BFED-103 Reso 22-85 RESOLUTION 22-85, DISPOSITION OF REAL PROPERTY TO THE MAUI HEALTH FOUNDATION AND FOR WAIVER OF OUTSTANDING REAL PROPERTY TAXES (BFED-103)
April 4, 2022
Testimony Re: Resolution 82-85 – Disposition of Real Property to the Maui Health Foundation
My name is Barbara Potopowitz and I am president of the volunteers at Maui Memorial Medical Center. My position is also volunteer.
Before you today is a resolution that would allow the County to grant 16 lots at the Fairways in Maui Lani to the Maui Health Foundation for the purpose of providing eventual housing opportunities to healthcare professionals in perpetuity.
We whole heartly encourage and support this request.
Our volunteers perform many duties and experience first-hand the stress and fear that goes along with any hospital visit. It’s unexplainable in words the comfort expressed when we witness patients, family members and friends who accompany those needing medical care, knowing they can receive that care right here in their community. This is with family and friends close by for support, which is so critical for recovery. It eliminates the fear to be transported to another Island, or even the mainland, due to a lack of expertise right here
at home caused by lack of affordable housing.
We know affordable housing is an issue for many who live here, and the County is exploring many different avenues to address this problem. The resolution before you will yield an investment far greater than you can imagine. Just think of all the lives this will touch when our Maui community can be treated right here at home with medical professionals able to provide specialized medical care.
We thank you for your time today and are always available to answer any questions.
Barbara Potopowitz
President, Maui Memorial Auxiliary Volunteers
808-280-4707
Barbara.Potopowitz@KP.org
mauigirlbarb@yahoo.com
My name is Ken LaRue and my wife, Carrie, and I are volunteers at Maui Memorial Medical Center. We feel very lucky and fortunate to live on such a beautiful island and enjoy volunteering at MMMC. While volunteering we learned that Maui Memorial can’t attract or retain skilled medical professionals because of the price of real estate which has only gone higher over the last two years.
MMMC is the only place on this island that provides critical, lifesaving care, and we do so for anyone who comes through our doors, regardless of ability to pay. For those with the most critical needs, there is often no other option, as they do not have the time to delay treatment or the strength to make the trip to another island to receive care. We personally know people that had to endure hardship traveling to Oahu or the Mainland to receive medical services that they could not get on Maui.
We understand that Maui Memorial Medical Center is currently short 160 physicians in specialties ranging from family and internal medicine to oncology, heart and lung surgery, orthopedics, and urology. But even on a surgeon’s salary it may not be enough to purchase a home on Maui. As a result, this shortage of professional healthcare workers directly impacts the quality of life for all of us on Maui. As the population ages this will become even more critical, and we do not have time to waste.
While we have the facilities and the financial and community support to meet those critical healthcare needs, without housing options, many physicians, and nurses that we desperately need either won’t come or aren’t able to stay. We are asking you to please approve the Maui Lani resolution so that we can attract professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community. This approval may also allow Maui-born medical professionals who wish to return home to practice medicine to do so and to retain current Maui care providers looking to purchase their first home on Maui. It is the right thing to do for the health and wellbeing and future of Maui. Mahalo
Ken & Carrie LaRue
Maui Memorial Medical Center Volunteers
Hello, my name is Barbara Satterfield. I work at Maui Memorial Medical Center as the nurse manager of Maui Memorial Medical Center’s Heart, Brain and Vascular Center. My department and staff provide 24 hour care to a broad continuum of patients. Many come for routine diagnostic procedures in cardiology and radiology, while others come for emergent treatment of strokes, heart attacks and bleeding. These services are crucial to saving lives and keeping patients here on Maui.
My husband and I relocated from Oahu 22 years ago when he was hired into the Maui Police Department as an officer recruit. Over the years, both of us have felt very blessed and fortunate to be in professions that serve the Maui community. Our entire careers have been spent working in this county contributing to the health and safety of our family, friends and neighbors. Despite this, both of our jobs have become very challenging as the numbers of employees have diminished and recruitment for new staff has not been able to keep up. I had a small number of staff (18 total techs and nurses) to provide care, including emergencies after hours, holidays and weekends. Quite recently, my staff got smaller when I had 3 of them resign and relocate to other areas where the cost of living is lower and there were more opportunities for self-advancement including home ownership. This shortage has made it extremely difficult on the remaining staff to achieve a good work-life balance since they must now work harder and more hours to cover these operational needs. Like other departments in the hospital, the pandemic has pushed my staff to the brink of fatigue, but the outlook continues to be grim in attracting both permanent and temporary staffing.
Historically, we have been able to fill these gaps with agency/travel/contingent workers. However, this is no longer the case. In several instances, the prohibitive rental fees have made taking an assignment as a nurse or tech in my area very unappealing. I have offered assignments to 3 different individuals, only to later hear from their agency that they were unable to find suitable housing within their budget. There is a dearth of affordable housing here on Maui. Two of my current travel staff in other areas of HBV recently disclosed they are paying more than $3000/month in rental fees. In this regard, the incentive to take a lucrative travel assignment is eliminated, along with the skill and knowledge that the employee may have potentially brought. The staff in my area continue to work tirelessly, with very little hope for relief from additional staffing. This leads me to be afraid of the high possibility for further staff resignations, with the potential to jeopardize the services offered by the Heart, Brain and Vascular Center.
