Akemi Iwamoto

Hawai'i Island Community Health Center is Hawai'i's largest federally qualified health center, serving the diverse communities of Hawai'i Island. We provide medical, dental, and behavioral health care. In 2022, Bay Clinic and West Hawaiʻi Community Health Center, both non-profit Federally Qualified Health Centers, merged operations as Hawai’i Island Community Health Center. This bold move created an integrated system focused on quality care and the delivery of medical, dental, and behavioral health services island-wide. Our merging organizations share deep roots in our communities and a passion for ensuring that everyone is able to access care, regardless of their ability to pay. Bay Clinic has served patients on the East side of the island since 1983, originally opening as the Women’s Health Clinic in Hilo and obtaining nonprofit status in 1986. In Bay Clinic’s nearly 40 years of service to the community, they added vital services including primary care, pediatrics, dental, mobile clinics, street medicine, WIC, and pharmacy all while growing from one location with a staff of 6, to over 200 employees across nine facilities serving nearly 20,000 patients per year. West Hawaiʻi Community Health Center was established in 2003 and opened its doors to patients in Kailua-Kona in 2005 with an initial focus on primary care. WHCHC experienced rapid growth in response to community demand, adding behavioral health, pediatrics, dental, street medicine, substance use treatment, and clinical pharmacy services while growing from a three-exam-room clinic to 5 facilities with over 200 employees serving over 17,000 patients per year. Together as Hawai’i Island Community Health Center, our new organization will continue providing care to our patients and communities. We prioritize a team approach, with wrap-around services to improve patient experience and outcomes. As a unified team, we look forward to working together to improve the health and wellness of our communities.