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Local Community Health Centers Receive $32M From Stimulus Bill

Fourteen community health centers throughout the islands are receiving about $32 million from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, the latest federal COVID-19 stimulus bill.

The funds can be used to expand COVID-19 vaccination-related activities, detect and treat COVID-19 infections, expand healthcare services and infrastructure, conduct community and educational outreach related to COVID-19, and more

Nationwide, health centers are receiving about $6.1 billion in funding. Each health center is receiving a base fund of $500,000, plus $125 per patient reported in 2019, plus $250 per uninsured patient reported in 2019.

Here are the recipients:

  • Hana Community Health Center (Hana) - $812,875
  • Bay Clinic, Inc. (Hilo) - $3,635,250
  • Hamakua Health Center Inc. (Honoka‘a) - $1,297,000
  • Kalihi Palama Health Center (Honolulu) $4,817,125
  • K?kua Kalihi Valley (Comprehensive Family Services) (Honolulu) - $2,390,250
  • Waikiki Health (Honolulu) - $1,950,375
  • Ko‘olauloa Health Center (Kahuku) - $1,455,000
  • West Hawai‘i Community Health Center Inc. (Kailua-Kona) - $2,924,125
  • Moloka‘i Ohana Health Care, Inc. (Kaunakakai) - $839,500
  • Lana'i Community Health Center (Lanai City) - $835,375
  • Ho‘ola Lahui Hawaii Inc. (Lihue) - $1,080,250
  • Waianae District Comprehensive Health And Hospital Board, Inc. (Waianae) - $6,072,375
  • Community Clinic Of Maui, Inc. (Wailuku) - $2,629,875
  • Waimanalo Health Center (Waimanalo) - $1,229,875

On the island of Hawai‘i, the Bay Clinic recently set up a mobile clinic to help vaccinate residents of Miloli?i, a remote South Kona community.

CEO Kimo Alameda said bringing the event to Miloli?i was a logistical challenge with no access to county electricity, for example, to keep the vaccines cold until they?re administered.

“So we have to take generators, electrical cords, gasoline. We have to take special Wi-Fi equipment to access the internet. That means we have to take laptops,” Alameda said. “We have to kind of replicate a clinic in a halau, in a pavilion, basically.”

The funds will help the Bay Clinic and others continue events like that. Health centers are expected to receive funds starting in April.

“Our Community Health Centers have played a crucial part in Hawai?i’s response to COVID-19,” Congressman Kaiali?i Kahele said. “These funds from the American Rescue Plan will help ensure our most vulnerable populations will receive the treatment and services they need to prevent and combat the coronavirus.” 

Click here to view more health center funding data.

Sophia McCullough is HPR's digital news editor. Contact her at news@hawaiipublicradio.org.
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