Posts: 325
Threads: 9
Joined: Oct 2007
quote:
Originally posted by Damon...I myself would take your personal opinion over a site like this...
That's a nice thing for you to say, Damon, thank you.
I know there are websites that aren't much more than advertisements, but disguise themselves as "independant", but I didn't look at the one I cited beyond the superficial. I just posted the first one I came to on a Google search, seems to be an advertisement-type website, which wasn't too bright on my part. There is unbiased information out there about hospitals. If I were to make a project out of evaluating Hilo Hospital, and I'm not, I'd start looking at CDC records, National Institutes of Health, that kind of thing.
I have no axe to grind at all about Hilo's Hospital, one way or the other. Whenever I move across the pond, it'll be the medical facility I get to go to, whether I like it or not, most likely. I'm not affluent enough to fly around whenever I get sick, or even afford health insurance much beyond an HMO.
Not that you're grinding an axe, Damon, you must have lots more information than my one (pleasant) visit. Here where I live, there are some small-town hospitals in the outlying communities that basically are just that: small-town hospitals. They provide the treatment you'd expect from a small-town hospital. Sounds like Hilo Hospital is of that variety of medical facility.
<edit> Okay, just for anybody's curiosity, here's a Dept. of Health and Human Services website to compare hospitals. I hope it would be unbiased, but you never know. Search for Hilo, and you can check the data out yourself.
Aloha! ;-)
Aloha! ;-)
Posts: 942
Threads: 17
Joined: Aug 2005
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
Posts: 1,581
Threads: 26
Joined: Jun 2007
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is the world's leading health care standards and accrediting body. JCAHO accreditation is not a paid endorsement, paid advertising, or paid anything. A JCAHO accreditation can be more rigorous than any State or Medicare inspection. I've known healthcare organizations on the mainland to fire senior executives if they have their accreditation pulled or suspended by JCAHO. Don't know how all this related to Hawaii healthcare but as for JCAHO, it's nothing to be downplayed.
I stand corrected on the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations website.
However, I will personally say that from my experiences with the Hilo Hospital compared to ANYOTHER hospital I've been to too that Hilo's one sucks.
I guess if it's the only thing you got... then you learn to accept.
-----------------
Coming home soon!
Posts: 8,444
Threads: 1,031
Joined: May 2003
The Hilo Medical Center should be a separate topic - ana worthwhile one at that. Personally my family has been impressed with the care there.
Punaweb moderator
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
Posts: 11
Threads: 0
Joined: Feb 2008
Housing increases pre-bubble affected everyone as to affordability factors. People on the mainland aren't pulling in much higher paying jobs than the local jobs in Hawaii, and if you think you can buy a $65K house in Oklahoma, let me take you through HOVE and show you multiple "unpermitted" houses under $75K.
I think the "grass is always greener" is the catalyst to migrations to anywhere. Someone mentioned Vegas - easy place to get a job, low housing costs, and probably hiring Micky D's at $11 an hour. A 2 income family could afford that brand new $125K 100% builder financed home with 0 down.
If you go farther north past Reno, the gold mines are hiring in at a minimum of $15 to start for unskilled labor and $35+ per hour for skilled labor/management. You can buy an acre of land for $500 and bring in a mobile home complete with a fresh water well and septic tank for about $30-50K.
The reason I moved to NJ was for a great job opportunity that was only supposed to last 6 months. At the end of 6 months they offered me a full-time job, so we moved from the midwest. I am making 3 times what I could in the midwest, and paying 2 1/2 times for what I used to pay for: housing, gas, taxes, etc.
So, it is all relative. You go where you think you can make more money and/or live a better life.
Is Kona so much different climate wise than Reno? Probably not (yes, def hotter in Vegas), but if you already lived in one of the arid areas of Hawaii, the NV climate isn't such a total shock. Culture shock, maybe, but not if you craved "more" action than what you had in Hawaii.
It is like everyone saying that Chicago, NY, LA, Vegas are THE places to be - well, it works on it if it works for YOU. Doesn't everyone want to test the waters at least once in their life.
You can always go home, regardless of what the great authors say.
tluve
Posts: 80
Threads: 22
Joined: Jul 2007
In response to the way this topic started, there are WAY too many assumptions being made here. To assume that the majority of these 10000 people are lifelong residents being "displaced" due to not being able to afford to live here anymore is very speculative. What about people who moved here from somewhere else, got homesick and moved back? What about people who maybe were born and raised here and CHOSE to move somewhere else for their own reasons. A lot of young people when they grow up want to "fly the coop" just to see what else is out there. A lot of people have never left the island or state. Just because this is paradise to a lot of us doesn't mean it is to everybody. If this is all you have known your whole life, isn't it plausable that you could yearn to see more of the world?
Posts: 1,581
Threads: 26
Joined: Jun 2007
In perspective, 10,000 people represent less than 1% of the total population. Is it conceivable that 1% of any given state's population leaves each year to go to another state? If so, the exodus may be a normal demographic shift and has absolutely nothing to do with Hawaii. This may be more to do about nothing.
quote:
Originally posted by Bob Orts
....Is it conceivable that 1% of any given state's population leaves each year to go to another state? If so, the exodus may be a normal demographic shift and has absolutely nothing to do with Hawaii. This may be more to do about nothing.
I don't think on a yearly basis it would be conceivable. If you had 1% of the state leaving each year and using the 10,000 amount of people as that 1%. That would make more then 100,000 in 10 years[  ]
-------------
Today in History:
Lava erupts from Kilauea and forces the evacuation of 500 people from Kapoho Village, Hawai'i, 1955
Posts: 942
Threads: 17
Joined: Aug 2005
Devil's Advocate here.
OK, so 1% leaves in a year. I'm guessing that's 1% of the ADULTS. How many kids were born?
I could go on and on -- it just shows that a simple statistic out of context is really meaningless.
What if 25% of that 1% were seniors moving to be closer to the grandkids? One could argue that Hawaii was left with a marginally younger population still in the prime earning and child-raising years.
What if 40% of the people leaving were children under the age of...say...15, moving with their parents. So, in that case, how many families were actually lost?
Does that 1% include the military families that may have been redeployed to another duty station?
And while not as large an issue here as some other places, does that statistic take into account people who may be here as "undocumented" residents?
How do you count people who live here and have residency status but honestly only spend 6 months of the year here and chose to move their residency to another state for tax reasons (although, granted, the lack of tax on pensions actually attracts people here)?
If the statistic includes everyone over 18, how many are moving to attend college? Are they still residents? I know when I was in college, as a "resident" of my state, I got huge tuition breaks compared to "out of state" students (including my Hawaiian roommate, Kimo). It would be worthwhile for a person attending college on the mainland to claim citizenship in that state, even if their plan is to return to Hawaii upon graduation. BTW, last time I checked, Kimo was here, practicing medicine in Honolulu. I haven't heard from him, but then again, if I were him, knowing what a freak I was during that time, I can't blame him for keeping his distance. He doesn't know (or have any reason to believe) that I actually turned out OK. Those of you that know me well are kindly asked to keep your mouths shut now.
The more concise and easily quotable a statistic is -- the less it means.
John Dirgo, R, ABR, e-PRO
Aloha Coast Realty, LLC
808-987-9243 cell
http://www.alohacoastrealty.com
|
