Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health celebrates renovations

EWA — The City and County of Honolulu participated today in a blessing ceremony for Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health’s newly-renovated Ewa facilities for adults with serious behavioral health challenges.

Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health is an 88-bed facility located on 14.5 acres on the rural west side of Oahu. It is Hawaii’s only freestanding, community-based, nonprofit psychiatric hospital, and serves individuals and families in Hawaii and throughout the Pacific Rim. In 2010, Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health served more than 1,500 patients.

Today’s ceremony celebrated the completion of Phase I of a multi-year renovation project. In Phase I, the City provided $547,816 in federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for improvements to Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health’s Lehua A unit, which is occupied by adult patients with serious behavioral health challenges. The Lehua A unit has been in continuous use for 26 years and required multiple upgrades.

The City will also provide $550,000 in CDBG funds for Phase II of Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health’s renovations, scheduled to be completed in early 2012.
       
The Department of Community Services and the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services administer approximately $9 million in new CDBG funds each year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“We’re grateful to reach the end of Phase I and look forward to completing Phase II,” said Leonard Licina, CEO of Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health. “When we’re done, rooms will be safer and offer our patients more privacy, and the facility will help us provide even better service.”