Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 2, 1 Pepeluali 2009 — Hāna dialysis [ARTICLE]

Hāna dialysis

Residents of Hāna are hailing a decision by the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) that brings their remote East Maui community one step closer to establishing a unique eommunal dialysis home. (See related cover story in the December Ka Wai Ola.) The board has unanimously agreed to redesignate a state-owned cottage in Hāna to heeome the site where residents ean receive treatment from homedialysis units with help from trained healthcare providers. The arrangement solves a dilemma that has long troubled Hāna dialysis patients and their 'ohana. Many Hāna homes offer neither the privacy nor infrastructure suited to home-dialysis units, prompting dialysis patients to make a grueling six-hour round trip to Wailuku to receive the life-sustaining treatment. A eommunal dialysis home creates an enviromnent that acconunodates personal privacy, 'ohana comfort and medical expertise. The stateowned cottage, selected as ideal by Hui Laulima O Hana - the community's dialysis patient support group, had been limited to use as a doctor's residence under an 82-year-old state executive order, necessitating the redesignation action by the BLNR. There is still a need for plumhing and electrical improvements to be made to the cottage, but hui members, who also received from the BLNR a cottage lease for 20 years for an annual $1 fee, said the building renovation is moving ahead as planned with the help of county and privately donated funds. They expect the new home could open in early spring.

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