We have the facilities and the financial, community and professional support to meet the most critical healthcare needs, but without housing options, physicians, nurses, technical staff and other healthcare workers won’t come or aren’t able to stay.
This is the reason I am respectfully asking you to support the Maui Lani resolution.
Mahalo,
Barbara Satterfield, BS, MPH, RN
Nurse Manager
Heart, Brain and Vascular Center
Thank you for allowing me to testify in support of the Maui Lani resolution.
My name is Terence Manegdeg, and I am the Perioperative Services Business Manager at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
I have spent my formative years living in Maui, attended Baldwin High school and Maui Community College.
Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and our visitors, and we do so for any who come through our doors. For those with the most critical needs, there is often no other option. They do not have the time to delay treatment or the strength to make the trip to another island to receive care.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is short 75 registered nurses, despite hiring every single graduate of the University of Hawaii Maui College, every year. The Operating Room has lost a couple of nurses and a surgical tech with housing and affordability as the primary reason for their resignation. Our Leadership team have been unsuccessful in recruiting viable candidates with housing as the primary reason offers are being declined.
To meet our core staffing needs, we work with our travel agencies to recruit contingency workers on a temporary basis. However, as with the recruitment of permanent staff, the same challenges are being faced by contingency workers resulting in either delay of arrival or cancellation of assignment altogether.
This shortage directly impacts the quality of life for all on Maui.
Those who care for our community need to live in our community. Having a supply of homes will help ease the need for market-priced housing for the medical staff Maui desperately needs. This will also enable us to attract medical professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community and retain current Maui care staff members looking to purchase their first home on Maui.
That is why I ask you to support the Maui Lani resolution. Mahalo.
Terence C. Manegdeg RN, BSN
Business/IT Manager, Perioperative Services
Aloha, my name is Susan Hoover, and I am a registered nurse manager at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
We have the facilities and the financial, community and professional support to meet the most critical healthcare needs, but without housing options, physicians and nurses either won't come or aren't able to stay.
That is why I am asking you to support the Maui Lani resolution.
Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and our visitors, and we do so for any who come through our doors. For those with the most critical needs, there is often no other option. They do not have the time to delay treatment or the strength to make the trip to another island to receive care.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is currently short of 160 physicians in specialties ranging from family and internal medicine to oncology, heart and lung surgery, orthopedics, and urology.
Also, Maui Memorial Medical Center is short 75 registered nurses, despite hiring every single graduate of the University of Hawaii Maui College who apply, every year.
This shortage directly impacts the quality of life for all on Maui.
Those who care for our community need to live in our community. Having a supply of homes will help ease the need for market-priced housing for the medical providers Maui desperately needs. This housing incentive will enable the community to attract medical professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community, allow Maui-born medical professionals who wish to return home to practice medicine to do so, and retain current Maui care providers looking to purchase their first home on Maui.
That is why I ask you to support the Maui Lani resolution. Thank you.
Aloha,
Thank you Council members for allowing me to provide support for the Maui Lani Resolution and further explain the impact of this Resolution.
My name is Marian Horikawa-Barth and I am the Chief Nurse Executive at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
I am a Maui girl, born at Maui Memorial, attended Baldwin High School and Maui Community College. I have been at Maui Memorial for 18 years and have spent many years of my career working on the Mainland. I came home to raise my family, there is no place like home, like Maui.
We live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth that draws visitors from around the world, but we often cannot attract or retain skilled medical professionals for one reason. A place to call home. Finding a place to live on Maui is extremely difficult. Nurses that have good jobs and a steady income are struggling to find housing they can afford. My fellow nurses and nurse managers have many examples of staff that have left the island because they cannot afford to buy a home, or lose potential nurses due to the high housing prices. Maui and Maui Memorial offers great career paths and lifestyle. Unfortunately living on Maui is difficult and the high cost of housing is a key factor limiting our ability to retain and recruit nursing staff.
That is why I am asking you to support the Maui Lani resolution.
Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and visitors, and we do so for everyone that comes through our doors. Our emergency department is the second busiest in the state seeing more than 41,000 patients in 2021. We offer award level cardiac and stroke care, as well as excellent trauma, mother-baby, medical/surgical and behavioral health care. For those with the most critical needs, there is often no other option. These folks do not have the time to delay treatment or look for life saving care on another island. Having skilled medical professionals is central to continuing to provide high level quality care.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center has 75 vacant registered nurse positions, despite hiring 80 plus University of Hawaii Maui College nursing program graduates over the last 3 years. This island, state and national nursing shortage stresses our Maui nurses that are already stretched and exhausted with the pandemic.
The nursing and healthcare provider shortage directly impacts the quality of life for all on Maui. The Maui Lani Resolution will enable us to attract medical professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community and prepare us for future growth. Please support Maui-born medical professionals who wish to return home to care for our Ohana and retain current Maui nurses looking to purchase their first home on Maui.
