Benefactor Marc Benioff lauds Straub expansion as 'new beginning'

May 17—1/3

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Kahu Kordell Kekoa, left; Dr. Elna Masuda, Straub Benioff vascular surgeon; Dr. Todd Miller, Straub Benioff chief of staff; Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce; Ray Vara, Hawaii Pacific Health president and CEO; Lynne Benioff; and Dr. John Mickey, Straub Benioff internal medicine physician, attended Thursday's ceremony.

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Above, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff gave an interview before Thursday's groundbreaking ceremony for the Straub Benioff Medical Center.

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Attendees held their hands upward during the event blessing.

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An abundance of rain fell Thursday morning during the groundbreaking ceremony of the new Straub

Benioff Medical Center on South King Street.

It was considered a blessing by state and health care officials who attended the ceremony, held beneath a large tent at the construction site, which is to become a new parking building with 1,600 stalls.

With the untying of a maile lei, they celebrated the start of the multiyear

t and recognized philanthropists Marc and Lynne Benioff for their $100 million donation.

"Today is a new beginning for health care in Hawaii," said Benioff. "We're coming here together as partners, as one community, and that's the spirit that's always drawn me to Hawaii. It's our aloha spirit in action."

When he first set foot in Hawaii 50 years ago, he said, it was the aloha spirit that he fell in love with, along with the people and idea of ohana. He and wife Lynne have lived on Hawaii island for many years, where they raise their family.

The gift is considered the largest donation to Hawaii Pacific Health, which operates Straub, and together with the $50 million donation to Hilo Benioff Medical Center, is considered one

of the largest single in Hawaii history.

Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, a software company based in San Francisco, acknowledged and thanked health care workers under the tent, including emergency medical technicians, physicians, nurses and others who are on the line every day.

During the horrors of the Aug. 8 wildfires on Maui, Straub's Burn Unit, the only one in the state, was ready to take immediate action,

he noted. It took in nine patients, the largest number of burn patients from a single event in its history.

"We witnessed that firsthand during the horrors of those wildfires on Maui last year," he said. "It deeply affected all of us, and we all saw the extraordinary work of so many of you here in the audience."

At a groundbreaking ceremony, the Hilo Benioff Medical Center also honored the Benioffs last month for the donation, which will help fund its ICU expansion, along with other improvements.

During that ceremony, Benioff shared his memory of how friend and cultural adviser Daniel Akaka Jr. suffered a stroke in 2023 during a health summit. He recalls the numerous phone calls and stress of a seven-hour wait in the emergency room, knowing Akaka needed to get to Oahu.

What was needed at the time was an ambulance

helicopter to transport him to a neurology ICU on Oahu, but one was not available yet, part of the challenges of health care on neighbor islands.

Through a partnership with the Sayre Foundation, the Benioffs have since

donated funds for new firetrucks, a rescue boat and two state-of-the-art medical helicopters.

"We've had many eye-

opening experiences,"

Benioff told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "That's why for us it's so important that we invest in health for Hawaii residents and also to leverage all of our resources."

Benioff said a key initiative of his donations is to link Hilo Medical Center

to HPH and UCSF Health, which will work more closely together to provide specialty care for Hawaii

patients.

More than 500 patients travel from Hawaii to California each year for specialty care. UCSF has worked with HPH to coordinate care for these patients, and will

now extend that reach to Hilo Medical Center.

Shelby Decosta, president of the UCSF Health Care Network, will oversee that collaboration.

She was born in Waimanalo and remembers when her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Her mother received most of her primary care at Straub but flew to UCSF twice yearly for specialist care now available in Hawaii.

The Benioffs since 2005 have pledged more than $289 million to UCSF, including $200 million to support the Benioff Children's

Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland.

"We've created an incredible partnership across great institutions," said Benioff.

The Straub redevelopment project has been a

20-year effort, according to Ray Vara, president and CEO of Hawaii Pacific Health.

Benioff and Vara have been longtime friends, but it was Benioff who suggested over breakfast one morning that he help with the project.

"I am deeply, deeply grateful for this gift," said Vara. "I am even more excited about what this gift is going to do to accelerate the work we're collectively doing to change what Hawaii looks like today and in the future."

Benioff said philanthropy always has been important to him, personally as well as for his company. He incorporates the concept of ohana into the Salesforce philosophy.

Public health is a top priority for his philanthropy, along with public education, public parks and the health of the ocean.

He has also supported

the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project, a nonprofit that brings dive teams to the northwestern isles to remove tens of thousands of pounds of marine debris every year.

Benioff also said he wants to help Maui with recovery from the wildfires, which he expects to take years. He recently donated $1 million to the West Maui Improvement Foundation to help build a new fire station in Olawalu.

Gov. Josh Green called the groundbreaking ceremony at Straub a "holy cow" moment.

"From the entire state, this is absolutely, absolutely true: You will be saving thousands and thousands of lives because of this gift," he told the Benioffs. "We will never forget it. We will honor it appropriately, but this is our heart to you for doing this for the people of Hawaii."

The parking building is part of the first phase of Straub's redevelopment into a "health care campus of the future." When completed, the new campus is expected to be nearly triple the size of the current one.