LIHUE — Mike Foster has been a paramedic for 39 years.
“When I started, there were only two ambulances on Kauai,” Foster said. “Zach Octavio had the station at the G.N. Wilcox Memorial Hospital, and I had the station at the Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital. In those days, we had the hearse ambulances with the big sirens attached to the bumpers.”
Since then, Kauai has grown to include five ambulance stations and the addition of a new ambulance to the Kapaa station.
“This is EMS (emergency medical services) Week,” said Tito Villanueva, Kauai district manager for American Medical Response, the ambulance service provider. “We celebrate the advancements we’ve made in medical service.”
During the last legislative session, a bill was passed which would result in Kauai adding another ambulance station as early as July 1.
“Our legislative team worked hard for this,” Villanueva said. “We had support from Wilcox Hospital who wrote a lot of support letters, our paramedic union, and everyone worked hard to get the community on board. With the bill passing, we’re ready to go. We have the manpower, and the equipment to provide the island with 24-hour service starting July 1.”
Dean Ohata, an Emergency Medical Technician at AMR Kapaa, said they also got a new ambulance coinciding with EMS Week.
“It is much different from the rest of the fleet with lots of new safety features,” Ohata said. “One of the new safety features is the relocation of the backboard door away from traffic. In the previous models, the backboard door would open into traffic which created a safety hazard. The new ambulance has the door rel0cated so the door opens opposite traffic which is a lot safer. It’s EMS Week across the nation, and Kauai is celebrating with a brand new ambulance for the Kapaa station.”
Villanueva said Kauai got two new ambulances, one being stationed in Kapaa and the other at the Lihue station for inter-facility transfer service.
Under the current ambulance criteria, the rigs need to be changed out after 200,000 miles, or seven years, Villanueva said. The Kapaa rig is seven years old and reached its life expectancy.
EMS Week was authorized in 1974 by President Gerald Ford to bring together communities and medical personnel to honor the dedication of those who provide the day-to-day lifesaving practices of medicine’s “front line.”
Aloha Kakou,
Just curious, besides Police cars, and the few daily commuters from Haena to Kokee, whomrequire 2 roundtrips a day, what vehicles travel over 200,000 miles in 7 years?
And where do old (7 years?) retired ambulances go, we hope not to the wrecking yard !
Seems there would be some deserving 3rd world country out there in need. Like Detroit?
Mahalo,
Charlie