Emergency Medical Services - Since 1978, the
mission of this program has been to administer, maintain, and operate a
State comprehensive emergency medical services system throughout Hawaii
that is designed to reduce medical emergency deaths, injuries, and
permanent long-term disability through the implementation of a fully
integrated cohesive network of related components. The state system
provides for the arrangement of personnel, facilities and such
equipment, primarily in the pre-hospital setting, for the effective and
coordinated delivery of health care services under emergency conditions
whether occurring as a result of the patient's condition, natural
disasters, or other causes. [Hawaii Revised Statutes §321-221]
Injury Prevention - In early 2001, the
Emergency Medical Services System Branch was enhanced by inclusion
of the Department of Health's Injury Prevention and Control Program. Two
closely interrrelated, interdependent programs merged into a
mutually advantageous association. The merger created an
efficient and effective administrative structure for broad based
community planning and development of Emergency Medical Services and
injury prevention and control.
The integration of injury prevention and control into the
State Emergency Medical Services System now provides for a "medical
home" for injury prevention within ambulance service communities.
Injury prevention is the first phase of an effective Emergency Medical
Services System, including public education and prehospital medical care
from onset of sudden life threatening injury or illness until arrival
at an appropriate medical facility.
The use of Emergency Medical Services injury data, which is augmented
with highway safety and hospital discharge data, is vital information to
assist communities in developing injury prevention programs. Nationally,
Injury Prevention Programs are recognized as an integral component of
Comprehensive Emergency Medical Services Systems. The local consolidation
of these two programs has strengthened the Department of Health's role as
a central clearinghouse for injury prevention data and programs.
EMS
AMBULANCE BILLING INQUIRIES MAY BE ADDRESSED TO THE
FOLLOWING:
Wittman Enterprises
P. O. Box 269110
Sacramento, CA 95826-9110
Telephone: 1 (800) 709-6552
(This Is A Toll Free Call.)
Customer Service Representatives are available
weekdays by telephone from 9:00 a.m. through 4:30 p.m.,
Hawaiian Standard Time.
Please have your Billing Statement available if you
call.
(If you have trouble reaching the number
above, call (808) 733-9215 from 7:45 a.m. through
3:30 p.m., Hawaiian Standard Time.)
Since July 1, 1995, emergency ambulance patients who have been
diagnosed as terminally ill can, if they wish,
obtain and wear a "COMFORT CARE ONLY" I.D. bracelet or necklace.
Then, should they stop, or are about to stop breathing,
they will receive comfort care such as oxygen, medication for
pain, suctioning of oral secretions, and other comfort measures,
but they will NOT receive resuscitation efforts
(i.e., rescue breathing, chest compressions, electric shocks, or
medications intended to try to restart the heart). This is a
completely voluntary decision that the
terminally ill patient can make if he or she wants.
This law allows terminally ill patients a means to pass away,
when their time comes, in as much comfort as possible, with their
dignity intact and without having to endure the pain, distress
and expense of prolonging their death.
Please feel free to download the following two files (you'll
need both) for additional - including contact - information about
this program:
You can use the following pick list to "surf" to a particular
section of the online Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) relating to EMS
(Use Your Browser's Back Button to Return to This
Page.):
A complete set of Hawaii's standing orders for ambulance
advance life support personnel is available online to review or
for downloading. (Please Note: The orders are in a 874KB .pdf
file.)
Download/Save a Copy of the Standing Orders In Adobe®
Acrobat® Reader™ .pdf Format By Clicking
Here.
The document, "Mobile Intensive Care Technician Biological
Outbreak/Exposure Mass Prophylaxis & Immunization Standing
Orders," is the first edition of a manual that provides the
Department of Health with standing orders for preventive
antibiotic therapy and/or immunizations in the event of a
bioterrorism attack due to anthrax, brucellosis, plague,
smallpox, or tularemia.
The document contains 1) an overview of the bioterrorism
preparedness response plans regarding mass prophylaxis and
immunization; 2) standing order protocols for anthrax,
brucellosis, plague, smallpox, and tularemia; 3) antibiotic
information for practitioners; 4) antibiotic information
brochures for patients; and 5) data management and consent
forms.
This document should be considered an annex to the State of
Hawaii EMS MICT Standing Orders and Extended Standing Orders.
The standing orders contained within this document become
activated when the Director of Health declares a state of
emergency due to a specific bioterrorism incident, and issues a
memorandum ordering the EMS prehospital providers to begin mass
prophylaxis. The memorandum would contain information regarding
the nature of the bioterrorism incident, the causative
microorganism, the population at risk, and the mass prophylaxis
protocol to be followed.
This document may be reviewed annually to ensure that the
standing orders are up to date, and reflect the latest available
recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention for Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response.
Download/Save a Copy of the Standing Orders for Mass
Prophylaxis Following a Bioterrorism Incident in Adobe®
Acrobat® Reader™ .pdf Format By Clicking Here.
State of Hawaii
Department of Health
Emergency Medical Services & Injury Prevention System
Branch
3627 Kilauea Avenue, Room 102
Honolulu, HI 96816-2317 USA
E-mail: 
Then, should they stop, or are about to stop breathing,
they will receive comfort care such as oxygen, medication for
pain, suctioning of oral secretions, and other comfort measures,
but they will NOT receive resuscitation efforts
(i.e., rescue breathing, chest compressions, electric shocks, or
medications intended to try to restart the heart). This is a
completely voluntary decision that the
terminally ill patient can make if he or she wants.
Don't Delay, Dial 911!