Since starting her career with 91直播 Island Community Health Center over 15 years ago, Victoria Hanes has held numerous positions within the organization, ranging from clinical to administrative. Beginning in November, she will add a new role to the list: CEO.
Hanes will succeed current CEO Richard Taaffe, who has held the position since 2005 when he started at West 91直播 Community Health Center, which merged with Bay Clinic in 2022 to form HICHC.
“As I depart 91直播 Island Community Health Center later this year, I am confident that the organization is in great hands,” Taaffe said in a press release. “I have no doubt that the health center under Vicky’s leadership will continue to thrive.”
Hanes said she feels her past work and experience within HICHC has prepared her well for the transition. In addition to working as a clinical psychologist for nearly 20 years, she helped run the organization’s tobacco cessation program, served as the director of behavioral health, and has been chief operating officer since 2019.
“I think I truly know the health care system, because I’ve worked in a number of different roles in the health center, and I worked up,” she said. “Community health centers really give people the opportunity to move and grow, and I think I truly did that within the health center, just being given the opportunity to learn on the job.”
Originally from Oahu, Hanes came to the Big Island in 2009 as a postdoctoral student to train at the former West 91直播 Community Health Center, drawn by the focus on integrating medical and behavioral health services. She became licensed as a clinical psychologist the next year and decided to join the staff and make 91直播 Island her home.
“Moving from Oahu to the Big Island was a really natural move for me, it was a good fit,” she said. “I’m a local girl, so the lifestyle just really resonated with me and my fiance, now husband, and we just fell in love with Big Island and decided to start our family here.”
Over the years she has developed a deep connection and strong ties with the HICHC staff and community and wants to continue that work as CEO. Since the merger, HICHC now has nearly 500 employees spread across 16 sites islandwide in addition to eight school-based health centers and a mobile clinic, serving around 40,000 patients.
“I think there’s a lot of listening that needs to happen,” she said. “With the merger, we doubled in size overnight and doubled in patient population overnight and, for that reason, we now have a number of clinics and centers around the island, and I really want to go out and spend time with our staff and meet those that don’t know me, and hear from our staff what things are like in their day to day work, get ideas from them and hear from them what their vision of the health center and health services in our community is.”
She also hopes to spearhead further growth for the organization, which she said starts with fostering a positive environment for staff.
“I want to see growth, I want to see us do more, and I want to see our staff stay with us,” she said. “So, not just grow our staff, but help take care of our staff and make this a place where people want to come to work and build their career with us, much like I did, and stay with us over the long term. And if we can do that, then we can expand our clinic locations and serve more patients.”
While she is excited about the future, she knows that it will not be without challenges, especially when it comes to funding and resources.
“We’re a nonprofit system. There’s never enough resources to do the job and meet the needs of the patients that we serve in the community, and so we have to be resourceful in community health,” she said. “And it often means learning new things, being innovative and making things work with the resources that you have.”
As a federally qualified health center, HICHC receives funding from the federal government which she said luckily has remained steady despite recent turmoil.
“There hasn’t been any changes to our funding, and we’re very, very grateful. I know other systems can’t say the same,” she said. “Community health centers historically have always had bipartisan support, because we are seen as the safety net provider for the country. So, the support is there … we haven’t had any issues there, but we have to monitor things and be very vigilant because things change rapidly.”
Whatever challenges do come her way in this role, she said she wants the community to know she will work hard to meet them.
“I think it’s important that people know that I’m here, that I’ve been here, and that I plan to stay here and do everything that I can to make 91直播 Island Community Health Center and our community a better place to live,” she said. “I’m going to be learning along the way, but I truly am committed to doing the best job that I can.”
Enail Grace Inez Adams at grace.adams@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
