GARAPAN, Saipan, CNMI, March 23, 2026 — The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation (CHCC) announces the award of more than $8.6 million in grant funding from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to expand and modernize the islands’ sole hospital-based surgical department.
The Helmsley grant will allow CHCC to improve operational efficiency, strengthen its ability to deliver safe, high-quality surgical care, reduce wait times, and build a sustainable surgical capacity to serve the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) community. Additionally, this project will provide advanced technologies and new equipment for the operating room (OR) and medication dispensing systems.
“These upgrades will ensure that CHCC’s talented surgeons have the expanded capacity and latest equipment to offer the highest quality of care to residents of the Northern Mariana Islands,” said Walter Panzirer, a Trustee of the Helmsley Charitable Trust. “Patients are best served when they can receive healthcare close to home, and this expansion will reduce the need for off-island travel.”
The project will significantly expand the surgery department from approximately 2,300 square feet to 4,500 square feet, supporting additional operating suites, improved layout, and providing adequate space for equipment and supplies. The facility will incorporate advanced surgical technologies including intraoperative imaging systems, laparoscopic visualization tools, modern anesthesia workstations, and automated medication dispensing systems. The upgrades are essential to improving surgical precision, patient safety, and workflow efficiency. The expansion will promote compliance with current Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Conditions of Participation for hospitals to sustainably meet the healthcare needs of the CNMI population.
“This expansion represents an important investment in the future of healthcare in the CNMI,” said CHCC CEO Esther Muña. “By modernizing and expanding our surgical facilities, we are strengthening our ability to provide safe, high-quality care for our patients while ensuring our hospital continues to meet national standards.”
CHCC’s surgery department currently hosts two operating room suites, a four-bed Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU), and a cystoscopy room for procedures such as endoscopies and colonoscopies. The department handles general surgery, cesarean sections, and dental and ophthalmology cases, while complex procedures are referred off-island. With 2,055 surgeries performed between FY22-FY24, the department’s existing infrastructure is operating at maximum capacity.
In July 2024, Helmsley Charitable Trust awarded CHCC a separate grant of more than $6.4 million to construct an MRI facility for Saipan. This project is currently underway with an anticipated completion date of October 2026.
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About the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation functions as an integrated healthcare system that brings together a wide scope of services including primary, outpatient, and inpatient care; ancillary services including laboratory, pharmacy, and physical therapy; population health services including public and environmental health; and mental and behavioral health services. Through this integration under a single organizational structure, the CHCC provides the majority of healthcare services in the CNMI. For more information, visit www.chcc.health.
About The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust aspires to improve lives by supporting exceptional efforts in the U.S. and around the world in health and select place-based initiatives. Since beginning active grantmaking in 2008, Helmsley has granted more than $4.5 billion for a wide range of charitable purposes. Helmsley’s Rural Healthcare Program funds innovative projects that use information technologies to connect rural patients to emergency medical care, bring the latest medical therapies to patients in remote areas, and provide state-of-the-art training for rural hospitals and EMS personnel. To date, this program has awarded more than $850 million to organizations and initiatives in the states of Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and two U.S. Pacific territories, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. For more information, visit www.helmsleytrust.org.
