Celebrating 30 Years with Gammie HomeCare

Today, December 1, 2016, Gammie HomeCare celebrates 30 years in business! I am excited to make this announcement as well as some recent changes that we’ve had in our organization. First, a little history…let’s take this back to 1986. Paul Gammie (BS Finance) was working for his mother’s company, Hawaiian Rentals, upon returning from college in the early 80s. Hawaiian Rentals was more a machinery rental type place but Paul saw the opportunity in the growing demographic of the Baby Boomer population and suggested they get into medical equipment. In early 1986, insurance premiums for the “medical” equipment they stocked increased exponentially and Hawaiian Rentals elected to pull out of the medical equipment business. Paul was told to get rid of the inventory they had, it was too much of a liability risk and the insurance was too high. Paul went home and spoke to his wife, Nancy, who was working as a pediatric nurse at Maui Medical Group at the time. He thought the combination of her medical knowledge and his business background would be a great combination to start a home medical equipment company. They put all they owned on the line and started Maui Medical Equipment – just the two of them. Paul did the equipment side of the business and deliveries and Nancy took care of the paperwork. It was much easier to qualify and bill insurance for equipment back in those days!

Fast forward throughout the years, the company has evolved and grown significantly. In the early 90s, the company name changed from Maui Medical Equipment to Gammie HomeCare. In 1996, we moved to our permanent Maui Location on Alamaha St. In 1999, we opened our first branch store in Lihue, Kauai. We have grown in our scope of services to have the widest variety of home medical equipment in the communities that we serve. We have seen the home medical equipment industry evolve dramatically, especially in the past 10 years. While this industry has seen more than its fair share of trials and tribulations we credit our great staff and the people of our community for our success. We have been blessed to have some wonderful team members, both past and present, work for our company.

Growing up immersed in the business, I decided to come and work for the family company in 2007 after graduating with my BS in Business Administration from UH Manoa. Paul and Nancy are transitioning out of the day to day operations and I have assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer. I along with our team look forward to continuing our mission to provide high quality home medical equipment to our communities of Maui and Kauai for the next 30 years!