LAHAINA >> Had it not been for an emergency helicopter ambulance, Molokai musician John Pele would not have been able to save a severed finger nine years ago. Mauians push for airlifts
to hospitals on Oahu
By Gary T. Kubota
CORRECTION
Thursday, April 17, 2003» Maui Memorial Medical Center no longer has a helicopter pad; an April 2 story on Page A9 incorrectly said that it does. The story also had emergency medical technician Scotty Schaefer saying that it takes seven hours for airplane ambulance service to get a patient from a Molokai accident scene to an Oahu hospital. Schaefer clarified that it usually takes 2 to 2 1/2 hours, but a seven-hour trip can occur due to weather and multiple calls for air ambulance.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.
gkubota@starbulletin.comPele, drummer for Hawaiian reggae group Pound for Pound, is among the supporters of a bill that would put a state-funded helicopter ambulance for emergency service to help patients in remote areas of Maui County, including rural Molokai and Lanai.
A public hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. today before the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
House Bill 1182, Senate Draft 2, proposes increasing the state portion of the motor-vehicle registration fee to fund helicopter ambulances for emergency services in Maui County. The proposed service, estimated to cost $5 million to $6 million, could add $5 to $10 to the existing $20 fee for motor vehicle registration.
In addition to helicopter ambulance service in Maui County, the bill would also provide additional emergency transportation services to other areas, including a second ground-bound ambulance in Waianae on Oahu and Kihei-Wailea, South Maui, as well as a new ambulance service at Ocean View Estates on the Big Island.
Without a helicopter ambulance, many trauma patients on Maui, Molokai and Lanai wait several hours before being transported to receive emergency surgery on Oahu.
On the Valley Isle, a trauma patient is sent to Maui Memorial Medical Center for examination, then to Kahului Airport and flown on a private-ambulance airplane to Honolulu and driven to the Queen's Medical Center.
A helicopter ambulance could fly directly from Maui Memorial to Queen's. Both facilities have helipads.
Supporters of the helicopter-ambulance bill said some trauma patients could receive surgery in less than an hour, shortening a potentially critical waiting period.
"In trauma cases, time is an important factor for a patient to recover," said state Sen. Rosalyn Baker (D, Honokohau-Makena), whose Health Committee endorsed the measure.
Scotty Shaefer, an emergency medical technician on Molokai, said transporting a trauma patient on an airplane from Molokai to Oahu takes about seven hours, compared with 45 minutes for helicopters.
Pele said he was fortunate a private emergency helicopter ambulance service was operating in 1994, when a backhoe severed two fingers of his left hand in an industrial accident. The private helicopter service -- which later shut down -- picked him up at the site of the accident and flew him to a hospital in Honolulu, where a surgeon reattached his middle finger.
Schaefer and Milton Martin, an emergency medical technician in West Maui, said a number of people have died due to the lack of emergency helicopter service.
Martin realizes a helicopter ambulance is expensive, "but how much is one life worth?" he asked.
Pele's mother, Janice, said the Molokai hospital lacks specialists and equipment for surgery. Helicopter ambulance service would allow them access to medical services on Oahu.
"For us on Molokai, it's very important," she said.
