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| Ali`i Keanaaina and his band perform music from their new CD He Mele No Wednesday, 7 p.m., Pahala Plantation House. Photo from National Park Service |
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| Senator Russell Ruderman at the Hilo Democratic Rally Nov. 5. Photo by Julia Neal |
DR. JOSH GREEN RESPONDED to a Honolulu Star Advertiser story over the weekend regarding a letter he wrote to help resolve a dispute between the City & County of Honolulu and a company that provides medications for dispersal to worker-injury patients in physician's offices. Green said that the city was behind over $600,000 in payments to the company Automated HealthCare. If Automated HealthCare cannot pay physicians who use its automated software to disperse drugs at their clinics, more financial pressure is placed on doctors who take workers’ compensation cases. The number of workers’ comp-case doctors has been in rapid decline.
The story pointed out that the company donated $4,000 to Green’s successful re-election campaign for state senator, and the story contended that one aspect of the issue is that the city is contesting the cost of the drugs as being too high.
Green provided the following statement this morning: “Anyone who knows me is aware that I am always committed to making sure we deal with our healthcare crisis in Hawai`i, especially the shortage of physicians and nurses. (We are 22 percent short now.) In this case, several people were concerned that if they didn’t receive their reimbursements, which are hundreds of thousands of dollars behind from the city of Honolulu and others, they would immediately be laying off staff, or worse, their docs would stop seeing injured workers altogether.
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| Dr. Josh Green |
“I simply asked the city to amicably resolve their differences so that doctors and nurses could get fair and timely payments for care they already had delivered to injured workers.
Otherwise, these doctors told me, they wouldn’t be able to practice in Hawai`i any longer, making our physician shortage worse. Everyone in Ka`u and Kona knows how bad this would be if that happened.”
Green said that “as the only physician in the Legislature, people all across the state ask me everyday to reach out to major institutions like the city or state or insurance companies to get them access to care, to get their practice reimbursed for care they have delivered, to get them a new wheelchair, to help get their loans forgiven if they commit to undeserved areas, the list goes on and on.
“I am humbled to try and get everyone access to healthcare in a fair and timely way in Hawai`i, and that is all my letter to the city of Honolulu was about,” wrote Green.
PUBLIC FUNDING FOR THE RECENT ELECTIONS supported the successful candidacy of Ka`u’s new County Council member Brenda Ford and more than half of the other winning contenders, according to a Peter Sur analysis this morning in the Hawai`i Tribune- Herald. The other winning candidates for Hawai`i County Council who chose public over private funding for their campaigns are Karen Eoff, Greggor Ilagan, Margaret Wille and J Yoshimoto.
“More significantly, in every County Council race where at least one publicly financed candidate entered, that candidate won,” the Tribune-Herald story says. “All three publicly funded candidates who failed in their quest to seek office lost to other publicly funded candidates: Bradley Westervelt and Maile David, who lost to Ford, and James Weatherford, who was edged out of a runoff with Ilagan and the mostly self-funded Fred Blas.
“The intent of the law was to level the playing field for candidates who weren’t able to raise large amounts of campaign cash. Candidates who qualify for the public funding receive money intended to free them from the strings and chores that accompany fundraising for office; by doing so they also choose to forego all private campaign donations.
“By state law, the pilot program is slated to continue for one more election cycle, in 2014, provided there are enough funds to keep the program running,” writes Sur. However, there may not be enough money to fund it, the story says. See more at www.hawaiitribune-herald.com.
Otherwise, these doctors told me, they wouldn’t be able to practice in Hawai`i any longer, making our physician shortage worse. Everyone in Ka`u and Kona knows how bad this would be if that happened.”
Green said that “as the only physician in the Legislature, people all across the state ask me everyday to reach out to major institutions like the city or state or insurance companies to get them access to care, to get their practice reimbursed for care they have delivered, to get them a new wheelchair, to help get their loans forgiven if they commit to undeserved areas, the list goes on and on.
“I am humbled to try and get everyone access to healthcare in a fair and timely way in Hawai`i, and that is all my letter to the city of Honolulu was about,” wrote Green.
PUBLIC FUNDING FOR THE RECENT ELECTIONS supported the successful candidacy of Ka`u’s new County Council member Brenda Ford and more than half of the other winning contenders, according to a Peter Sur analysis this morning in the Hawai`i Tribune- Herald. The other winning candidates for Hawai`i County Council who chose public over private funding for their campaigns are Karen Eoff, Greggor Ilagan, Margaret Wille and J Yoshimoto.
“More significantly, in every County Council race where at least one publicly financed candidate entered, that candidate won,” the Tribune-Herald story says. “All three publicly funded candidates who failed in their quest to seek office lost to other publicly funded candidates: Bradley Westervelt and Maile David, who lost to Ford, and James Weatherford, who was edged out of a runoff with Ilagan and the mostly self-funded Fred Blas.
