Med center in Hilo gets
anonymous endowment

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Star-Bulletin staff

A Hilo physician who wants to remain anonymous has endowed the Hilo Medical Center Foundation with a gift that is expected to generate more than $6 million in income during the next five generations.

The foundation said the gift was made through the xélan Permanent Endowment Program of the national xélan Foundation Inc.

Increasing amounts of guaranteed endowments are created each generation, allowing for a permanent and increasing endowment so long as Hilo Medical Center offers medical services to the community, the center's foundation said.

Fred Koehnen, Hilo Medical Center Foundation president, said he hopes the endowment, in combination with fund-raising, will help pay for renovations at the medical center.

The center foundation funded refurbishing of two waiting areas in the hospital and, with Hilo Bay Rotary, sponsored a lobby atrium garden replanting project.

The foundation plans to raise funds to renovate the medical center's 10-bed emergency room -- the second busiest in the state with more than 25,000 patients annually.

The Medical Center Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose trustees are community members. Separate from the hospital, its mission is to support the medical center so it can provide health care for the community.