Laserfiche WebLink
30 Sept 2007 <br /> Dear County Council, <br /> I am writing you on behalf of the nurses, physicians and health professional who work at <br /> <br /> the Hilo Community Surgery Center. The lack of access to medical care on the Big <br /> Island has been labeled a major health care crisis by the press and many of our political <br /> leaders. Many patients in East Hawaii have difficulty in attending appointments with <br /> surgeons, orthopedic specialists, OB-GYN and women's specialists. The Community <br /> Surgery Center was established to help meet these critical medical shortages, in the <br /> area of Hilo, which has the largest concentration of medical practices. The lack of <br /> adequate parking is seriously limiting the ability of East Hawaii patients to seek medical <br /> care. Our health professionals are dismayed to see women in their late stages of <br /> pregnancy walk blocks to reach their appointments. Elderly women often have to park <br /> far away on the street or in other distant lots, and trudge through the rain to have <br /> mammography. The lack of adequate parking is a major roadblock to medical care in <br /> Hilo, especially for those with limited mobility. <br /> The Community Surgery Center has a request before the County Council to establish <br /> more parking for our patients. It is impractical to develop parking elsewhere in town <br /> and bus our patients in. Hawaii is already a very challenging place to operate a <br /> medical practice. Business expenses are high, reimbursements are low and it is <br /> extremely difficult to recruit and retain medical professionals. If patient access <br /> problems push health care specialists out of their practices at the Community Surgery <br /> Center, it would be difficult to find replacements, especially for surgical and OB-GYN <br /> doctors. <br /> The additional parking is also needed for the new physicians moving into the <br /> Community Surgery Center and for women who need mammography. Thousands of <br /> women in East Hawaii require annual mammography, as the number of mammograms <br /> performed actually fell between 2002 and 2005, despite the increase in the population. <br /> The only mammography clinic in East Hawaii is located at the Surgery center and is <br /> willing to invest in very expensive digital mammography equipment to shorten exam <br /> time to 10 minutes and enable same day mammogram appointments. However, this <br /> modern and more efficient mammography equipment cannot screen the additional <br /> thousands of women who need mammography without more parking for them to <br /> reach the clinic. <br /> Comm. No._37 ~ ' <br /> Ref. To~_~~~~~7 ~ <br /> Rof. Dole <br /> <br />