Letters for Sunday, February 6, 2022

‘Officer Banquel saved my life’

This is in response to an article on 0fficer Philip Banquel of Kaua‘i Police Department that was published on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022.

I am writing this for two reasons. First, to thank him for saving my life. And also I felt the article did not do him justice.

On Nov. 8, 2021, I was at home shoveling asphalt in my driveway when, suddenly and unexpectedly, without any pain, I had a cardiac arrest.

According to my physicians, I suffered from what they call sudden cardiac death, which means my heart simply stopped working. The first person to stop and help was a young Micronesian man with a white car. He had no idea what to do, but he stop and tried. For that I thank you.

A few minutes later, officer Banquel stopped, ran over to check on me, then ran back to his vehicle and immediately returned and started CRP.

A short while later, a female officer arrived, went over to officer Banquel, then over to my mom, and started her investigation. EMS and Kaua‘i Fire Department arrived and took over CPR with no success. Someone attending to me said I was deceased and officer Banquel said “No, no, no,” and dropped to his knees and continued CPR. A while later, officer Banquel successfully revived me.

It was officer Banquel’s determination that saved my life.

After hearing what happened that day from my mom and sister, and upon returning home from O‘ahu, I sat in my living room and replayed the footage from my security cameras. From the time I fell to the time officer Banquel revived me, 32 minutes had passed, most of which CPR was performed by officer Banquel.

I would like to thank EMS and KFD for their efforts in helping to save my life.

Because of officer Banquel, I got to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and, recently, my birthday. Because of you, officer Banquel, I got a second chance at life. You are definitely a hero; my guardian angel. Though words cannot truly express my gratitude, I am beyond grateful. May God bless you and yours with the best life has to offer, and may He send His angels to guide you and protect you as he has done for me.

Asa “Ace” Medina, Lihu‘e

‘Dr. Seager will be sorely missed’

When 100 people were recently questioned on a “Family Feud” episode; who are you most afraid of, the top three answers were, the dentist, the police and my mother-in-law.

Ironically, contrary to what most people dislike, I used to look forward to going to the dentist!

My dentist had a zen-like aura about him. We always engaged in minimum conversation during appointments. It wasn’t the few words that counted, it was the quality of the words.

He would frequently ask during my many visits during my 16 years as a patient, how many more years did I think I would live? I would answer him with the same question. I can’t remember if either of us ever answered the question.

We would talk about the hippie commune life of the ‘60s and spiritual things. He would say he enjoyed my frequent editorials in The Garden Island newspaper so, of course, I had to like the guy.

The best part about this dentist, he was the best at what he did, whether he was prepping me for a crown, fitting me for a partial, filling a cavity or extracting a tooth.

He was the only dentist I know who ever started you on antibiotics before he extracted your tooth. I asked him, “Why?” He said, this way an infection is less prone to set in. I knew this guy was genius!

I always looked forward to our visits. He always made me smile when he said, “open wide, this won’t hurt me a bit!” Of course, it won’t hurt you doc, he would smile back with a twinkle in his eye.

I was saddened when I read in the TGI obituaries that Dr. William Seager had passed away at the age of 77 after only retiring in 2019.

He worked at the sliding-scale dental clinic in Kapa‘a which is part of Ho‘ola Lahui Hawai‘i community health center after owning a successful private dental practice because he enjoyed helping the poor and disadvantaged.

His parting words according to his obituary were, “This may seem like the end, but it’s not — It’s just the beginning…” Profound and refreshing last words.

Dr. Seager will be sorely missed.

A hui hou and rest in love doc!

James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapa‘a

Elected officials, help with housing crisis

The term “price gouging” means when retailers and others take advantage of spikes in demand by charging exorbitant prices for necessities.

Housing is a necessity, and no one is speaking up or doing anything about this issue.

Many generational families are leaving the island because of this fact. Our young, bright and promising young people see no future with staying on Kaua‘i because it is almost impossible to get decent housing.

I am calling on our local and state elected officials to make this a number-one priority and do something about it.

It’s time for all of you to step up and save our people from the influx of people moving here and those who see our rental and sales prices as a way of getting rich fast. Or is it that they do not want to step on the toes of those moving here with a large amount of cash while friends and family members are getting rich off of commissions?

Mae Rita, Kalaheo

‘Ele‘ele overhead pedestrian bridge still hazardous

The overhead walk-thru bridge over Kaumuali‘i Highway in ‘Ele‘ele is a little higher than the original 14 feet. It will be harder for an older person to walk those steps. Approximately a year ago, I mentioned in a letter to the forum that, the walk-thru bridge isn’t ADA friendly. I suggested that on each end of the bridge, the steps should have been replaced by ramps.

Also, now, beside the railing, a cage over the top of the bridge should have been added. Without the cage, it makes it an accident waiting to happen. The cage would prevent people from hanging over the railings or worse.

