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| Palila, dining on mamane pods, were once common in Ka`u at higher elevations. Photo by Ryan O'Donnell |
Most palila live in mamane and mamane-naio forests at about 7,500 feet elevation. Mamane forests have been devastated in Ka`u by cattle and other ungulates.
For more information on Acres for America or to apply for a grant, visit www.nfwf.org.
HAWA`I’S HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS are gearing up for the 2012 state Legislature, which opens next week. To get ready, the Hawai`i Island Healthcare Alliance held a summit with the public last month.
“Poor access to care just because you live on the Big Island is simply not acceptable,” one community member told health policymakers, including physician and Senator Josh Green, Rep. Cindy Evans and governor’s liaison John Buckstead. How to align efforts? The meeting focused on priorities: funding for University of Hawai`i Family Medicine Residency program in Hilo; money for hospital capital requirements; implementation of the Health Information Exchange so doctors, clinics and hospitals can easily access medical history of patients; and harmonizing state and federal regulations.
For more information on Acres for America or to apply for a grant, visit www.nfwf.org.
HAWA`I’S HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS are gearing up for the 2012 state Legislature, which opens next week. To get ready, the Hawai`i Island Healthcare Alliance held a summit with the public last month.
“Poor access to care just because you live on the Big Island is simply not acceptable,” one community member told health policymakers, including physician and Senator Josh Green, Rep. Cindy Evans and governor’s liaison John Buckstead. How to align efforts? The meeting focused on priorities: funding for University of Hawai`i Family Medicine Residency program in Hilo; money for hospital capital requirements; implementation of the Health Information Exchange so doctors, clinics and hospitals can easily access medical history of patients; and harmonizing state and federal regulations.
Hawai`i Island has the state’s greatest shortage of primary care physicians, physicians’ assistants, and nurse practitioners, equating to 33 percent fewer than needed to adequately care for the population, reported Dr. Kelley Withy, author of the Hawai`i Physician Workforce Assessment Project. “This shortage is projected to double by the year 2020, resulting in the island having more than 330 fewer physicians than needed to serve the population.”
REGISTRATION FOR THE KEIKI FISHING TOURNAMENT at Punalu`u begins at 8 a.m. tomorrow, and fishing begins at 10 a.m. Each participate is asked to bring at least one canned food item for the Ka`u Family Center. The event sponsored by `O Ka`u Kakou includes free lunch, shave ice, popcorn and prizes.
Hawai`i Island Health Care Alliance Chair Sharon Vitousek, MD said the shortage “reduces access to healthcare on our island and is associated with higher death rates, lower life expectancy and higher hospital costs.”
One of the Alliance’s top priorities is to grow primary care providers through the UH Family Medicine Residency Program on this island, she said. Vitousek emphasized its economic and health benefits. “These health workforce shortages are in the bigger context of large economic disparities on our island. The provider shortages are in part a result of a poorer rural economy with higher unemployment and higher uninsured and underinsured on Hawai`i Island. But more importantly, since health providers are the largest employers in many of our communities, stimulating the health economy through growth of the health workforce would also stimulate economic development and grow jobs on our island,” she said.
Boyd Murayama, assistant administrator at Hilo Medical Center, which operates the site of the Family Medicine Residency Program, noted more than 90 students from the UH Schools of Pharmacy and Nursing rotated through the center last year. The program has a director. It applies for accreditation in 2012, and Family Medicine Residents start in 2014.
One of the Alliance’s top priorities is to grow primary care providers through the UH Family Medicine Residency Program on this island, she said. Vitousek emphasized its economic and health benefits. “These health workforce shortages are in the bigger context of large economic disparities on our island. The provider shortages are in part a result of a poorer rural economy with higher unemployment and higher uninsured and underinsured on Hawai`i Island. But more importantly, since health providers are the largest employers in many of our communities, stimulating the health economy through growth of the health workforce would also stimulate economic development and grow jobs on our island,” she said.
Boyd Murayama, assistant administrator at Hilo Medical Center, which operates the site of the Family Medicine Residency Program, noted more than 90 students from the UH Schools of Pharmacy and Nursing rotated through the center last year. The program has a director. It applies for accreditation in 2012, and Family Medicine Residents start in 2014.
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| Hawai`i Island Health Care Alliance brings stakeholders together for the 2012 state Legislature. |
The state Department of Health is providing $200,000 to support development of the residency program. Matching funds will come from TriWest. David McIntyre, president and CEO of TriWest Healthcare Alliance, said the donations are “designed to ensure access to care for its customers, the Coast Guard and the Army and Air Guard units in Hilo. TriWest pledges $2 million contingent on an ongoing state match of funds for the Residency Program.
Dr. Chip Hixon, chair of Family Medicine and Community Health at UH medical school, said, “There is compelling evidence that health care outcomes and costs in the United States are strongly linked to the availability of primary care physicians. For each incremental primary care physician, there are 1.44 fewer deaths per 10,000 persons. Patients with a regular primary care physician have lower overall health care costs than those without one.”
