Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Blood-use credit slips
offered to Kaiser patientsQuestion: I am a regular donor at the Blood Bank of Hawaii and have four donation slips available to any eligible Kaiser Hospital patient who needs credit for blood use within the last 12 months. Per the Kaiser patient accounting department, slips have to be "redeemed by the patient." Can you let your readers know that if they're interested, they can contact me, first-come, first-served?
Answer: Jan Kagehiro, spokeswoman for Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, thanked you for your "very kind" offer.
However, she said Kaiser recently began covering the cost of blood for all its members except those on the state Health Fund Plan, who pay a 20 percent co-payment. The state Health Fund Plan is the only one permitting blood credits as part of an existing contract that is good through June 30, 2003, Kagehiro said.
"If your reader wants to help one of these state members, he would need to get his blood donation receipt (which he gets from the Blood Bank) and give it directly to the needy member," she said. "The member would then submit that receipt to the Kaiser Permanente patient accounting department, and we would credit that member's account."
If you are one of these members, send an e-mail to mkymse@hotmail.com.
It might interest you to know that the Blood Bank of Hawaii no longer participates in a program, in conjunction with the hospitals, in which a blood donor could get a credit if he or she needed blood in the future.
Back then, "You could also offer that credit to someone else," said Blood Bank spokeswoman Stephanie Rosso. But that was discontinued years ago, primarily because the Federal Drug Administration was concerned about maintaining the highest degree of safety of the blood supply, she said.
The FDA "has done research that showed the safest blood supply is generated from volunteer donors who have absolutely no incentive to donate, no reason other than wanting to help someone out of the goodness of their hearts," Rosso said.
The concern is that by adding any kind of incentive to the equation, big or small, some people might be less than truthful when filling out a questionnaire, which is part of the screening process, she said.
"It is so important to answer every question truthfully, so any motivation to maybe not say, 'I had a cold three days ago,' or something very minor, because you want to help someone else ... it could happen," she said.
However, Rosso said that any time someone donates blood, they can ask for a slip verifying their donation. But that slip is simply a proof of donation and not a credit slip.
Q: Who do I contact to get on a list for potential jurors? I would be interested in helping out the justice system in any way possible.
A: Jury duty is one area where volunteers are not welcome.
The names of potential jurors are taken from voter registration rolls, state income tax lists and Hawaii driver's license lists, explained Freida Baker, jury clerk supervisor for the state Judiciary.
"We don't accept volunteers," she said. "We have to have a random selection, a cross-section of the community."
The same goes for the federal court.
Auwe
Regarding Kaukonahua Road in Waialua: I've been driving that road for the last five years, and people say it's a dangerous road. I find that if you travel 35 mph around that winding turn, there's no problem. If you drive drunk, then it becomes a problem, or if you speed it becomes a problem. Don't change the road; change the attitude of the people who drive it. -- Joseph
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