STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2383

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2006

RE: S.B. No. 218

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 218, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make an appropriation for a training stipend program for Mobile Intensive Care Technicians for the County of Maui and the County of Kauai.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, County of Kauai Fire Department, PMRF Barking Sands Fire Department, American Medical Response, and twenty-one individuals.

Your Committee finds that there is a great need for qualified emergency medical services personnel, especially on the neighbor islands. The lack of formal training on the neighbor islands adds to the difficulty of filling staff shortages. The training program for Mobile Intensive Care Technicians (MICTs) is located on Oahu which is often too costly a commute for MICT candidates. Additionally, the rigorous eighteen month didactic and practical training program often requires that paramedics take a leave from emergency medical service work to devote their full time and attention to becoming MICT-certified. Without a stipend, many Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) are unable financially to make such a commitment.

Your Committee further finds that providing a stipend program for any public or private paramedic who does not currently have access to a stipend program will alleviate the shortage problem and ensure there are qualified emergency services personnel on the neighbor islands.

Your Committee amended this measure by including the appropriation amount of $350,000 to fund ten students per year who are public or private paramedics and do not have current access to a stipend program.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 218, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 218, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair