STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2442

Honolulu, Hawaii

,

RE: S.B. No. 2577

 

 

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. 2577 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR WAIANAE COAST COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CENTER,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center to maintain emergency room hours of operation from midnight to 8:00 a.m.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the measure from the Department of Health and the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center.

Your Committee finds that the need for twenty-four-hour emergency room service for the Waianae population of over forty-two thousand residents continues to accelerate. Every community marketing study conducted by the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center lists the availability of twenty-four-hour emergency medical services as the highest concern. Your Committee further finds that the Center is the only available medical facility in the area equipped to handle emergencies and to stabilize victims of serious trauma. Its emergency room is one of the most heavily utilized on Oahu and it continues to be the safety net for uninsured and medically under-served patients. Without the funding authorized in this bill, the Center may have to eliminate its overnight emergency, laboratory, or radiology services.

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. 2577 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,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair