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HANA - Hana residents and visiting dignitaries dedicated Hale Pomaika'i on Saturday, the culmination of a years-long effort to bring dialysis treatment to the remote East Maui community.

About 250 people turned out for the blessing of the county's first rural community dialysis facility. Located in a plantation-era wood-frame house at 4531 Hana Highway, the property is owned by the state and will be managed by the county, according to officials.

"Oh beautiful," said dialysis patient Francis "Uncle Blue" Lono Jr., when asked about the new dialysis service. "Finally we got 'em here in Hana."

Lono, 70, tumbled 30 feet over a cliff while on a riding lawn mower in 2001 receiving a kidney injury that required dialysis treatment three times a week, hours away in Wailuku.

Now, after 2-1/2 weeks of dialysis in Hana, Lono said life is "oh, much better, more time with family at home, can go fishing."

The new Hana facility currently serves only two patients, but "two is enough," Lono said.

The other is Cecelia "Aunty Cece" Lonokahikini Roback Park, 67, also a Hana native.

She said she started dialysis Nov. 30, 2004, after having had diabetes for more than 25 years, complicated by a heart attack.

Husband Andrew would drive her to Wailuku for dialysis three days a week starting at 1:30 or 2 a.m. from Hana, to allow time to clear the road of mudslides or fallen trees.

"I had to carry a chain saw to cut our way through all that," he said

Now, she said, she goes to the Hale Pomaika'i three days a week.

"Oh I love it. Now I'm not tired."

The couple's daughter, Lehua Cosma, is widely hailed as a driving force behind the dialysis facility.

Saturday's festivities included prayers in Hawaiian and English, a reading of the names of 10 kidney patients who had died waiting for dialysis to come to the community, live entertainment and a feast. Also, a plaque was unveiled honoring the late Dr. Steven Moser, who had championed dialysis for Hana.

Project Director Madge Schaefer said collaborators included Gov. Linda Lingle, Mayor Charmaine Tavares and executive assistant Stan Zitnik, and East Maui Council Member Bill Medeiros.

Kihei contractors Bill Burgemeister and Kirk Donaghy worked on renovating the home; Hana woodshop students painted the exterior, installed and polished flooring, and "did everything and anything we asked them to do," Schaefer said.

"The community makes the difference in what is happening and what is not happening," Lingle said at Saturday's ceremony.

* Kekoa Enomoto can be reached at kekoa@mauinews.com.