Tripler’s actions a lifesaver

The relationship between military institutions and the civilian populations on Oahu has always been a delicate one. Both partners are interdependent but sometimes interests don’t align perfectly. It can be a difficult balance.

This week, however, the dividends of maintaining that relationship were evident in the welcome news that came from Tripler Army Medical Center. Tripler officials have stepped up to lend a crucial assist to the military’s host community by agreeing to make the hospital complex a trauma center for the treatment of nonmilitary residents on Oahu.

Without a doubt, this announcement came as a relief to executives of Queen’s Medical Center, which now is the only civilian trauma center on the island.

The context of this move, of course, is the recent closure of Oahu’s two Hawaii Medical Center hospitals. The loss of HMC-West in particular is worrisome because of the growing communities in and around Kapolei left without a nearby trauma center.

Officials hope Tripler can finish preparations to join the state’s trauma system within a year, even as soon as six months from now. State and Army officials must work in concert to ensure the hospital upgrade can come online as soon as possible.

Trauma center personnel tend to the more seriously ailing patients who come into emergency rooms, such as severe injuries from traffic accidents and disasters. Under the plan, Tripler would join the state’s trauma network as a Level III center, which means it could stabilize patients, then transfer them to Queen’s (a Level II) for fuller treatment.

Under the plan, civilian patients from the west side of Oahu, between Aiea and Waianae, southward to Ewa Beach and northward to Wahiawa, would be considered for trauma care at Tripler. It will become one of a number of other Army medical centers that treat nonmilitary trauma patients.

Many more hurdles need to be cleared to fill some of the void left by the HMC closures. HMC-East was the home of the state’s only organ transplant center, and Queen’s already has announced its intent to replace those services on its own campus.

To advance their plans, Tripler as well as Queen’s will need to obtain various state and federal certifications, processes that can take up to a year. It’s critical that Hawaii’s congressional delegation and state officials  show willingness to move mountains in order to get it done far sooner than that. It’s been shown, during Hurricane Katrina and other emergencies, that the wheels of government can roll more swiftly when ramping up medical services is urgently necessary.

This may not be a natural disaster, but the lack of adequate medical services would be as disastrous, and the solution as deserving, of moving to the top of priority lists.

In addition, state lawmakers can and should fast-track a bill that would authorize state money to help Queen’s get its replacement transplant center going. Safeguarding the health and welfare of the community at large, which would suffer with the loss of transplant services, ranks as a concern that should move this bill to the top of the heap when lawmakers convene in a few weeks.

Hawaii’s health-care system, already frayed by the economic malaise of recent years, must be reinforced. Queen’s and Tripler have taken important steps in the right direction, demonstrating through their actions what service in the community interest really means.