Kaʻū News Briefs, Monday, Oct. 24, 2022

Cross Country team, represented Kaʻū High and Volcano School of the Arts & Sciences at last weekend's islandwide competition at Kamehameha School. They are Cody Rasmussen, as well as Alden Wells and Cheska Aurelio who will travel to Kaua'i this weekend for the state championships.
See more below. Photo by Coach David Wells

DR. JOSH GREEN AND KAʻŪ WERE A FOCUS OF THE DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE'S talk at the podium at the historic Mo'oheau Bandstand in Hilo on Sunday. It's the place of many Democratic rallies over generations of people running for office and Green called the bandstand "a spiritual center for the Democratic Party." He started his speech by telling folks about another experience at the bandstand five years ago when he joined other health services volunteers to help three children and their mom who was abused, raped and homeless living in the bandstand. He said the effort was successful for the family. 

    He talked about being assigned as a physician to Hilo when he first came here in the National Health

Mo'oheau Bandstand in Hilo, which gubernatorial candidate Josh
Green called "the spiritual center for the Democratic Party," during
his campaign speech on Sunday. Photo from Big Island Video News

Corps, following medical school and his residency. Green said, however, on his second day on the job in Hilo, the doctor in Kaʻū  quit. Green said he was sent to Kaʻū "to be the physician. In Kaʻū I inherited the luckiest moments in a doctor's life. I inherited 4,000 Filipino patients, 4,000 Hawaiian patients and 20 witness relocation patients from New York City," he joked. "And I became their doctor for four years. And during those four years, I would come and take call at Hilo Hospital and I began to learn the stories of our people in Hawai'i. And the people were extraordinary..."

      Green said he was "providing hospice care also because as the only doctor in Kaʻū...we didn't have a lot of extra services. We didn't have ambulances - 65 miles all the way from Kaʻū, up to Hilo if you want to get care." 

      He talked about diagnosing a man in Kaʻū: "I diagnosed his lung cancer in the clinic, not with a CT scan, which we didn't have, not with a chest x-ray, but because he was so sick I could actually hear the muffled sounds in his chest on a physical exam." Green said the man "just drifted into the clinic" and that Green said he wondered about this patient's story as he visited his home and gave him pain medications and oxygen. He said he learned that the man was a pilot and engineer who lived half time in Alaska and half time in Kaʻū. Green said this "gentleman would fly his plane between the atolls in the Aleutian Islands and take the ice off the nuclear warheads in those islands that were protecting America. And from all that radiation, he developed lung cancer and then came home to live with us."

    Green called the man and his wife extraordinary, saying that she was "a four-foot- 10 Inuit woman" with a Phd in physics. "And the children that they raised who went to public schools here are now three doctors and one lawyer and are these extraordinary Hawaiian kids in their own way, 'cause they grew up here. And they became a part of this society from birth and they integrated just like so many have integrated into our society. So I began to see these people, these stories that were just amazing.

    "But the local people were struggling," said Green. "They didn't have access to health care, except for one guy - me. Didn't have access to mental health services, or trauma services or CAT scans. And I began to think that maybe we deserve more as Big Island residents. We needed more for our people. So I asked our local Democrats what I should do; should I be an advisor?  And they said, 'If you're so smart you should run for office. We hate the guy in Kona.' So I started going door to door...." He said (now U.S. Senator) Brian Schatz flew over "to make sure I wasn't a crazy candidate," and decided Green was ok and gave good advice.

Josh Green focused on his service as a physician in Ka'u during his speech
  during his speech as a candidate for governor, at the Democratic rally at
 Hilo Bandstand on Sunday.

   Green said he thought of himself as a good candidate, passionate about health care, but thought he would lose. "But one week before the election, it came out that my opponent was a cocaine dealer and I was able to win that election." 

    It was 2004 when Green won the election for state House of Representatives. Representing Kona, he served two terms in the House and three terms in the state Senate before winning the post of Lieutenant Governor in 2018 and deciding to run for Governor, winning the primary this year, the General Election Day coming up on Nov. 8.

      During the Hilo bandstand speech, Green also focused on his health care role as Lt. Gov. in helping Samoa with a measles outbreak and Hawai'i with Covid, noting that "Hawai'i had the second lowest rate of Covid in the country and the second lowest death rate of all the states in America."

      Green also gave an appeal to the voters with the labor unions, saying that he may not have been the first choice for some of the groups but that he was a close second choice and invited those who supported others to join him. He said that the Republican candidates are a "distant, distant tenth choice."

    See Green's entire talk on Big Island Video News at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZRfNtQDhS4&t=4s.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar. See latest print edition at wwwkaucalendar.com. See upcoming events at https://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022/04/upcoming-events-for-kau-and-volcano.html

TWO FROM THE KAʻŪ TROJANS' CROSS COUNTRY TEAM will travel to Kaua'i this weekend for

Cody Rasmussen running in the island's high school Cross
Country finals on Saturday. Photo by David Wells

the Hawai'i State Championships. The team from Kaʻū  High and Volcano School of the Arts & Sciences wrapped up the season at the Big Island Invitational held at Kamehameha School on Saturday. Alden Wells, Cheska Aurelio and Cody Rasmussen all qualified for the event and ran personal best times to end the season. Wells and Aurelio qualified to represent Kaʻū and the Big Island this upcoming weekend at the State Championships. "Good luck runners and congratulations on a great season!" said Coach David Wells.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar. See latest print edition at wwwkaucalendar.com. See upcoming events at https://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022/04/upcoming-events-for-kau-and-volcano.html

Firefighters stop in to Volcano School of the Arts & Sciences to help educate the keiki. Photo by Michelle Buck

Firefighter with keiki
at Volcano School.
Photo by Michelle Buck

FIRE SAFETY EDUCATION FOR KEIKI was one of the goals of local firefighters who recently stopped by Volcano School of Arts & Sciences for a routine fire inspection. They found the time to personally hand out Fire Safety Guides to all the PreK students, give them a tour of the fire truck, and pose for a group photo. Students learned about the fire hoses and other equipment on the truck and how to stop, drop, and roll. Teacher Michelle Buck said the preschoolers expressed a "Mahalo to our firefighters for a special visit and for keeping us safe."
    Volcano School of the Arts & Sciences is a public charter school with grades from preschool through elementary and into high school, leading to high school graduation.
    See much more at www.volcanoschool.net.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar. See latest print edition at wwwkaucalendar.com. See upcoming events at https://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022/04/upcoming-events-for-kau-and-volcano.html

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