Tuesday, December 20, 2011

HMC Hospitals in Hawaii to Close, Nearly 1,000 Jobs Lost


I've actually been surprised by the number of recent stories about layoffs in the medical profession. Here is one from Hawaii that appeared over the weekend:
The operators of bankrupt Hawaii Medical Center hospitals in Liliha and Ewa plan to close the facilities within three weeks, putting nearly 1,000 people out of work and eliminating more than 340 hospital beds.

The closures would affect the region's economy with the loss of 990 jobs, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported Saturday ( ). Also, there would be a dramatic impact on health care.

HMC provides dialysis services and operates the only organ transplant center in the Pacific, while the Ewa facility is the only full-service emergency hospital in West Oahu, the newspaper said.

With the planned closure, the 150 patients in the two hospitals will have to be moved or discharged.

State officials are hoping a buyer or buyers can be found to keep the facilities running.

"Our understanding is there are still lingering interested parties," said Donalyn Dela Cruz, spokeswoman for Gov. Neil Abercrombie. "There are interested parties looking to reopen the facilities. If and when that occurs, the state will expedite that process."

Because so many health care workers will be losing their jobs, they'll likely have a difficult time finding new employment, according to health officials
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For a small state like Hawaii this has to be devastating. It's difficult to get a handle on exactly what is causing the financial troubles in the health care industry, but stories such as these put the lie to the notion asserted by clueless politicos that such jobs are the wave of the future as the economy "recovers."

7 comments:

  1. not sure if you follow c.h. smith, but his take on health care (and econ in general) is pretty spot on, imo.

    http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjuly09/healthcare07-09.html

    nice work on the blog.

    g.brazel

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  2. @g.brazel - CH Smith is in fact a favorite of mine. He's on my links list. His take on econ issues is very sensible about what is coming without being hysterical.

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  3. ah yes, i see you have charles as well as chris martenson... some of the best.

    and bill hicks is a favorite of mine. to be honest, i'm not sure how i feel about the use of his name, but i'm sure he'd agree with what you post here.

    here are some of my ramblings http://ehrlum.com/v2010/sages/

    g.brazel

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  4. The wave of the future in health care is healthy eating, growing food, exercising, homeopathy, naturopathy, riding bikes instead of taking cars, walking to the store or around the neighborhood, etc.

    So the good news is rather than remain sick care as it has been for ages, it's going to actually become health care. And that's a good thing.

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  5. @ John Andersen...unless you get cancer from all the pollution. Then you kinda want surgery and chemotherapy.

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  6. Gail,

    Absolutely. That's what allopathic medicine is for.

    Smart people in the future simply won't rely on doctors to fix preventable problems. Smart people will take the steps to prevent the problems in the first place.

    Oh wait, they're already doing that.

    Well, maybe then we can hope for a few more smart people in the future.

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  7. @John Anderson - and all the damn drugs. My brother, who is a doctor, had his eyes opened when the drug reps started lavishing swag on his classmates when he was still in medical school. He'll only prescribe them for people when they are absolutely necessary.

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