Senators urge city
to speed OK for
Pacific Health Center

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By Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.com

After killing a House bill last month that exempted the proposed $300 million Pacific Health Center in Waipio from state and city approvals, state senators are urging the city to speed up approval of it.

The Senate Health and Transportation and Government Operations committees heard testimony yesterday in support of -- and approved two -- resolutions that urged the mayor and the city to expedite the 210-acre for-profit integrated health center to replace the 44-year-old Wahiawa General Hospital.

Dr. Edmund Whang, chairman of the Wahiawa General Hospital board, told senators in his written testimony yesterday that it has taken the hospital more than six years and $6 million to develop the Pacific Health Center, and it is not even halfway through receiving all of its government approvals.

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"Wahiawa cannot continue to keep potential partners interested in the Pacific Health Center, let alone continue the project for another two or three years, which is the time it takes to get government approvals in this Hawaii, without help from the state," Whang said.

The City Council is reviewing the center's plan review use permit after the city administration recommended its approval. The project also needs approval by the state Land Use Commission and a certificate of need by the state Health Planning and Development Agency.

This session, state Rep. Marcus Oshiro (D, Wahiawa), who serves as board secretary of Wahiawa General Hospital, introduced and pushed through the House bill that would have allowed the project to bypass city and state review.

The bill and a bill allocating bonds for the project passed the 51-member House with the two-thirds vote needed for bills dealing with special-purpose revenue bonds. Twelve Republicans voted against the bills, as did two Democrats, and 14 other Democrats in the House majority had strong reservations about it.

The measures also raised questions of a conflict of interest for Oshiro, who was allowed to vote on the project despite serving on the Wahiawa Hospital board. Oshiro said an opinion from the Ethics Commission noted that as a legislator he was not in conflict and did not violate the Ethics Code.

The Senate Transportation and Government Operations Committee shelved the measure allowing the project to bypass county approvals.

Oshiro did not testify on the resolutions yesterday. But others with ties to the project said that with 450 employees and 65 doctors, Wahiawa Hospital is the largest employer in Central Oahu.

While St. Francis Medical-West Center in Ewa and Kapiolani Medical Center at Pali Momi in Pearl City have diminished its service area, the hospital is still the only one providing health care services for Central Oahu and North Shore families, testified Rodger McCloskey, chairman of the Wahiawa Hospital Association.

"We need a new facility in a new location," McCloskey said.

Amended versions of Senate Concurrent Resolution 143 and Senate Resolution 95 now go to the Senate for a vote.