The Queen’s West Hospital, also known as the Queen’s Medical Center West Oahu, is set to open on Tuesday, May 20, 2014. At the Ewa Neighborhood Board meeting on March 13, Chief Operating Officer Susan Murray spoke about the progress of the hospital since it acquired the Saint Frances Medical Center-West Hospital. Renovations include changing the infrastructure, tripling the size of the emergency unit, adding a new elevator, and enlarging the patient elevator. An after-hours care unit is in the planning stage.
Assistant Administrator Hong Min, who appeared at the Nanakuli-Maili Neighborhood Board meeting last month, reported that it will be a place of wellness and healing. Min added there will be emergency care, after hours care, surgery, and unity with the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu. Holistic medicine will focus on native Hawaiian health, active lifestyles, prevention and screening, and on female maladies. The medical center will be family oriented and will provide health education. The facilities include eighty acute beds, four operating rooms, two procedure rooms, and will employ 470 people. Min noted that as population grows, the services will change to accommodate additional needs of the community. The facility is licensed for 135 beds, but only eighty beds will be available now. In response to a question about patients using public transportation, Min replied that the hospital is working with the City to obtain a bus turn around to the facility. Patient parking will remain free of charge.
