Kona Community and Kohala hospitals launch rebrand amid ongoing efforts to grow services

Kohala Hospital and Kona Community Hospital are getting a brand makeover with new logos that Hawaiian cultural practitioners helped design.

“When you look at the brand for us, it’s more than a set of colors and logos,” said Clayton McGhan, CEO of the Hawai‘i Health Systems Corporation’s West Hawai‘i Region that oversees the two hospitals.

“It conveys beyond words what we strive for. It’s an expression of our core values of respect, inclusion, compassion and excellence.”

The launch of the logos represents West Hawaiʻi Region’s commitment to growth and keeping care local, McGhan said.

The logos, which feature triangles, have multiple representations and connections to Polynesian culture and symbolism.

They stand for sharks’ teeth, which symbolize strength, protection and guidance. They also represent the sails of voyaging canoes that are so important to the Hawaiian people as symbols of navigation and teamwork.

The Kohala Hospital logo features earth tones to represent the district’s rich soil, history and sense of place.

The Kona hospital logo is teal, representing the ocean view from the Kealakekua facility.

And the gold-tone triangle for the West Hawai‘i Region represents the sand and rock that unite the island.

The announcement of the new logos is also a celebration of the work McGhan and his team have been doing over the past few years to secure millions in funding through state and private partners to address Kona hospital’s aging infrastructure, expand oncology care, and grow Kohala’s square footage from 19,820 square feet to 21,196.

Rich Mears, who has worked at Kona Community Hospital for 18 years, said he’s excited about the work being done by the administration under McGhan, who “looks at problems and has 15 angles to solve that problem.”

Mears, a nurse manager of behavioral health, said the logo rebranding is a piece of the progress the facilities are making in expanding health care services.

“The logo isn’t just about the hospital, but about the community,” Mears said. “They are taking into consideration who we are, where we are and what we are. I can tell they put a lot of effort into something that’s meaningful.”