Newswatch
Instead of the traditional fee-for-service care she's now getting, she'll be switched to a managed care plan under the state's HealthQUEST program.
About 13,000 aged, blind and disabled Medicaid recipients will be affected. Among those excluded will be clients in nursing homes and foster care children living on the mainland.
Diana Tizard, executive director of the Developmental Disabilities Council, said the council feels "there is real hope in managed care to meet the needs of the disabled." But many clients are "real scared," she acknowledged.
A Hawaii Health Care Reform Workgroup formed last year because of the impact of the proposed changes on vulnerable populations also is concerned, she said.
The workgroup recommended 12 safeguards in the plans to provide adequately for people with special needs, Tizard said.
Most weren't reflected in the Department of Human Services' request for managed care plan proposals, but several concerns were addressed in amendments to the proposals, she said.
The subject got kicked around again last week at a community forum at Noelani Elementary School. It'll get further discussion this Friday when state Librarian Bart Kane plans to meet with University of Hawaii President Kenneth Mortimer and its Board of Regents. That'll lay plans for a joint Board of Education-Board of Regents meeting Jan. 23, in hopes of working toward a site agreement.
All these meetings could result in the green light for a new Manoa Public Library to expand from its existing site at 2716 Woodlawn Drive, into part of the UH's Astronomy complex next door in the Ewa direction.
Garcia wouldn't provide much detail about his move but did say he felt his move will help bring the House's reorganization to closure. Garcia acknowledged the dissidents are upset, seeing him as a traitor. "They're entitled to their opinion," Garcia added. "I understand there needs to be some fence mending. It'll take time."
Garcia said "it is fluid" if he'll be given a committee chairmanship or a leadership position in return for backing Souki. The buzz among some legislators was that Garcia, a former TV newsman, was offered majority floor leader or House majority spokesman.
A 51-year-old man, meanwhile, remains in critical condition after being struck by a car Saturday night along an unlighted stretch of Kamehameha Highway north of Wahiawa.
The medical examiner's office today identified a 14-year-old girl who died yesterday at 3:15 p.m. in Castle Hospital as Dina Akiona of Kahili Place.
Akiona was thrown from the bed of a pickup truck that crashed into a tree on Kailua Road at 10:45 p.m. Friday.
Six other girls in the truck, including the 17-year-old driver, were not seriously injured.
The medical examiner also identified Mercedes Menor, 65, of Kaneohe Bay Drive as the pedestrian who died Saturday at Castle Hospital after being struck by a stolen pickup truck near her home.
The truck, driven by a 31-year-old Kaneohe woman, jumped the curb near Puohala Street and struck Menor on the sidewalk.
The Wahiawa man, a pedestrian, was injured about 10:20 p.m. Saturday when he was struck by a car driven by a 26-year-old Makiki man near Paalaa Uka Pupukea Road in Halemano.
He was not in a crosswalk and was wearing dark clothing, police said, and alcohol and speed do not appear to be factors.
The woman allegedly threatened another woman, also 30, near Ala Moana Center at Kona and Konaiki streets at 2:45 p.m. in a dispute involving an ex-boyfriend.
The suspect was booked for first-degree terroristic threatening and a contempt of court violation. She was later released pending further investigation.
The killing of Talo in October has involved violence and retaliation among two rival housing project gangs.
- Two husbands accused of domestic violence
- Man interrogated in robbery of boy
- Taxi driver, 70, robbed by customer with knife
- Convicted felon arrested for concealing weapon
- Charges await man in domestic dispute
- 30-year vet Carvalho earns police promotion