Let’s make these changes before an accident happens!

‘Ele‘ele Community Park could use some improvements, such as trimming the borderlines of the park (guinea grass, weeds and shrubs). Also, it could use another basketball court and a restroom or two. And some picnic tables and a playground set near or under the monkeypod trees on the east end and next to the existing basketball court, or a couple of little pavilions.

Didn’t they just do some improvements to Emmalani Park? Why not ‘Ele‘ele Community Park?

The park is very big, and the walking path and the existing basketball court and playground set are well used. But it’s sad to see children and teens have to wait their turn to enjoy and have fun. Especially in fall and spring when the basketball court is in use by a team for practice. Actually year-round on a sunny and good day!

Howard Tolbe, ‘Ele‘ele

Seniors need large-print TGI

TGI goes digital and senior citizens are unable to read the local news. But maybe TGI comes out with BIG PRINT digital edition for seniors (one of the paper’s biggest reader demographics)?

Please consider offering a BIG PRINT digital format for seniors. My father Bob, who is 89, relies on your paper for local news. His eyes aren’t that good anymore. He can only read VERY BIG PRINT. He loves your paper (sits and reads it with his magnifying glass), but will have to discontinue if it’s digital unless it’s in GIANT print.

Think of all the aging seniors who lose their sense of community (are isolated by age and COVID). Reading TGI regularly provides so many senior citizens with failing eyesight with a sense of community and invaluable local news coverage.

Please come out with GIANT PRINT/LARGE PRINT digital edition.

Thank you for your help with this important community-building service.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Hart and Bob Heyn, Lihu‘e

The climate emergency is a health emergency

The climate-change emergency has caused a health emergency for all of us.

Over 46 million health workers worldwide presented a letter to the climate talks at the COP26 in November, calling for climate action for the health and well being of humanity. Under the Global Climate and Health Alliance, their letter outlined the health emergency related to and exacerbated by the same factors driving climate change and have resulted from the impacts of it.

Fossil fuels are the key drivers of climate chaos, and have long been known to be the major pollutants of the air we breathe. They are responsible for nearly 9 million premature deaths a year.

The higher temperatures we are experiencing speed up the hazardous, ground-level ozone. Ozone and other pollution make it difficult to breathe, contributing to asthma and other pulmonary diseases.

Air pollution exacerbates coronavirus, making people’s lungs more vulnerable to the effects of the infection. Children are especially susceptible to the effects of heat, asthma, allergies and insect-borne diseases.

The first nationwide study on rising temperatures and children shows greater impacts on younger people.

Heat stress and air pollution can lead to preterm labor and increased risk of low birth rates. New findings are showing that air pollution can harm our brains, increasing the risk of dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders in older people, and affect the developing brains and nervous systems of babies in vitro.

Extreme heat increases the likelihood of heart disease and strokes. Worldwide heat waves are now unprecedented, such as the one in western Canada this past year that killed 500 people..

The UN has issued a warning that we have entered the era of pandemics. Global viral outbreaks were rare until recent decades. The primary reason for the appearance of these diseases is a warming planet, which has allowed, and sometimes forced, insects and animals to migrate to new areas.

Diseases that originated in the wild, in animals, and were once contained there, are now infecting humans. Warming conditions of climate change have promoted their spread and dramatically expanded their range. More pandemics, like that of COVID, are predicted.

Floods have led to outbreaks of deadly waterborne illnesses like cholera and typhoid fever when there is resulting sewage overflow and contaminated drinking-water supplies. Melting permafrost is also releasing ancient microbes that today’s humans have never been exposed to, and consequently are without resistance.

Behavioral and mental-health challenges have been directly linked to a worsening climate. Studies even connect climate change to violent crime. And if all this doesn’t cause you to be anxious and depressed, you’re not paying attention. Critical mental-health issues related to the climate crisis are being given serious attention, and will be discussed in another article.

Climate change is the most-significant public-health challenge in the world today. But we can reframe climate solutions as opportunities to invest in public health, which will make our world healthier and safer and more just. if we do what we know needs to be done, there will be immediate benefits, fewer respiratory problems, more green spaces, health care for all, healthier food, more resilient communities, and new and better job opportunities.

Climate change is not a faraway problem that no one can fix, as corporate-sponsored media may lead you to believe. We can be the movement that creates a fossil-fuel-free world. We will see immediate changes, recognize and understand that a low-carbon future is actually good for our health and all other life on our planet.

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Laurel Brier is with Kaua‘i Climate Action Coalition, which meets via zoom the third Monday of the month. Email kauaiclimate@gmail.com to join or for more information. Educational forums are held the second Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. via Zoom. Feb. 9 is a KIUC candidates forum. For more information, go to ZeroWasteKauai FaceBook page or register at https://bit.ly/kiuccandidateforum.