STAND. COM. REP. NO. 22-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: H.B. No. 1844
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No.
1844 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE
     DEVELOPMENT OF PROTOCOLS AND THE SPECIAL TRAINING OF
     PARAMEDICS IN THE TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PATIENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to train emergency services
personnel in recognizing domestic violence injuries by
appropriating funds to the counties for the development and
implementation of protocols and the special training of
paramedics in the treatment and care of domestic violence
patients.

     The Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, the
Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Domestic
Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline, and the Department of
Emergency Services of the City and County of Honolulu testified
in support of this measure.  The Department of Health (DOH)
testified in support of the intent of this measure, but did not
believe that the authority for training paramedics and
establishing domestic violence protocols should be delegated to
each county.


 
 
 
 
 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 22-00
                                 Page 2

 
     Your Committee finds that the University of Hawaii, through
its Kapiolani Community College (KCC) Emergency Medical Services
(EMS) Training Centers on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island,
provides continuing medical education for Hawaii's paramedics who
staff ambulances statewide.  

     Your Committee further finds that EMS pre-hospital medical
care standards are developed by DOH's EMS medical directors in
consultation with emergency physicians statewide.  This system of
medical oversight ensures that there is continuity in the
development of statewide medical care standards appropriate for
emergency ambulance services and the delivery of quality pre-
hospital medical care.

     Therefore, your Committee believes that enhancement and
funding the paramedic curriculum on domestic violence should
remain with the current EMS educational system to provide for the
continuity of knowledge for the recognition and treatment of
domestic violence victims.  To do otherwise would increase the
potential to develop protocols inconsistent with EMS pre-hospital
medical care standards.

     DOH informed your Committee that KCC will develop EMS
domestic violence curriculum and provide training for
approximately 650 emergency medical personnel at the cost of
$18,065.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Appropriating $18,065 to DOH to develop and implement
          statewide protocols and special training of paramedics
          in the treatment and care of domestic violence
          patients;

     (2)  Deleting funding for the counties; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for
          purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
1844, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second
Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1844, H.D. 1, and
be referred to the Committee on Finance.


 
 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 22-00
                                 Page 3

 
                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Health,



                                   ______________________________
                                   ALEXANDER C. SANTIAGO, Chair