 dialysis patients.
Each in-house training room allows for 25 patients to self-care at home, and each facility will offer isolation rooms for those who test positive for COVID-19.
USRC applied for building permits in July 2021, but there’s been a significant lag in receiving approval. Vice President of Operations Pliny Arenas said that when building permits are related to health care, the county needs to expedite approval.
“Having to wait six to 12 months for a building permit is too long. Especially with the surge in COVID-19 cases.”
He said that USRC followed up with Mayor Mitch Roth’s office, before the holidays last month, and noted, “Everyone has been very supportive in helping move along the process.”
Sherise Kanae-Kane, information and educational specialist for the county Department of Public Works, said that not only are there quite a few employees out due to COVID-19, but the recent upgrade to the permitting system also is to blame for the holdup.
“The backlog of paper permits being transferred from the old system to the new EPIC, Electronic Processing & Information Center, system has added to the delay in approvals.”
Kanae-Kane added that because of the obvious glitches that come with upgrading systems, employees have had to go back and manually input a lot of the information, which takes time.
Liberty Dialysis, a competitor to USRC, also is building a new clinic next door to its existing Hilo location, and is set to open the doors in early 2023.
Nancy Biegler, director of operations for Liberty, said the company has room to add more patients in Kona but that Hilo is a lot busier. “We recognized that Hilo was going to need to expand in order to be sufficient for many more years to come.”
The new center will have 24 dialysis stations, in addition those already in place, for a total of 72, plus home-therapy rooms for training.
Liberty currently offers facilities in Hilo, Kona and Waimea.
Email Krista Rudiger at krudiger@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