“The intent of the law was to level the playing field for candidates who weren’t able to raise large amounts of campaign cash. Candidates who qualify for the public funding receive money intended to free them from the strings and chores that accompany fundraising for office; by doing so they also choose to forego all private campaign donations.
“By state law, the pilot program is slated to continue for one more election cycle, in 2014, provided there are enough funds to keep the program running,” writes Sur. However, there may not be enough money to fund it, the story says. See more at www.hawaiitribune-herald.com.
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| World EcoSource's mobile production units use solar-powered and water-conserving growing systems. Images from www.worldecosource.com |
FOOD FOR THE FUTURE is what a new company in the Hawai`i market calls its program. World EcoSource Corp. claims its MobileFeed(R) system “uses a fraction of the water of typical crops in a hydroponic, solar powered environment to create a truly sustainable green life cycle farming system.” The units are designed to feed both livestock and people.
K. Hill Livestock is the exclusive dealer for the state of Hawai`i, and a press release from the company cites Hawai`i’s “dependence on imported goods.” World EcoSource and K. Hill “recognize the demand for a sustainable economical and reliable feed source for not only livestock, but also for human inhabitants on the under-developed areas of rural Hawai`i. The units will be shipped to Kawaihae Harbor and distributed from Kailua-Kona, HI.
“We see tremendous growth potential throughout all of the Pacific Islands including U.S. territories of Samoa and Saipan, where populations and livestock are heavily dependent on import of goods,” said Geoffrey Bagatelos, president of PacWest Equities, Inc, the parent company of World EcoSource. “Hawai`i has limited resources available for large scale feeding operations that force the import of expensive feed stock, and this agreement will allow for ample amount of feed to supply a large herd and stabilize fluctuating expenses of import due to volatile fuel costs.”
The World Eco Source MobileFeed(R) and MobileFood(R) units are turnkey systems for either the production of livestock-based consumables or human based protein and vegetable consumables. “The MobileFeed(R) units are truly a sustainable green life cycle farming system. Using solar-powered and water conservation growing systems, one trailer can produce 1,500 pounds daily of organically grown grass for year-round livestock consumption, lowering feed costs by 200 percent while producing Certified Organic, Grass-Fed livestock, increasing profitability of the final product,” the statement says.
“The MobileFood(R) units enable the rapid production of certified organic vegetables and proteins for humans through life-cycle harmonic integration of fish farms and hydroponic vegetables, with one half of the system feeding/fertilizing the other half, and vice versa. Growing tilapia side-by-side with vegetables, and using the same water from the fish to fertilize the greens is not something new, but by combining the hydroponic know-how with World Eco Source patented technologies, the outputs have finally become commercially feasible,” the company statement contends.
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| Dr. Terry Hunt |
The company claims that by “creating a living food supply, the livestock enjoys better health, higher energy and increased proteins, nutrients, minerals and enzyme absorption. Utilizing live Grass feed, livestock increases it’s intake of Vitamin A by 600 percent while enhancing fertility rate across the board.”
Company promotional materials also claim that “the live feed produced is palatable, nutritious and free from contamination. For cattle, the green barley grass increases milk yields which are common despite considerable reduction in use of ready-made concentrate feed.” See more at www.worldecosource.com.
ALI`I KEANAAINA AND HIS BAND present a concert Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Pahala Plantation House. Keanaaina won the 19th annual Clyde “Kindy” Sproat Falsetto Storytelling Contest in 2010. The band, which played at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in September, will perform music from their new CD entitled He Mele No. Call 928-9811 for more information.
Company promotional materials also claim that “the live feed produced is palatable, nutritious and free from contamination. For cattle, the green barley grass increases milk yields which are common despite considerable reduction in use of ready-made concentrate feed.” See more at www.worldecosource.com.
AFTER DARK IN THE PARK FOCUSES ON RAPA NUI Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Dr. Terry Hunt, co-author of The Statues That Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island, outlines evidence for Easter Island’s prehistoric success and explores how and why this most isolated culture avoided collapse.
ALI`I KEANAAINA AND HIS BAND present a concert Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Pahala Plantation House. Keanaaina won the 19th annual Clyde “Kindy” Sproat Falsetto Storytelling Contest in 2010. The band, which played at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in September, will perform music from their new CD entitled He Mele No. Call 928-9811 for more information.
HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND HOSTS a Ka`u coastal cleanup event Saturday at Pohakuloa Cove south of Green Sands. The last large-scale cleanup effort at this exact location was in November 2010, when two glass balls were found, said coordinator Megan Lamson.
Volunteers meet at Wai`ohinu Park at 7:45 a.m. to carpool and caravan to the site. Four-wheel-drive and high-clearance vehicles are needed to access the cove. RSVP at 769-7629 or kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com to coordinate rides.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL NOW OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL NOW OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.