The need to keep Ka‘u Hospital operating as a “safety-net” facility was the major topic of discussion during a public meeting Saturday of the Hawaii Health Corp. East Hawaii Board of Directors. About 25 braved a flash flood watch brought about by the remnants of former Tropical Storm Wali to attend the meeting at the 21-bed Pahala hospital. HHSC East Hawaii Region CEO Howard Ainsley, who is leaving Aug. 9 to become CEO of Morehead Memorial Hospital in North Carolina, noted that many rural critical-access facilities are going out of business, and referred to those still in operation as “the walking wounded.” “We’re very challenged in many ways here,” Ainsley said. “… We’ve got to make sure that the safety-net hospital survives.”
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 18:00:00 +0000