Page 6 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - Jan 12, 2022

6 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK JANUARY 12, 2022
fter celebrating its centennial anni- versary this past year, Straub Med- ical Center is now
all aspects of patient health — prevention, treatment, access and affordability.
squarely poised to transform health care for posterity.
“The groundbreaking for Straub’s health care campus of the future was a way for us to celebrate this historic mile- stone and honor the work by our physicians, nurses, staff and board volunteers, who have positioned us well for the next century of quality health care,” he adds.
On Dec. 13, Straub Med- ical Center held a ground- breaking to officially unveil an expansive redevelopment project for its existing cam- pus, providing patients with everything needed to cover all the bases of their well-be- ing. Straub’s new site will be almost triple the current facility’s size at 760,000 square feet and will consist of a multiyear effort. It will also be the biggest endeavor of its kind yet by parent company Hawai‘i Pacific Health. This is expected to be a 15-year project and it will be con- structed in multiple phases.
With their founder’s vision in mind, Art Gladstone (right) and others at Straub Medical Center walk confidently toward the next century of health care excellence.
(Above) Dr. Stephen Arnold, an internist at Straub Medical Center since 1978, poses with Art Gladstone, executive vice president and chief strategy officer of Hawai‘i Pacific Health, in front of a portrait of Dr. George F. Straub, the medical center’s founding physician. (Left) Gladstone carries the Healthgrades America’s 250 Best Hospitals Award for 2021, which was received by Straub Medical Center.
“This is more than a rebuilding of the Straub Medical Center,” says Art Gladstone, executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Hawai‘i Pacific Health. “This redevelopment is about building a health care campus of the future, which will progressively address the medical needs of future gener- ations. We are looking to cre- ate a space with the tools and resources necessary to impact
“The Straub redevelop- ment reflects our vision for the future of health care. We are in the design phase for the first phase of this project, which is the parking structure. Demolition for this phase will begin in 2022. The new park- ing structure will have 1,650 stalls, replacing the existing 400-stall parking garage.”
The future campus will include a new medical cen- ter building that is more spacious and flexible, with larger patient and operating rooms, as well as additional space for the emergency de- partment. It will also feature a renovation of the current Straub Medical Center and Strode Medical Building,
“Since this is a long-term project, there is still a lot of planning ahead. Our vision is a health care campus that provides us flexibility, since the pandemic has taught us that we need to be nimble and adapt to unforeseen cir- cumstances. For example, the new parking structure has the capability for six of its floors to be converted for clinical services, if the need arises. All of our planning is about putting patients’ needs first,” Gladstone elaborates.
Gladstone notes that Straub thoughtfully and diligently acquired either via purchase or long-term ground lease the several properties that make up the new city-block campus, which is bordered by South King, South Hotel and Ke- alamakai streets, and Ward
Many groups of people are credited with bring- ing this project to fruition, according to Gladstone. Aside from obtaining a certificate of need from the State Health Planning and Development Agency of the Hawai‘i Department of Health, the medical center also received unanimous approval from the Honolulu City Council.
which was designed by ac- claimed architect Charles W. Dickey.
“Straub has a stellar rep- utation and we wanted to ensure that it retained that standing by moving forward with an aggressive, state-of- the-art redevelopment that will serve the health care needs of the people of Ha- waiʻi for the next 100 years.”
Avenue. The first purchased property on this city-block dates back to 1926 and ac- quisitions for the campus continued into 2021.
SEE PAGE 7