Bills address emergency medical needs in rural areas
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Emphasizing the critical need for emergency medical services in rural areas statewide, state Rep. Robert Herkes pointed out that Lana'i City is closer to The Queen's Medical Center on O'ahu than Ka'u is to Hilo Medical Center on the Big Island.
"Many people injured in North Kona, Puna and Ka'u might not have died if we could provide a quicker response," said Herkes, D-5th (Puna, Ka'u, South and North Kona), who noted it has taken up to three hours to get a patient stabilized and transported 55 miles to his island's main trauma center in Hilo from a rural area.
"I have kidney stones," added Herkes, a Volcano resident, "and if I need an ambulance from my home, I usually tell them I'll meet them halfway downhill to save time."
HB1975, introduced by Herkes, is one of four bills aimed at improving medical services to rural areas passed yesterday by the House Finance Committee.
Herkes is seeking funding for emergency mobile urgent-care units to be housed at fire stations in the communities of Ocean View and Volcano. "We're asking for two but could use five because the concept would appeal to other rural areas on Maui, Moloka'i and Lana'i," Herkes said.
Other bills addressing medical service needs in rural communities and Honolulu suburbs passed by the Finance Committee:
The committee deferred action on HB2376, introduced by Rep. Dennis Arakaki, D-30th ('Alewa Heights, Kalihi Valley, Fort Shafter), for funding in fiscal 2006 to the state Health Department for the city Emergency Medical Services system branch. The bill is pending information requested from the Health Department.
Lee said the committee's action was intended to focus attention on the needed services in rural areas, especially in the wake of the Army's recent announcement that its 68th Medical Co. helicopter service will not be available for medevac services after March 31.
"Today we have the technology to save lives," Lee said, "but we're still a few years back in terms of being able to move patients from the point of an accident to the places where they can receive care. Time is of the essence in these cases and we need to do it in a time period that is efficient and effective.
"We're trying to put an urgency to something we should have been dealing with years ago."
Speedy Bailey, director of Hawai'i operations for American Medical Response, said the bills address needed services. "Hawai'i has had growth and with growth comes infrastructural needs. It's geography, impacted by more growth and more traffic. You need more units having to travel shorter distances."
The bills passed yesterday will be sent to a yet-to-be-determined Senate committee for further discussion.
Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.
