Feds praise NMI medical referral program

By Emmanuel T. EredianoVariety News Staff
THE Department of Public Health’s medical referral program has impressed visiting officials of the U.S. Emergency Medical Services for Children who said the commonwealth “is way ahead of other territories in the Pacific.” EMSC executive director Tasmeen Singh visited the Commonwealth Health Center yesterday morning with EMSC’ National Emergency Data Analysis Director Michael Ely and outreach coordinator Theresa Morrison-Quinata.They met with Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez who told them about the local medical referral program.The CNMI government, Singh quoted Villagomez as telling her, spends $30,000 to $40,000 on transportation alone.Singh noted how challenging this is for the CNMI “because it costs a much money.” Other territories, she said, are figuring out how to cope with medical referral costs.They are “particularly impressed,” she said that the CNMI government pays for medical referrals.In other territories, patients who cannot pay have to stay on island, she added.The CNMI, she said, “is unique because they have an appropriation of $3.7 million to $4 million to pay for it, which is great.”Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, she added, are “trying the best they can but they don’t have as much money as the CNMI has, so it’s a big issue especially for us (because) we’re worried about children.”She said that on the mainland U.S., it usually takes only an hour to transport patients on medical referral from one hospital to another, but in the Pacific, “it takes hours and hours and that’s very, very long.”The EMSC officials also visited the Commonwealth Health Center’s emergency room and pediatric ward.Singh and Ely said they saw things that they expect to see.Although the pediatric ward has only 12 rooms, it is good enough, according to Ely who saw that some rooms were not occupied.When the ward receives many patients, she said the nurses told them that there are always available rooms in the adjacent C-side ward.Singh said the visit is part of their program so “they can see how public health agencies in the territories are doing with the federal money they get.” Singh took photographs of some portions of the facilities as she and Morrison-Quinata questioned emergency unit manager Joey Camero and pediatric unit manager Erina Olkeriil. The visiting officials also inspected the equipment in the ER’s observation room, trauma room and x-ray room where records show that about 50 patients a day are treated there.They were also able to see CHCs’ newly installed computerized radiography used in getting x-ray results without the dark room. The hospital, Signh said, “is well-equipped — it has a lot of services and the building is very well-maintained, very clean.” The pediatric unit, she said. is “very nice, and it is much better than we expected.”Ely said “there’s a lot of good resources at the hospital and very good facilities. We’re pleasantly surprised by all the resources available.”

Making the govt do what it's supposed to do

October 1 marked the second anniversary of my son Ben's death at the 1,000-foot curve in Sadog Tasi. I am happy to see the “jersey” guardrails in place and would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who successfully designed and implemented the building of these guardrails. I am thankful that no one died during the exceptionally long time it took to complete these guardrails.Special thanks are due to Lt. Gov. Tim Villagomez who ordered it done, Rep. Justo Quitugua who found the money to do it and Rep. Cinta Kaipat who kept me advised of what was happening.When I drive by the area where my son died and I see these new guardrails in place, I can't help but wonder, what if. What if these guardrails had been in place two years ago? Would he be dead?Then I wonder why it took seven or eight deaths before the government finally did what it was supposed to do. Then I realized that government sometimes simply does not do what it is supposed to do. And then I realized when that happens (government not doing what it is supposed to do) we the people must make our government do it.People have told me that if I wasn’t a judge, these guardrails would not be in existence now. I don't know if that's true, but I do know that citizens must start demanding that things get done for the common good.With that in mind, I would like to make two suggestions: Number one is that DPW work on the Laulau road as soon as possible since it is quite dangerous and a head-on collision is going to happen unless there is some road widening and brush clearing.Number two requires some citizen involvement. Sometimes our institutions just cannot do what they must do. For example, there is simply no way that CUC can keep the power on 24 hours a day, each and every day. When the power goes out, traffic lights also go out. DPS appears not to have a standard operating procedure in which police officers are immediately dispatched to intersections where the traffic lights are out. Many times I have followed police officers driving through these dangerous intersections. The idea of stopping, getting out of their vehicles and directing traffic is not on their minds.Therefore, in order to train DPS, I ask that every citizen who sees a traffic light that is not working to dial 911 and report it. Perhaps a thousand calls a day will get the message across to DPS that it must implement and follow an SOP. The idea is to save lives and it's everyone's responsibility to make DPS do what it is supposed to do each day until we have reliable power and power outages are a thing of the past. Let's NOT have seven or eight intersection death before government does what is supposed to do.Kenneth L. Govendo

THEY ARE PAYING $1.00 TO HANG THEIR WIRES LET'S START COUNTING OUR POLES.

MCV IS USING PUBLIC UTLITY POLES TO MAKE A PROFIT FOR THEMSELVES AND GIVING NOTHING BACK TO THE PEOPLE. DID YOU KNOW THAT MCV PAYS $1 PER POLE PER YEAR TO HANG THEIR WIRES. BUT CHARGE LOCALS $200-500 PER HOUR TO BROADCAST A LOCAL SHOW. DOESN'T ANYONE SEE THAT THIS IS BULLSHIT. IF THEY WANT TO CHARGE THE PEOPLE $500 PER HR FOR TV TIME - THEN CHARGE THEM $50 PER POLE PER MONTH AND SEE THEM BECOME MORE REALISTIC.