Maui urgent care site gets funding aid
WAILUKU » State lawmakers have set aside $300,000 to help expand urgent and extended medical care in west Maui.
If signed by Gov. Linda Lingle, the bill would take effect on July 1.
The Maui County Council has approved a $300,000 grant for the same project, turning the nine-hour Maui Medical Group in Lahaina into a 24-hour operation.
"We think this is great and we're very happy. We certainly need something over here," said Maria Weber, president of the West Maui Health Alliance, a nonprofit group that supported the bill.
West Maui, which has an estimated population of about 50,000 people, is located about 40 minutes to more than an hour away from the Valley Isle's only emergency hospital, Maui Memorial Medical Center in Wailuku.
West Maui medical facilities for urgent care normally close by about 5 p.m. State Rep. Kam Tanaka (D, Olowalu-Kapalua), who pushed the bill through, said the funding, requested by the West Maui Health Alliance and Maui Medical Group, will help provide 24-hour care for people who, for example, break a leg or have a slight heart attack or stroke.
Tanaka said the money is not going toward treating trauma patients and those facing life-threatening injuries, but the state Legislature has passed an appropriation of $1 million to develop a plan to establish an emergency facility in west Maui.
Weber, a retired nurse, said the presence of a 24-hour facility would help to stabilize some patients so they would not need the ambulance ride to Wailuku.