By TREENA SHAPIRO
Associated Press
HONOLULU — West Oahu representatives spoke in support of options that could help reopen an Ewa Beach hospital.
The Ewa and Waipahu area has been without an emergency room since Hawaii Medical Center’s bankruptcy forced the closure of its West campus in December. Hawaii Medical Center East in Liliha closed at the same time.
“The closure of the emergency room on the West side has had dramatic rippling effects throughout Oahu,” said House Health Chairman Ryan Yamane, D-Waipahu, Mililani. Yamane said the closures have led to inundated emergency rooms at Wahiawa General and Pali Momi hospitals, a shortage of beds islandwide, and the loss of doctors’ offices,
Yamane spoke at a press conference with other area representatives and St. Francis Healthcare on Friday.
St. Francis, which sold the hospitals to Hawaii Medical Center five years ago, is expected to resume ownership of its former hospital facilities soon.
Until then, St. Francis will not indicate whether it intends to reopen the hospitals itself or sell them again. Yamane said the state wants to be in a position to support whichever option will lead to emergency services in West Oahu.
The Health Committee advanced a bill Friday that would allow St. Francis to borrow $80 million for improvements necessary to reopen or sell the hospitals.
That proposal would use Special Purpose Revenue Bonds, not taxpayer dollars, to help St. Francis qualify for a low-interest loan. Special purpose bonds are used to support projects deemed to have a statewide impact.
The Health Committee also moved forward a bill that would allow the Liliha campus to be turned into a long-term care facility.
“We want to make sure the people of the Leeward Coast have a medical facility in their area and we look at this as an opportunity for doubling our longterm care beds at HMC East,” Yamane said.
Joy Yadao, Director of Advocacy and Business Development for St. Francis, could not discuss what the plans for the facilities might be, because ownership still needs to be resolved in bankruptcy court.
However, she did say, “We’re not going to leave it empty. We’re going to ensure, if it’s not us, that someone else runs (the medical centers).”
The Senate Health Committee deferred its own version of the $80 million bond financing measure until Wednesday. Committee Chairman Josh Green, D-Milolii-Waimea, said members were open to considering the proposal but wasn’t sure it would be a benefit to St. Francis.