Susan B. Hunt, CEO of Hawai`i Island Beacon Community, which is funding health care information exchange and education, said this island has funding, tools, relationships and motivation to build an extraordinary system. “We need the support of the Legislature to ensure that we have laws that provide an adequate level of protection of personal health information, while also allowing this information to flow in a timely and useable manner to improve quality of care and to improve the health of our population,” she said.
The briefing’s presentation is available at http://hawaiihealthcarealliance.org.
Dr. Chip Hixon, chair of Family Medicine and Community Health at UH medical school, said, “There is compelling evidence that health care outcomes and costs in the United States are strongly linked to the availability of primary care physicians. For each incremental primary care physician, there are 1.44 fewer deaths per 10,000 persons. Patients with a regular primary care physician have lower overall health care costs than those without one.”
Susan B. Hunt, CEO of Hawai`i Island Beacon Community, which is funding health care information exchange and education, said this island has funding, tools, relationships and motivation to build an extraordinary system. “We need the support of the Legislature to ensure that we have laws that provide an adequate level of protection of personal health information, while also allowing this information to flow in a timely and useable manner to improve quality of care and to improve the health of our population,” she said.
The briefing’s presentation is available at http://hawaiihealthcarealliance.org.
STATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE priorities at the Legislature will include blocking a scheduled hike in unemployment payments by businesses this year. The increase would force businesses to pay $180 to $650 more per employee, according to a story in this morning’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
While the state needs the money, “Lawmakers worry that the rate increase – intended to help build a reserve to cover unemployment insurance claims – may be too much of a burden on businesses and could prompt layoffs that might interrupt a fragile recovery,” reports Star-Advertiser writer Derreck DePledge.
He writes that Jim Tollefson, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai`i, reported finding it difficult to foresee the extent of the recession and the fallout on unemployment. “I don’t think anybody anticipated the Great Recession when we looked at this the last time,” said Tollefson.
THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION is elevated to a Cabinet-level agency, President Barack Obama announced this morning. The secretary of the SBA will be its current leader Karen Mills.
The President also said he wants the authority to streamline government. He said it is very difficult for businesses to navigate through government whether to find out how to export a product or look for a loan. He said that the administration has been unable to streamline government by consolidating agencies since the 1980s, before the Internet. One thousand to 2,000 jobs would be cut over ten years through attrition as part of the President’s consolidation plan. The SBA sponsors a Small Business Development Center in Hilo and in Kona with free counseling.
While the state needs the money, “Lawmakers worry that the rate increase – intended to help build a reserve to cover unemployment insurance claims – may be too much of a burden on businesses and could prompt layoffs that might interrupt a fragile recovery,” reports Star-Advertiser writer Derreck DePledge.
He writes that Jim Tollefson, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai`i, reported finding it difficult to foresee the extent of the recession and the fallout on unemployment. “I don’t think anybody anticipated the Great Recession when we looked at this the last time,” said Tollefson.
THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION is elevated to a Cabinet-level agency, President Barack Obama announced this morning. The secretary of the SBA will be its current leader Karen Mills.
The President also said he wants the authority to streamline government. He said it is very difficult for businesses to navigate through government whether to find out how to export a product or look for a loan. He said that the administration has been unable to streamline government by consolidating agencies since the 1980s, before the Internet. One thousand to 2,000 jobs would be cut over ten years through attrition as part of the President’s consolidation plan. The SBA sponsors a Small Business Development Center in Hilo and in Kona with free counseling.
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| `O Ka`u Kakou's Punalu`u fishing tournament will be held tomorrow. |
HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND’S first Ka`u Beach Cleanup of 2012 takes place tomorrow. Participants meet at Wai`ohinu Park to carpool to Kamilo Beach at 7:45 a.m. To sign up, contact Megan Lamson at 769-7629 or kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com.
REGISTRATION FOR THE KEIKI FISHING TOURNAMENT at Punalu`u begins at 8 a.m. tomorrow, and fishing begins at 10 a.m. Each participate is asked to bring at least one canned food item for the Ka`u Family Center. The event sponsored by `O Ka`u Kakou includes free lunch, shave ice, popcorn and prizes.
THE WESTERN SKY OF KA`U will be one place to look for the Phobos-Grunt Russian spacecraft at about 6:22 p.m. this evening. According to a Hawaii 24/7 story by Barron Sekiya, the 1,600-pound unmanned spacecraft may be visible low in the Western sky as it moves north. Sekiya reports: “The spacecraft was launched on Nov. 9, 2011 with a mission to land on Phobos, a moon of Mars, and return soil samples to Earth but experienced a failure shortly after launch. The craft has been stuck in a low Earth orbit, which is decaying, and is expected to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.” Hawai`i 24/7 reports that the Phobos-Grunt contains roughly 7.5 metric tons of highly toxic hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, mostly fuel for the spacecraft’s upper stage. According to the Russian team responsible for the spacecraft, the toxic compounds and the spacecraft itself should be destroyed by the heat of re-entry. See more at hawaii247.com.
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