HONOLULU -- A Waikiki community health clinic said it's seen a 700 percent increase in patients without medical insurance because of the recession. The Waikiki Health Center is so busy that it's enclosing a former porch and turning it into more treatment rooms.

Noreen Kanno goes to the Waikiki Health Center once every two weeks to get treatment for Hepatitis C. She knows first hand how busy the clinic is. "I would be waiting and the room would be filled with patients and the answer back would be, 'Oh, we don't have any open exam rooms,'" Kanno said.

So the clinic is spending $150,000 converting a former lanai area into three new examining rooms right off the clinic's waiting room. They'll open at the end of the week, in addition to 13 exam rooms already operating, said Sheila Beckham, the center’s executive director.

Two years ago, the clinic would see two to three new uninsured patients each day. Today, that number has jumped to 21 or more new patients daily with no medical insurance, she said.

"The majority of them are people that have always been working and all of a sudden now they find themselves unable to pay for some of these services," Beckham said.

When people call the health center, sometimes they have to wait for days or one week for an appointment.

"They've lost jobs, they're not able to get jobs that provide them with medical insurance. And so they're coming to us," she said.

The clinic operates in a two-story building at 277 Ohua Ave. in Waikiki that was built in 1939. In recent months, it has undergone renovations to convert any free space possible into new offices and exam facilities, to keep up with demand.

The clinic has turned the end of one hallway into an eye exam room. It's converting a former staff kitchen into the center’s first-ever pharmacy, which will open in October. The center is spending about $90,000 to stock the pharmacy, purchase a specialized pharmaceutical computer system and hire a pharmacist who will help needy patients purchase discounted medications.

At the end of another hallway, there's a phone-booth sized tiny office for an HIV counselor. A former closet has been turned into the chief operating officer's office. Doctors, nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants who used to have private offices now all share quarters in a former conference room.

"We're very fortunate that so many of our employees are really creative, they're innovative, they're flexible and they're willing to try new things," Beckham said.

But Kanno, the 55-year-old patient who lives in Waikiki, said while things may be cramped, the staff is welcoming.

“You feel like family here. They treat you like family. Not like an outsider or you know, so it's comfortable, I like it here,” Kanno said. "It's a blessing to have a place like this."

Waikiki Health Center will be able to handle about 500 more medical appointments a month with the new treatment rooms and it's hiring more medical assistants to handle the increased patient load, Beckham said.

She said 90 percent of its patients have no medical insurance on their first visit. The center works to find them insurance through Medicaid, Quest and other government programs, eventually gaining insurance coverage for all but about one quarter of its patients, said Beckham.

The center received about $500,000 in federal stimulus funds, which it is using to install a new phone system, restrooms, plumbing, air conditioning, flooring, windows and paint and computer servers.

The center has an annual operating budget of about $6.5 million. About 45 percent of its operating revenue comes from medical insurance, Beckham said, with federal, state, city and private grants funding most of the rest of its budget. Private donations fund about 10 percent of its budget.

The center is asking for community donations of $39,000 to outfit each of the entire exam rooms, including an examining table, medical equipment and cabinetry and furniture.

For more information, contact the center’s development department at 808-922-4788.