(Photo courtesy of Hilo Medical Center Foundation)

MEDIA RELEASE

The Hilo Medical Center Foundation announces completion of its project to renovate the hospital “River Cottage” for use by medical students, family medicine residents, and nurse practitioner students who come to Hilo for their training.

A foundation spokesperson described the project as a “truly heartwarming experience” in which many elements of the East Hawaii community came together with voluntary donations of money, labor and materials to undertake a project designed to assist in helping solve the long-term health needs of the island.

The River Cottage is a large 12-room home that sits on the bluff overlooking Wailuku River just mauka of the upper parking lot above the Hilo Medical Center main hospital building. Included in the home is an entry hall, living room, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen and laundry as well as an attached covered patio and double covered two car garage.

Only real old-timers remember the Puumaile Hospital, a specialized TB care facility, when it was situated at the end of Kalanianaole Drive in Keaukaha.

The 1946 tidal wave and high seas in January 1947 hit the facility massively. As a result, patients were moved to a temporary installation at the Hilo Airport (then the Naval Air Station) and the Keaukaha facility was abandoned and eventually torn down.

In the early 1950s, a replacement Hospital called Puumaile was built. Residents may remember that hospital located where the veterans’ home is today and was often referred to as the “Green Monster.”

The River Cottage was built at the same time as a residence for the Puumaile Hospital superintendent. Providing housing for medical employees was a normal practice at that time; as far as is known, Dr. Leslie, then superintendent of Puumaile, was the first tenant of the Cottage.

With advances in medicine and drugs, TB was eventually conquered and a good deal of the Puumaile space became surplus, so by the early 1960s the old Hilo Memorial Hospital below Rainbow Falls was closed and moved into Puumaile, with subsequent renaming as “Hilo Hospital,”

The River Cottage became the residence of the hospital administrator, no longer called superintendent. This continued all the way up to about 10 years ago, when stricter IRS interpretation of “fair market rental” of a residence facility as part of a compensation package caused the then-administrator to opt for private housing instead.

HMC really did not have much use for it, so it sat unused and unloved. With the advent of the Rural Residency Program, however, it was suggested as a possible home for medical students, family medicine residents, and nurse practitioner students might stay during their training period in Hilo.

With demographic studies showing a critical future shortage of doctors on the island, any assistance rendered to medical students, family medicine residents, and nurse practitioner students might make them far more amenable to locating and setting up practices here once their training is completed.

The idea took hold, and HMC started to investigate the idea of renovation and turned to the foundation for help. The foundation’s stated mission, after all, is “to support the Hilo Medical Center with projects that benefit the greater community.”

It is to that end the foundation has already completed projects including renovation of the HMC Emergency Room, assistance in securing location of the Otsuka Veterans’ Home, furnishing of a new transport van for use by the Extended Care Home, re-carpeting of the HMC lobby, as well as various other in-hospital rehabs and refurnishing efforts.

To the foundation, the project was eminently do-able, and with community participation could be accomplished at far less cost than otherwise projected.

Inspection showed the roof was pretty well shot, borne out by very apparent leaks seen on the inside. Repairing that required professional help, as well as money. Very cost-friendly bids from some building contractors gave a goal in the $50,000 neighborhood.

Funds were provided by some very generous personal foundations, HMC Foundation Board Members, and individually approached private donors. A significant quantity of the building, roofing, and painting materials were donated by community-minded companies

Concurrently, some civic organizations volunteered labor to complete the interior and exterior painting. While foul weather delayed some of that, the interior painting went relatively quickly.

Priming of the exterior was then completed and professional final coating was done on a volunteer basis by a licensed professional painter. Some “sweat equity” by foundation board members, as well as an assist by HMC maintenance personnel, took care of the many minor details involved in making the cottage ready for occupancy.

More than 200 individuals have been involved in this project.

The foundation plans a blessing ceremony March 2 and occupancy by medical students and residents starting in April.

(Photo courtesy of Hilo Medical Center Foundation)