Waianae center gets
unexpected donation

The health program is given
$50,000 at the Sony Open

The Waianae Comprehensive Health Center received $50,000 during the weekend from the Crestor Charity Challenge at the Sony Open at the Waialae Country Club.

Joyce O'Brien, associate director of the health center, said the unexpected windfall would be used to improve services for adults trying to manage chronic diseases such as diabetes and high-cholesterol problems.

The center is in the process of designing a new three-story building to house the center, which serves 23,000 patients a year, on the same site, between Maili and the town of Waianae, she said.

Adult care will be on the first floor, and pediatrics and women's health services on the second and third floors, respectively, O'Brien said.

The center's staff was ecstatic when it learned of the donation about three weeks ago -- "we usually don't get money given to us," she said.

They were surprised to be singled out from all the nonprofit organizations that exist, especially given the fact that "we're all the way out here on the Waianae Coast."

Tony Guerrero, president of Friends of Hawaii Charities, host of the annual Sony Open golf tournament, said he recommended the sum go to the health center because the center is "a real grass-roots organization that meets the tremendous needs of the Leeward side of the island."

Crestor is the brand name of medication used to lower high cholesterol, a disease rampant in the Waianae community, "so it was a good fit" to choose the health center, Guerrero said. AstraZeneca, the company that makes Crestor, offers the challenge at the 35 Professional Golfers Association Tour events it sponsors, he said.

This is the first time the center has received such a large amount through the Sony Open Crestor Challenge, he said.

Overall, AstraZeneca donates a total of $100,000 to the charity challenge. Another $50,000 will be donated to a recipient to be chosen later, Guerrero said.