An inpatient hospice facility on Hawaiʻi Island will temporarily close its building for maintenance, upgrades and possible expansion.
Pōhai Mālama Care Center will briefly close its building in Hilo at the end of the week — but hospice services will continue.
Current patients will return home to receive at-home hospice, or move to a partner facility.
PMCC operates under Hawaiʻi Care Choices. Less than 5% of their patients utilize inpatient services.
PMCC will look for new partners to possibly expand their building’s facilities for homeless or mental healthcare.
"You know, when we created the building 10 years ago, the model at that time seemed to be perfect and it was what the community needed," said Lani Weigert, marketing manager for Hawaiʻi Care Choices.
"Now 10 years later, there's things in the building that's breaking down, and we need to replace it. There's just things that we should put more attention to now, particularly if it puts the patient's safety in jeopardy," Weigert told HPR.
Pōhai Mālama Care Center will temporarily close starting Nov. 18. There is no reopening date scheduled at this time.
