STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1037

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 481

       H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 481, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to make an appropriation for one advanced life support ambulance to be based in Makalei on the Island of Hawaii, to be used from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and to include vehicle acquisition, equipment acquisition, and personnel costs.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the County of Hawaii, Hawaii Fire Department; Hawaii Fire Fighters Association, Local 1463, IAFF, AFL-CIO; Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation; and five individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Makalei fire station in North Kona, on the Island of Hawaii, serves one of the fastest growing districts in the State.  However, this station was never equipped or staffed with an advanced life support ambulance to serve the emergency medical services response needs of area residents.  Your Committee further finds that emergency medical services response time significantly impacts the overall delivery time of a patient to definitive treatment at an emergency room.  Trauma, stroke, and other cardiac emergencies are extremely time sensitive, and rapid transport to definitive treatment for patients with these emergencies often makes the difference between life and death.

 

     According to testimony received by your Committee, the current emergency medical services response within the Makalei district must arrive from other fire stations, located between eight and twenty-seven miles away.  Patients treated and transported within the North Kona district are therefore at a disadvantage due to the increased response and transport times.  This measure appropriates funds for an advanced life support ambulance based in the Makalei area of the island of Hawaii, which will help meet the ever-increasing demands for emergency medical services in North Kona.

 

     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 H.B. No. 481, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair