The Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center unveiled a large expansion to the Harry &Jeanette Weinberg Dental Clinic at a grand opening ceremony Tuesday.

The $4.9 million expansion doubles the clinic’s square footage, adding four treatment rooms, upgraded equipment and enhanced waiting areas and clinical spaces.

The expansion allows for a 25%-35% increase in patient capacity, which the clinic has described as essential for meeting the growing demand for health care in Waianae.

The health center is one of the largest in the state, serving approximately 37,000 patients and receiving over 200,000 visits per year, according to Dr. Stephen Bradley, chief medical officer. Seventy percent of the center’s patients live at 100% of the poverty level or below, and 60% identify as Native Hawaiian.

“What this renovation does for us is not only takes us to an expansion of capacity to see more patients, but the internal workings of the office have state-of-the-art equipment, so this is one of the most progressive dental facilities, I believe, on the island, if not the whole state,” Bradley said.

Throughout the renovation period, the dental clinic remained open amid increasing needs for care.

“We never wanted to close the clinic, because to close it would mean to not provide care,” said Dr. Regina Nguyen, the clinic’s dental director. “There are folks that need care every day. Every day is filled with purpose, and the fact that we were able to continue clinical care throughout renovation was awesome.”

State Rep. Cedric Asuega Gates previously served on WCCHC’s board of directors, where he said he discussed the importance of having dental services on the Waianae Coast. After his election in 2016, he said he was “really supportive” of seeing these services expanded.

In 2017 the state Legislature awarded the expansion project $850,000 through the Department of Health and, in 2019, gifted an additional $400,000 for construction through the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The completion of the expanded clinic also aligns with the 2022 passing of a bill that provided adult dental care under the state’s Med-QUEST program beginning this past January, giving more patients access to preventive dental care, through both financial aid and an improved physical space.

For Gates, who used to be a patient at the clinic himself, seeing the completion of the project is a “dream come true.”

“I’m just excited for the next generation of folks that are going to be able to use this (facility), and our current generation of people who will have more comfort when they go to the dentist,” he said. “I think this is a very exciting time for our community to be able to see this come to fruition.”

The expansion was celebrated with a ceremony that included a blessing by WCCHC’s Native Hawaiian Healing Center, keynote addresses and a facility tour.

“This building is part of a continuum to keep pressing forward to better serve this community,” Dr. Dan Fujii, the clinic’s former dental director, said in his speech at the ceremony. “We have to believe that this is not just simply a place that we’re going to be here from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. … but to demonstrate values such as compassion, quality, service, that will make access possible for anyone who seeks care.”