On January 9th, Kona Community and Kohala Hospitals received the Award of Community Excellence from The Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii in recognition of their recently adopted smoke and tobacco-free campus policies. Both campuses, which comprise the West Hawaii Region of Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, became smoke and tobacco-free effective January 1, 2013.
Kona Community Hospital News
Kona Community and Kohala Hospitals Launch Smoke-Free Initiative
Kona Community and Kohala Hospitals launched their smoke and tobacco-free initiative last week in conjunction with the Great American Smokeout. This was an opportunity for both facilities to communicate to employees and the public that they will become smoke and tobacco-free campuses beginning January 1, 2013.
Education Department Introduces HeartCode Program
Kona Community Hospital Has a Positive Outlook
Kona Hospital Hosts Large-Scale EMR Implementation Testing
Beginning on August 27th, approximately 100 medical, hospital and IT professionals will descend on the Kona community for a month-long integrated test of the Hawaii Health System Corporation’s (HHSC) new electronic medical records (EMR) system. Kona Community Hospital will be hosting this
Nathan Tomita Joins General Surgical Team at Kona Community Hospital
Kona Community Hospital is pleased to announce the addition of Nathan Tomita, D.O. M.P.H. to its general surgery team. Dr. Tomita specializes in bariatric and general surgery, and will be performing procedures not yet available in west Hawaii.
Dr. Tomita is a highly skilled bariatric surgeon. He has performed hundreds of surgical weight loss procedures, most using minimally invasive, laparoscopic techniques. Bariatric surgical procedures which
Kona Hospital Auxiliary Awards Five Nursing Scholarships

Kealakekua, island of Hawaii. Five nursing scholarships were awarded on June 29th to local students seeking to pursue nursing careers. This year, the Kona Community Hospital Auxiliary awarded four of the scholarships, and an anonymous donor awarded the fifth.
(left to Right) David Clark, KCH Auxiliary treasurer, Kui Len Rocha, recipient, Rich Mears RN, KCH education director, Jessica Johnson, Michael Warnecke, Charilou Presiados, Mary Quinn KCH Auxiliary president and Russell Nishihara.
Kona Community Hospital Receives American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines Gold Quality Achievement Award

Kona Community Hospital has received the Get With The Guidelines®–Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The recognition signifies that Kona Community Hospital has reached an aggressive goal of treating heart failure patients with 85 percent compliance for at least 24 months to core standard levels of care as outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients.

