Testimony: Hawaiʻi State Legislature Hearing 6/25/2020

Hello everyone.  The following testimony will be posted  tomorrow morning before 9am (June 24, 2020), for the Senate Hearing on June 25th for this  amended bill.  Please respond with any comments, amendments or additions to this testimony before that deadline. Thank you.

Linda

Written Testimony Presented Before the

Hearing: June 25, 2020, 9:30 AM

State Capitol, Conference Room 229

By Hawaiʻi – American Nurses Association (Hawaiʻi -ANA)

Senator Rosalyn H. Baker, Chair, Senator Stanley Chang, Vice Chair, and members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, thank you for this opportunity to provide testimony in strong support of this proposed amended bill to authorize the Department of Health to screen, test, and monitor inter-island, domestic, and international travelers, in an effort to contain or mitigate the spread of communicable or dangerous diseases in our state.  This measure would also give the Department of Health authority to investigate, monitor, quarantine, and isolate travelers post-screening. 

We are the Hawaiʻi - American Nurses Association of Registered Nurses, of which there are over 17,000 working in Hawaiʻi.  We advocate for the nursing profession, as well as for the health of the community.  The experience of this pandemic has obviously impacted our profession in a profound manner.  We are in full support of our state government efforts, to anticipate and address catastrophic healthcare needs in our island communities. 

Communicable diseases such as Covid-19 are brought to our islands by travelers.  The millions who have traveled to Hawaiʻi in the past expected their healthcare needs would be addressed by our healthcare professionals and institutions while they are here.  It has been a horrifying experience among nursing professionals to anticipate a surge in this disease that would call upon us to care for those travelers as well as our own population, because we know our healthcare system would be overwhelmed in short order.  We watched as this happened in New York City as we scrambled in Hawaiʻi to prepare for the worst possible scenario.  We have been fortunate thus far and we have learned that timely and decisive actions by our government to prevent the contagions from entering and spreading in our community have been effective.    

We respectfully request that HB2502, HD1, SD1 pass out of this committee such that these effective protections for the health of our community are fully authorized and available going forward during this and future healthcare crises. Thank you for your continued support of healthcare professionals and our mutual advocacy for the vulnerable population of our islands.