The Honolulu Emergency Services Department’s Health Services Branch marked its move to a bigger, better equipped home with a traditional Hawaiian blessing on Tuesday.

What You Need To Know

  • The Health Services Branch, formerly housed at a donated building in Iwilei, is now located at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building at the Saint Francis Medical Center on Liliha Street

  • The branch offers a variety of services to city employees, including pre-employment and physical examinations and Occupational Safety and Health mandated examinations

  • Kahu Brutus LaBenz performed Tuesday’s blessing, which was attended by Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and his executive staff plus representatives from the Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu Fire Department and Department of Environmental Services

  • The city is renting the space for $15,000 per month

 

The branch, formerly housed at a donated building in Iwilei, is now located at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building at the Saint Francis Medical Center on Liliha Street.

The branch offers a variety of services to city employees, including pre-employment and physical examinations and Occupational Safety and Health mandated examinations (including active hearing conservation program, active respiratory protection program, and other required screenings), as well as testing for DUI cases. It also oversees health risk reduction and injury prevention programs.

EMS said the new facility provided greater space and more up-to-date equipment.

“We are at peace here in the new facility,” said Health Services Branch chief Karla Perry. “We feel safe and it will allow us to take better care of our patients,”

Kahu Brutus LaBenz performed Tuesday’s blessing, which was attended by Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and his executive staff plus representatives from the Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu Fire Department and Department of Environmental Services.

“The dedicated men and women who work here are proud health professionals,” Blangiardi said. “They, along with our entire city staff of more than 10,000 employees, deserve facilities where they can give and receive first-class medical care and services.”

The city is renting the space for $15,000 per month.

The Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement program is moving into the branch’s former Iwilei facility.