WAILUKU, Maui — A grassroots campaign to establish a unique communal dialysis home in Hana got additional support last week from the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.

The board on Friday approved a county request to allow a state-owned .85-acre property to be used for "health and safety programs" and will ask Gov. Linda Lingle to cancel a 1927 executive order that designated the parcel for use as a county physician's residence for doctors serving the remote East Maui community.

Lingle already has expressed support for the project, spearheaded by Hui Laulima O Hana.

If improvements and renovations to the 1,542-square-foot cottage on the property go smoothly, dialysis patients could start using the structure by Feb. 20, according to Hui members.

"It's a wonderful blessing for the new year," said Lehua Cosma, founder of Hui Laulima O Hana. "Our biggest hurdle was getting the language changed from the 1927 executive order. It has always been a county physician's residence and now it will finally be used for dialysis."

Cosma's mother, Cecelia "Cece" Park, is one of three Hana residents who must travel three times a week to undergo life-extending dialysis at the Maui Dialysis Facility in Wailuku. It's a 114-mile, five-hour roundtrip drive, most of it on a winding two-lane highway. Add to that the hours spent attached to a dialysis machine, and it's an exhausting ordeal for the patients.

Officials with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which have given their approval to the project, said the Hana dialysis setup will be unique in the nation because it will allow patients to use home dialysis units in a communal setting, assisted by trained aides who aren't related to them.

Cosma said undergoing dialysis at home is not an option for many Hana residents because they live in older residences that may not be suitable and lack storage for the equipment. Privacy is another issue because patients often live with extended families.

At the Hana dialysis center, each patient will be assigned a bedroom in the former physician's home where they will be able to undergo dialysis in privacy and store their machine and supplies.

Cosma said her ailing mother is looking forward to being able to get treatment close to home. "She's hanging in there. She's so excited that it's finally happening," she said.

Before the communal center can open, plumbing and electrical upgrades and other renovations must be done, said project manager Madge Schaefer. The county allocated $55,000 for the start-up costs and Hui Laulima O Hana is receiving additional assistance from volunteers and donations.

Students from Hana High School's construction program have signed on to do the interior painting, floors, installation of hand rails and other tasks.

Schaefer said the Hui is hoping someone will donate a stove, refrigerator and living room furniture to make it more comfortable for the patients and family members who must spend hours there during treatment.

Liberty Dialysis, which runs the Maui Dialysis Facility and others in the state, is providing the home dialysis machines, training and supplies.

The 1927 executive order placed the property under county management for the purpose of providing a site for a physician's residence. A three-bedroom cottage was built in 1938, and the home most recently was used by a doctor with Hana Health, a private nonprofit healthcare center.

In approving the change yesterday in the property's purpose, the BLNR also agreed to lease the site to Hui Laulima O Hana for 20 years at a cost of $1 per year.