UH reconsiders Kaka'ako site
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
Kaka'ako is back on the drawing board as a possible site for a new state-of-the-art, clinically based Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i.
Yesterday a 5.5-acre parcel of state land ewa of the new John A. Burns Medical School construction zone was optioned by the University of Hawai'i to explore as a potential site for a new research center that would bring together cancer diagnostic services in a single outpatient clinic.
The Hawai'i Community Development Authority, which controls planning for the Kaka'ako basin, agreed to allow UH to begin six months of lease negotiations to explore whether the site is best to put a rebuilt Cancer Research Center — currently located off Beretania Street, by the Board of Water Supply— that would offer patients the latest medications as part of wide-based clinical trials.
Only about 3 percent of Hawai'i cancer patients participate in clinical trials, which offer access to the latest experimental drugs. About 4,000 cancer cases are diagnosed in Hawai'i every year.
As part of the latest initiative, the university is exploring partnerships with Honolulu hospitals including The Queen's Medical Center and Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children to provide services, financing and support for the center.
"Definitely, now we're going to start trying to bring people to the table and do a business plan and see what fits," said David Morihara, UH government relations director. "We've had interest from all parties."
Morihara said both Kuakini and St. Francis medical centers also were being included in talks, and possibly others.
Arthur Ushijima, president and chief operating officer at Queen's, said his institution would continue to work with the university and cancer center "and see what some of the viable options are."
"Our first objective is, how do you develop a system of care that's efficient and effective and moves the patient through the system as effortlessly as possible?" Ushijima said.
He wondered about duplication of services available at the hospitals.
"We have to be careful, from our standpoint, of how much duplication of services would take place at the Kaka'ako site. However, there are still ways of working with the Cancer Research Center, regardless of how it's physically structured," Ushijima said.
The HCDA action came after UH President Evan Dobelle asked the agency to allow the university to enter negotiations exploring the site for a cancer center.
A new center was planned next to the new medical school more than a year ago, but that parcel cannot accommodate both institutions plus parking. As a result, UH began looking at a new center closer to Queen's, and entered a memorandum of understanding to explore the idea. Queen's treats the highest number of cancer patients in the state.
That memorandum has been expanded to include other hospitals interested in forming a community partnership in which all would provide services to benefit both patients and hospitals.
"Kaka'ako still has to be one of the prime sites to look at," said Morihara. But that doesn't prevent the university from exploring other options, such as a city site mauka of the Board of Water Supply that is closer to Queen's.
Morihara said developing the hospital partnerships is the first step.
"I think what we have to do first is look at the partnership and see what's important to the partners," he said. "Then hopefully our partnership as a group can decide what's best for everybody."
Dr. Laurence Kolonel, deputy director of the Cancer Research Center, said a single center would offer Hawai'i the possibility of coordinating cancer care and sharing diagnostic resources and personnel, and could even include oncologists' offices.
"It's not easy for the patient, running around to various offices, and this could make it easier," Kolonel said. "The idea is not to take away from what the hospital does, but to make the practice of oncology better for the patient and the doctor by having this coordinated facility."
The budget for such a center is estimated at $110 million, to come from government and private sources.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
