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Harry Kim <br />Mawr <br />Wil Okabe <br />Managing Director <br />Barbara J. Kossow <br />Depun, Managing Director <br />County of Hawaii <br />Office of the Mayor <br />25 Aupuni Street, Suite 2603 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720 • (808) 961-8211 . Fax (808) 961-6553 <br />KONA. 74-5044 Are Keohokalole Hwy, Bldg C • Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740 <br />(808) 323-4444 . Fax (808) 323-4440 <br />February 4, 2019 <br />Rep. John M. Mizuno, Chair <br />COMMITTEE ON HEALTH <br />Hawai'i State Legislature <br />Dear Chair Mizuno and Committee members: <br />Re: HB 873, RELATING TO TEACHING HOSPITALS <br />The concept of establishing a teaching hospital in West Hawai'i is a <br />masterstroke. It will serve as a focus for recruiting, training and retaining the healthcare <br />workers — physicians, nurses and others — that are so sorely needed on Hawai'i Island. <br />It will be core to the healthcare infrastructure enhancements needed to care for our <br />growing population, predicted by DBEDT to reach 300,000 by 2040. <br />A West Hawai'i teaching hospital will attract physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, <br />pharmacists, phlebotomists, x-ray technicians, all the ancillary staff needed to run a <br />hospital. It will become the anchor of a robust, coordinated healthcare system, key to <br />sustaining and retaining the healthcare workers currently lacking on the Big Island. <br />It will enhance and diversify our economy, presently so dependent on tourism. It may <br />have a positive impact on tourism itself, assuring older or medically fragile tourists that <br />West Hawaii is a safe place to be and perhaps even bringing "medical tourists" seeking <br />treatment. <br />Most of all, it will mean that clinical services and medical services presently <br />absent on -island will be available to our residents, allowing local families to receive care <br />and support at home, often a big part of any recovery. <br />Teaching hospitals are known to raise the standard of care in the communities <br />they serve, providing opportunity and employment, while better addressing everyday <br />healthcare needs of residents and visitors alike. <br />Count) of Hawaii is an Equal Opportumt} Provider and Employer <br />