Patients heal better close to home. This statement from a Straub Medical Center spokesman could be the mantra of medical center expansions planned on Oahu. It could be extended to say top doctors can be enticed to stay close to home by top-notch facilities. Straub broke ground Monday on a redeveloped campus in town, while Queen’s Health Systems is proposing major expansions of its West Oahu facility and flagship Punchbowl campus.

All projects should help both patients and doctors find what they need without leaving our shores.

Grants-in-aid back in business

After a two-year pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 Legislature is welcoming back grants-in-aid (GIA) applications. The deadline for these requests for state funds, for worthy causes by a Hawaii entity or nonprofit, are due by 5 p.m. Jan. 21.

The last time the Legislature awarded GIA, in 2019, 155 grants were allotted: $10.5 million total for operating funds and $20 million for capital improvement projects. For information and application, see capitol.hawaii.gov/GIA/GIA.aspx.