The Mainland Exodus

[jdirgo]

Damon, if you would take someone's (anyone's) personal opinion over a JCAHO review, then you've never been through a JCAHO review. Trust me, its GRUELING. I have been through one, at Hilo Hospital. They are VERY thorough. Random charts are pulled and examined line-by-line. They show up at random times (can, and often is, the middle of the night) to do spot-checks of patient charts and review care standards. It is an exhausting and brutal experience.

I won't say a great deal about Hilo Medical Center (because I could go on for days) other than this -- for an institution that receives far less funding than similar public facilities (given the population base it serves), they do an good job.

As for the surgeon and screwdriver -- that's a long story and, in my opinion, not the hospital's fault. As for the body that sat in the morgue for years, that was the state's fault. It wouldn't matter what hospital, Hawaii's laws were such that no hospital would have the ability to make someone take the body away. HMC (Hilo Medical Center -- it hasn't been called Hilo Hospital for at least 20 years) had no legal way of forcing the issue.

As for the ER, here's a few facts for you:
The second busiest ER in Hawaii (after Queen's) is HMC, which sees around 24,000 patients a year (Queen's sees roughly 30,000 -- so by comparision, HMC sees 80% as many patients as Queen's)
HMC's ER is 1/5th the size of Queen's. It will be better after the expansion currently taking place, it will probably be 1/3rd the size of Queen's ER.
It has correspondingly less staff as well. As for doctors on call that they can pull in during busy times -- well, if you think its tough to find a doctor now during business hours during the week, try to find one that you can call in at midnight on a Saturday.
Until about a year or two ago, there were NO urgent care centers at all in Hilo. The ones we have are less than perfect, but they do, at least, pull some people out the ER.

Those of you that know me well, know that I left HMC about 4 years ago. I am not fond of several members of its upper management (I would have been considered mid-to-upper level management), but the vast majority of the people there work hard, work under severe limitations and provide the best care they possibly can.

John Dirgo, R, ABR, e-PRO
Aloha Coast Realty, LLC
808-987-9243 cell
http://www.alohacoastrealty.com