Lingle urged to support
Big Isle VA care home
Now that lawmakers have approved the state's $16 million share for a long-term care home in Hilo for U.S. military veterans, supporters are urging Gov. Linda Lingle to let it stand.
The governor earlier this year met with community leaders in Hilo and expressed concern the Legislature might reject the proposal, said Leonard Tanaka, co-chairman of the Hilo Medical Center Foundation's Community Liaison Committee.
"She was all for the project and the concept, but said because of the fiscal constraints facing the state she felt it might not get through the Legislature," he said.
"We are grateful that lawmakers supported it," Tanaka said, adding that the next step is to persuade the governor not to exercise her line-item veto of the bond authorization.
The Veterans Home would be the first of its kind in Hawaii, which is one of only three states without a long-term care home for veterans. The 200-bed federally supported facility is expected to cost $45 million.
U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye promised Hilo community leaders that he would get the $29 million federal share through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to cover 65 percent of the construction costs.
The Veterans Home would be built on the campus of the Hilo Medical Center, Tanaka said.
Part of the construction money will be used for the demolition of the abandoned "eyesore" old Hilo Hospital building, he said.
During the legislative session, Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim told lawmakers that the Veterans Home was his priority request.
"This is for the veterans of this state, not just of Hawaii Island," he told lawmakers.
The funding measure included in the capital improvements portion of the state budget bill lists as the state's share $2 million for design, $13 million for construction and $1 million for equipment.
The Hawaii Health Systems Corp., the semiautonomous agency that operates state-owned community hospitals, had suggested the project be scaled back to 100 beds, but community leaders prevailed on lawmakers for full funding, Tanaka said.
Having a veterans home is expected to free Hilo Medical Center's acute care beds, which often now are filled with patients awaiting space in an appropriate long-term-care facility.