WHEREAS, Wahiawa and Mililani need additional emergency medical resources to address the high rate of motor vehicle accidents, medical emergencies, and other trauma in these communities; and

WHEREAS, rural communities, such as the Wahiawa and Mililani areas, depend on the emergency medical system to provide their entire health safety net; and

WHEREAS, the federal government recognizes this problem and the difficulty that many rural communities are having in trying to provide for effective emergency medical systems; and

WHEREAS, the United States Department of Health and Human Services provides states with grants from its Rural Hospital Flexibility Program; these funds can be used for improving emergency medical service systems in rural areas; and

WHEREAS, the State should attempt to obtain a federal grant from the Rural Hospital Flexibility Program to assist in providing adequate care for the residents of Wahiawa and Mililani; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, that the Department of Health is urged to obtain grant funding from the United States Department of Health and Human Services Rural Hospital Flexibility Program to improve emergency medical service systems in rural communities such as Wahiawa and Mililani; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this

Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health and the Governor.

Report Title:

Rural Emergency Medical Services; U.S. Dept. of Health Grants