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Gov. Green extends emergency relief for air medical service

Sophie Cocke

Gov. Josh Green extended his emergency proclamation today that allows aircraft and medical crew from other states to fly interisland air ambulance service while Hawaii Life Flight transitions out of its “safety stand down” following a Dec. 15 plane crash that presumably killed all three of its crew members.

The medical transport aircraft went missing over the ocean on the evening Dec. 15, about 16 miles south of Hana, Maui while flying to pick up a patient in Waimea on Hawaii Island.

Hawaii Life Flight, the only company operating air medical transport on the islands, subsequently suspended its service. The state has been coordinating efforts to ensure that 52 patients to date were able to obtain air medical transports, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

“By coordinating efforts between Hawaiʻi Life Flight, the State Department of Health, the Army National Guard, the Coast Guard, the mayors, and medical facilities throughout the state, we helped to ensure that emergency transport was available for critically ill patients, especially those throughout our neighbor island communities,” Green in a press release. “Together, we worked collaboratively and maintained emergency air medical transport.”

The Hawaii National Guard has assisted with providing air transport.

The emergency proclamation is extended through January 6.

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