HANA, Maui — The nation's first communal home setting for dialysis patients was dedicated this month, culminating a yearslong effort by members of the remote East Maui community to make life easier for residents suffering from end-stage renal disease caused by diabetes and other kidney ailments.

The campaign to establish Hale Pomaika'i (Bless- ed House) was spearheaded by Hui Laulima O Hana, a grassroots group started by Lehua Cosma, whose mother, Cecelia Park, requires dialysis.

Park and a few other dialysis patients in Hana used to have to travel three times a week to undergo the life-extending treatment at the Maui Dialysis Facility in Wailuku, a 114-mile, five-hour roundtrip drive, most of it on a winding two-lane highway.

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

Hui Laulima O Hana worked with the state and county to gain possession of the nearly 1-acre property formerly used as a physician's residence. The state is leasing the site to the group for 20 years at a cost of $1 per year.

Renovations to the 1,542-square-foot cottage on the property were needed to accommodate two dialysis machines, two portable water systems, two recliners and all the supplies necessary for the treatments.

The work was funded through donations and $55,000 from the county. Students from Hana High School's construction program helped with interior painting, installation of hand rails and other improvements.

Liberty Dialysis, which has 15 dialysis clinics on five islands, offered its assistance, training four community caregivers and providing a technical team for consultation.

The company has pledged ongoing training and support through its home dialysis program at its dialysis facility in Wailuku.

The Hana arrangement received the approval of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as the first dialysis communal home in the nation.

During the April 11 dedication ceremony for Hale Pomaika'i, a memorial was dedicated to the late Dr. Steven Moser, a friend, physician and advocate for many Hana patients, past and present.