Supporters of a new ambulance for Makalei worry that tight fiscal times could thwart their efforts yet again.
Supporters of a new ambulance for Makalei worry that tight fiscal times could thwart their efforts yet again.
A push led by the Sayre family would bring an advanced life support ambulance, personnel and equipment to the Makalei Fire Station. With long distances to fire stations and emergency rooms, lives routinely hang in the balance, supporters say.
Laura Mallery-Sayre worries that, unless the public turns out with a significant show of testimony in support, the bill will simply lose out to competing priorities in the end game.
It’s happened before, said Mallery-Sayre, who has pushed for the EMS support and ambulance for half a decade.
“Last year, both the House and the Senate bills went through all committees as well as the cross-over committees without a dissenting vote, only to be lost in the finance hearings,” she said. “With state budgetary limits, these bills were lost only because other bills had more public testimony for support.”
With strong support for House Bill 481 coming from the Hawaii County Fire Department, the legislation is headed into conference committee. However, the state Department of Health opposes the measure. An expected shortfall in the general fund will make it difficult to fund even existing ambulance contracts around the state in the coming two years, according to DOH testimony.
The added unit would have a negative impact on existing services, the DOH says.
Sayre acknowledged the battle is an uphill scramble for limited resources. No ambulance units have been added to the Big Island for a decade. The last unit to be added, in Hawaiian Ocean View Estates in 2005, brought the island’s total units to 15. A California donor was prepared to gift an ambulance worth more than $200,000 to Makalei several years ago, but eventually withdrew the offer because of a lack of funding to staff the vehicle.
The Makalei area is eight miles from the nearest ambulance-equipped fire station in Kailua-Kona and a half hour from Kona Community Hospital.
The bill’s future will be decided in conference and budget negotiations, said state Rep. Nicole Lowen, D-Kailua-Kona, the bill’s author.
“I’m still advocating strongly for getting this funded, but it’s hard to know what will happen at this point,” Lowen said. “Personally, I think it would be make more sense to shift the funding (decisions) for these public safety services to the counties, as they are better informed of which local needs should be the highest priority.”
The bill is headed to conference committees with a strong number of Big Island lawmakers on them. Sayre said she is optimistic the funding will be obtained.
“We need to show the conference committee there is resounding support for this,” she said. “I’m hoping people don’t just expect it to happen.”
The following senators are on the conference committee for HB481: Josh Green, Russell Ruderman, Lorraine Inouye, Glenn Wakai and Sam Slom.
The state representatives on the conference committee are Della Au Bellatti, Nicole Lowen, Richard Onishi and Beth Fukamoto Chang. They can be reached via email at: sengreen@capitol.hawaii.gov, senruderman@capitol.hawaii.gov, seninouye@capitol.hawaii.gov, senwakai@capitol.hawaii.gov, senslom@capitol.hawaii.gov, repfukumoto@Capitol.hawaii.gov, repbelatti@Capitol.hawaii.gov, replowen@Capitol.hawaii.gov, reponishi@Capitol.hawaii.gov.