At the groundbreaking ceremony yesterday for a new, $73 million Shriners hospital in Makiki, local leaders praised the international organization for its philanthropy and long history in the Islands.

And they urged the community to support the group with donations.

"Shriners is an amazing organization that has one mission — to help children," said Gov. Linda Lingle, honorary co-chair of the capital campaign steering committee for the new hospital in Makiki.

"It doesn't matter where the child came from, what their political background is, there is a place here for all children."

The new hospital will be built on the 6.5-acre site of the current facility on Punahou Street. The existing hospital was built in 1967 and last modernized in 1992. It sits on land donated by the Dowsett family.

Shriners first opened its doors to kids in the Islands in 1923, while operating out of a wing of the Kauikeolani Children's Hospital in Liliha.

It was only the second Shriners hospital in the nation to open. Today, there are 22 in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Officials expect the new hospital to be finished in 2010.

Shriners is putting up $59 million for the project, while officials are hoping to raise the remaining $14 million from community donations. Since April, when Shriners kicked off a fundraising drive, the hospital has raised about $4 million.

"We're at a very important point in the 84-year history of our hospital," said Dan Orton, chairman of the Honolulu Shriners Hospital board of governors. "Our theme is, 'Every step a victory.' "

Shriners sees more than 600 new patients a year and now has a waiting list of about 225 patients. About 80 percent of patients are from Hawai'i, while the others come from all over the Pacific.

The hospital provides orthopedic surgical and rehabilitative care to children up to 18 for no cost regardless of their parents' ability to pay.

The new hospital will have three buildings, with a total of nearly 150,000 square feet, which is about 40 percent larger than the existing facility. It will feature 24 inpatient beds and 20 beds in family quarters.

The family building will hold up to 10 families, and also features a recreation therapy area and a therapy pool. It will be separate from the main hospital and an administrative building.

The current hospital, which has 40 inpatient beds, will remain open while the construction is under way and will be torn down in sections. The first buildings will be torn down this month.

While the hospital is being rebuilt, operations will be performed in a $1.4 million medical trailer, similar to those used on battlefields.

Several kids who are getting care from the hospital and their parents attended the groundbreaking yesterday, along with their Shriners benefactors.

Vicky Agustin said her 5-year-old son, Acesen, who goes to Shriners, has paralysis on one side of his body that affects his walking. After a year of therapy, he walks better and without a brace.

"The medical staff are really educated here and they know what they're doing," said Agustin, of Wai'anae. "I'd bring any child here."

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.