Business Briefs

940 visit Queen’s West Oahu ER in 1 week

The Queen’s Medical Center said Wednesday it had 940 patient visits to the emergency room at its West Oahu facility in the first week since it reopened on May 20.

In addition to the emergency room visits, there were 126 inpatient admissions and 51 inpatient transfers to the Queen’s Medical Center on Punchbowl Street.

The average daily Emergency Room visits were 134 and average daily inpatient admissions were 18.

"Our Queen’s ohana is very grateful for the West Oahu community’s response and support," Susan Murray, senior vice president of the Queen’s Health Systems, West Oahu Region, said in a statement. "We continue to work together to address issues such as staffing and maintaining quality and safety, and ask for the public’s patience as we grow along with the needs of the West Oahu community."

The Queen’s Medical Center-West Oahu has 80 beds and will increase up to 135 beds as volume increases.

Isle restaurants make OpenTable top 100

The Top 100 Outdoor Dining Restaurants in America are in 15 states including Hawaii, one of only three states to have listed restaurants numbering in the double digits.

The Hawaii restaurants, presented in alphabetical order by OpenTable.com, are Beachhouse at the Moana Surfrider in Honolulu; the Blue Dragon Restaurant in Kamuela, on Hawaii island; Brown’s Beach House at The Fairmont Orchid on Hawaii island; Duke’s Beach House Maui in Lahaina; Ferraro’s Bar e Ristorante Maui in Wailea; Five Palms Beach Grill in Kihei; Gannon’s in Wailea; Hau Tree Lanai in Hono­lulu; Hula Grill-Kaanapali, in Lahaina; Island Lava Java Bistro in Kailua-Kona; Kamuela Provision Co. in Waikoloa; Oasis in Kapaa; Ola at Turtle Bay in Kahuku; Pacific’O in Lahaina; Plumeria Beach House in Kahala, and ‘Ulu Ocean Grill and Sushi Lounge in Kaupulehu, on Hawaii island.

The 2014 Diners’ Choice Awards reflect opinions of more than 5 million reviews submitted by verified OpenTable.com users, and were chosen from among roughly 19,000 restaurants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia reviewed between May 1, 2013, and April 30, 2014.

Magazine praises only 1 Hawaii hotel

Meetings industry magazine Smart Meetings has declared that the best hotel pool in North America is at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa, the only Hawaii property among its annual Smart Stars Award winners.

The Grand Hyatt Kauai’s prize is a gold-level award, but no other isle resorts received a gold, silver, or bronze-level honor in any other category, not for best beach resort, best coastal hotel, best island resort, best family friendly hotel or resort, not the best golf resort, nor the best historic hotel. Hawaii resorts and hotels likely are not candidates for consideration in other categories.

The magazine annually honors the industry’s best meetings, hotels, resorts, cruise lines, event venues, convention and conference centers in North America.

The list "gives our readers the opportunity to reward properties with future business," Marin Bright, CEO and founder of Smart Meetings, said in a statement. A TV special is planned for later this year.

Kauai utility to measure service quality

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative is conducting a telephone survey of its members to determine their overall satisfaction with the quality of service they receive from the cooperative.

KIUC has hired Ward Research of Honolulu to conduct the survey, which takes place every two years.

The survey is designed to take 10 to 12 minutes to complete. Interviewers are randomly calling landline and cellphone numbers on Kauai and hope to complete the survey within 30 days.

Responses to the survey are anonymous and are used to help KIUC improve service and address concerns expressed by members.

Members with questions about the survey can call Member Services at 246-4300.

ON THE MOVE

Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties has announced that Glenda R. Somera has joined the firm at its Kapolei office. Before CBP, Somera was a Realtor at Concepts Unlimited.

Queen Emma Land Co. has named Bruce Nakaoka as its director of asset management. His experience includes serving as a managing director and senior vice president of Tradewind Capital Group, co-founder and managing director of MN Capital Partners as well as director for the real estate investment and appraisal division at Kamehameha Schools.

First Insurance Co. of Hawaii has awarded $100,000 to the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship at the UH-Manoa Shidler College of Business. The gift will benefit the five-year PACE initiative that was launched in February, in which the goal was to raise $2.5 million to create new programs, expand existing programs and renovate a larger and new location in the Shidler College of Business.

SHIFTING GEARS

Monthly auto lunch features BMW array

"Bimmer Buddies" is the theme for the monthly Auto Lunch Bunch gathering on Tuesday at 1599 Ala Moana Blvd.

The Kars at the Kurb display will include one of the very few fully electric BMW i3 models in the U.S. as well as a new 2014 BMW 435 coupe, courtesy of BMW of Honolulu.

Representing Bavarian Motor Works’ legacy will be a 1972 BMW 2002.

Attendees will learn about the BMW Car Club of America, Hawaii Chapter, and its activities during the noon luncheon.

The $16.25 credit- or debit-card-only price includes lunch, a drink and a tip.

Reservations are required and can be made via email through billmaloney15@aol.com, or call Ed Kemper at 225-2965.

Pollution solution will erase 6M cars

BEIJING » China’s government plans to take 6 million older, polluting vehicles off the road this year in an effort to revive stalled progress toward cleaning up smog-choked cities.

The plan also calls for filling stations in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities to switch to selling only the cleanest grades of gasoline and diesel, according to a Cabinet statement issued Monday.

The order comes after China failed to meet official pollution-reduction goals for 2011-2013, the statement said. It said vehicles registered before 2005 that fail to meet cleaner emissions standards will be "phased out," though it did not say how.

It called the country’s environmental situation "extremely grim."

China’s major cities are smothered in eye-searing smog. The country has some of the world’s strictest emissions standards, but authorities have refrained from enforcing them until now to avoid forcing older, pollution-belching trucks off the road and hurting small businesses.