How to use a roundabout

[pahoated]

It is getting strange with the number of emergency ambulances heading into Puna or out of Puna. I only go into town every other day usually, generally in the afternoon, and it is getting to be I see an ambulance or fire truck with lights and sirens going, heading into or out of Puna, every time or sometimes going in and back out of town. I have seen so many now that I notice they aren't heading out of Hilo to go north, or going on to Volcano, they are all going into Puna.

There are a lot of very old people in Puna, the hippies from the 70's are now sour old codgers. A lot of them are dying, became aware of about 3 elderly deaths in a 6 block area over the past few months, know about other neighbors in multiple stages of distress. That would account for the higher frequency of emergency vehicles but there must be a lot more happening to account for all these ambulances, fire trucks, police cars. Accidents, drugs, domestics, crime, and none of it gets reported.

The statistics show that if some life threatening condition happens, a 5 minute response results in much higher survival. Now imagine being in Kalapana, you have a stab wound, you are bleeding out, you probably only have 10 minutes, you have enough strength to make a cell phone 911. An ambulance is immediately dispatched from Hilo. The only problem is that it is 5 pm and the ambulance gets caught in the Kea'au merge. After getting past that, 50% of the people on Hwy 130 heading to Pahoa are unaware there is an ambulance behind them. After getting through that, the ambulance comes up to the Pahoa roundabout and there has been a minor fender bender, totally blocking the entire spaghetti intersection. After the 2 hours it takes to clear that out, the ambulance is on its way to Kalapana. At least they find your body and give it a ride back to Hilo with just flashing lights. Your body has an uplifting community message T-shirt "Aloha is Alive in Puna!".

"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"