Aloha Kona Urgent and Primary Care, operating under the umbrella of the independent, non-profit Transformation Health Network (THN), celebrates 10 years of providing stellar holistic care to the West Hawaiʻi community this month.
Situated in the same location – in the heart of Kailua-Kona at Pottery Terrace – over the years, the small clinic has big goals for the future.
Chief Executive Officer Anton Smith is providing leadership for the clinic’s growth with 2025 priorities, including expanding services to include mental health care therapy and women’s health programs. Also in the works is a plan to establish a satellite clinic in Ocean View. Loftier goals for the future, he says, include opening new clinics throughout Hawaiʻi Island and eventually opening locations on the other islands as well.
A native of New York, Anton has worked in healthcare for more than 30 years, most recently as CEO at Shriners Hospital for Children in Honolulu. He has continued to make his home on Oʻahu since joining the clinic in 2022 while spending time on the Big Island each month.
He traveled extensively with the military for 25 years, serving in various medical capacities “in places most people wouldn’t want to be,” he says. Those places included Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Retiring in 2015, Anton went on to earn his doctorate in medicine at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.
Work as a physician didn’t stick, however. He came to realize his gift for business leadership was not only strong but more fulfilling. In addition to his work with THN, Anton is president and CEO of WAIEA Water. This company creates atmospheric water-generating machines that literally pull water out of the air.
“We provide clean drinking water to areas of scarcity and to those looking for a renewable resource that leads to more eco-conscious and off-grid lifestyles,” he says.
In keeping with his desire to do good for the world, THN’s work to provide needed services at the lowest rates for everyone, including the underserved, resonated with Anton when he was offered the CEO position.
“Our healthcare model integrates the highest quality of scientific medical care with the patient’s entire well-being – body, mind and soul. We think of ourselves as a health services ministry based on the Christian principles of love, compassion and respect.”
One of three urgent care clinics in West Hawaiʻi, THN is the only one providing both urgent and primary care, accepting all private insurance and Medicaid. According to Elisha de Carvalho, group practice manager, a sliding fee scale calculated based on patients’ ability to pay is offered for those without coverage.
“We were pleased to extend services to six days weekly beginning last November, now including Saturdays. We also introduced a menu of IV therapies last year designed to boost energy, enhance the immune system, help with quick recovery and more,” she says.
According to Elisha, she wears many hats in her role. Most important, she says, is ensuring everyone is happy and has everything they need to perform at their best daily.
A nine-year veteran of the clinic, beginning as a receptionist and working her way to management, Elisha says that includes keeping the newest team member, Medical Director Rhonda Hamilton, well taken care of.
Rhonda, an advanced practice nurse from Alberta, Canada, joined the team in 2022. She was recruited by Dr. Robert Doe, one of two physicians associated with Kailua-Kona’s Youth With A Mission (YWAM) organization, who came up with the vision for a faith-based clinic.
With nearly 40 years in the medical field, Rhonda began her career as a registered nurse in 1986 and received her Master’s Degree in Advanced Nursing Practice in 2010.
“I always had big dreams of being a nurse who could provide whole-person care to my patients. With a degree in hand, I joined a family practice where I cared for people of all ages, from newborns to seniors, gaining immense clinical experience,” she says.
Together with her husband Rick, Rhonda also spent years volunteering for humanitarian efforts in developing nations, including Haiti and then Papua New Guinea and its offshore islands. The latter brought them to Kailua-Kona in 2018, where they joined YWAM Ships in its efforts to bring health care to places only accessible by boat.
“People (in Papua New Guinea) would walk for days to get to us, needing primarily treatment for malaria, a variety of additional infectious diseases and cataracts. The ocean nation has one of the highest cases of cataracts in the world due to the population’s light blue eyes,” she says. “It’s so important to go to places in such need, but there is need everywhere.”
Now, as THN’s only primary caregiver, Rhonda treats 2,000 patients. “Among them is a houseless individual who lives in a ditch and another who is a two-time Oscar Award-winner. We welcome everyone, and I truly believe patients feel loved and cared for here.”
Learn more at AlohaKonaUrgentCare.org.
"Our healthcare model integrates the highest quality of scientific medical care with the patient’s entire well-being – body, mind and soul."
"We are a clinic dedicated to E hele me ka puʻolo (make every person’s place or condition better than you left it, always)."