Musically and spiritually, the late Israel Kamakawiwo'ole remains alive and well, his widow says.

In fact, the legacy continues to grow.

"Not many who have passed on," she said, "are embraced in love the way Israel has been."

On Friday, to honor the memory of Iz 10 years after his passing, Marlene Kamakawiwo'ole presented a $60,000 check to the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, where Iz was a patient before his death.

The center was important to the iconic musician because it was vital to his community, the Wai'anae Coast, she said.

The money will become part of the capital campaign fund to construct the center's new $12 million Family Medical Building, which will break ground in late summer.

The donation was sponsored by The Honolulu Advertiser, Sprint Hawaii, Oceanic Time Warner Cable, D.R. Horton /Schuler Homes and Longs Drugs.

"We wanted to celebrate all he has meant to Hawai'i and to the world," said Advertiser president and publisher Michael Fisch. "His music has helped to translate a lot of what Hawai'i means. It really comes from the heart."

"From the heart" could apply to the center itself, some would say.

The facility serves 30,000 residents a year, including many of the poorest members of society — and it will never turn a patient away. Since the center opened 35 years ago, its patient load has increased tenfold. It is the state's largest nonprofit provider of health services to Native Hawaiians. At the same time, it serves the largest homeless population in the state.

"We had about 1,900 more homeless patients in the last year, with most of them skewed to the lowest of the low income," said Richard Bettini, the center's chief executive.

Already the center has achieved international recognition for its success with integrated care, which combines Western medicine and traditional Hawaiian healing practices.

But the task of maintaining the highest level of medical quality has been daunting.

Yet, Bettini is optimistic about the future.

"The most important aspect of this new building is that we achieve the capacity to meet the current need for safety-net healthcare in an environment that's clean, comfortable and allows us to be efficient so that each medical provider has sufficient space to do their job," Bettini said.

That's where the new medical building comes in, said Joyce O'Brien, center associate director.

"We've outgrown all our primary-care clinics," she said. "All our other buildings are 30-plus years old and we are needing to expand our space. We don't have enough provider rooms. That's why the new medical building is so important."

The new three-story facility will feature state-of-the-art design and equipment, she said.

Plus, it will do away with the old model of patients moving between different departments and services. Instead, patients will remain in their rooms and all providers and services will come to them.

"Everything is done in the patient's room," explained Dr. Stephen Bradley, center associate medical director. "The receptionist comes in, qualifies all the insurance documentation. The medical assistant goes in and does all the vital signs. The practitioner goes in and does whatever he or she has to do."

Instead of clipboards, the providers carry laptop computers to find and print out necessary charts, patient information, and even fill prescriptions without the patient ever leaving the room.

None of that would have been possible a decade ago when Iz was alive.

But now, his widow says, his spirit must be somewhere nearby watching happily and singing, "What A Wonderful World."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.