Hello, my name is Cassandra Saranillio, and I am the ICU Nurse Manager at Maui Health.
We have the facilities and the financial, community and professional support to meet the most critical healthcare needs, but without housing options, physicians and nurses either won’t come or aren’t able to stay.
That is why I am asking you to support the Maui Lani resolution.
Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and our visitors, and we do so for any who come through our doors. For those with the most critical needs, there is often no other option. In the ICU, we see many of these types of patients who come in needing emergent Open-Heart Surgery, critical need continuous dialysis treatment, Strokes, and many other emergent conditions that cannot be delayed nor wait for transport to O’ahu. The most critical patients must be cared for by our expertly trained critical care nurses.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is short 75 registered nurses, despite hiring every single graduate of the University of Hawaii Maui College, every year. Nearly a quarter of this nursing shortage is for critical care trained nurses. It is a lengthy process to train a critical care nurse who is safely prepared to take care of an ICU patient independently. The patients are our family members, our neighbors and us! We take this very seriously. We do not allow a new ICU nurse to take these critical patients until they are safe and ready to do so. We have interviewed numerous experienced critical care trained nurses, many who are originally from Hawai’i and wanting to return. They are excited to accept a position with us, but after looking for housing on Maui they must decline the employment offer. Most tell me that they simply cannot afford the housing they need. Some of our current nursing staff are also having difficulty finding permanent housing they can afford. They have shared that they may have to move to the mainland in order to afford a home.
This shortage directly impacts the quality of life for all on Maui. For critical care especially so because it takes 6-12 months to train a brand-new critical care nurse so they’re safe to care for ICU patients independently. Maintaining a balance of experienced ICU nurses and newly trained ICU nurses is very important to ensuring the community has the safest mix of ICU nurses on each shift. These experienced nurses won’t come from Maui because Maui Memorial Medical Center has the only ICU on the island, so they must come from the outer islands or the mainland. We also cannot afford to lose the current critical care nurses we have because they can’t find affordable housing.
Those who care for our community need to live in our community. Having a supply of homes will help ease the need for market-priced housing for the medical providers Maui desperately needs.
That is why I ask you to support the Maui Lani resolution. Thank you.
Honorable Keani Rawlins-F emandez
Chair, Council Budget and Finance Committee
And Members of the Committee
200 S. High Street
Wailuku, HI 96793
Subject: Testimony in Support of Council Resolution Authorizing the Grant of 16 Lots in the Fairway at Maui Lani to the Maui Health Foundation
Dear Chair Rawlins-Fernandez and Committee Members:
We are in full support of the proposed resolution to grant sixteen lots in the fairway at Maui Lani to the Maui Health Foundation. I am currently a member of the foundation and have been for over 5 years and my wife has a long history working at Maui Memorial Medical Center. In my
tenure as a member, we have heard repeatedly from the hospital staff and the administration that the greatest obstacle to recruiting and retaining quality healthcare workers for our hospital is the lack of housing. This lack of housing availability has now reached a critical stage and requires urgent action by all ofus who care about our hospital and its provision of high quality healthcare for our residents and visitors.
It is our understanding that these lots have been identified in the recently approved Maui County Comprehensive Housing Plan as an ideal site for workforce housing due to their close proximity to the hospital and other medical services.
We humbly and respectfully ask your committee to support and approve the proposed resolution as soon as possible so that healthcare workers will be able to have the opportunity to a have place they can call home and continue to provide high quality health care for our Maui Ohanas.
To whom it may concern,
I am an Assistant Nurse Manager at Maui Health. I am writing my testimony to the critical shortage of skilled medical professionals and the dangers this represents to our community.
The housing demand on Maui has grown exponentially over the last five years. Beautiful beaches, incredible views, and desirable weather makes Maui an undeniably attractive place to live. The increase in demand and housing has priced out many working families. The dramatic rise in the median housing prices has made it impossible for the average working family to afford their own homes. Families are forced to make a choice; stay to serve the community they love or move.
One of my employees faces this very decision. She was born and raised on Maui, graduated high school on Maui, started her family on Maui, and served her community for over a decade at MMMC. This past year she gave up on her dream of owning a house here on Maui and will be moving to Utah. She will have to leave her parent and extended family behind. She was forced to sacrifice her home to buy a house.
This is just one of countless similar stories. The shortage of skilled medical professionals is a threat to the community at large. There are shortages of physicians, nurses, physical therapist, pharmacists, and countless other skilled positions because families can longer find affordable housing.
The Maui Lani resolution should be passed so that we can meet the healthcare needs our community demands. We need to be able to provide affordable housing to Maui-born medical professionals who wish to practice at home.
To Honorable Alice Lee, Chair and Members of the Maui County Council
My name is Kelly Catiel and I am a Regional Quality Nurse Manager at Maui Health.
I am blessed to have been born and raised on the island if Lana’i and am now blessed to call Maui my home. I have been fortunate enough to birth my two children at Maui Memorial Medical as well as undergo both urgent and elective procedures here. Many of my family members have also received wonderful care by the compassionate healthcare staff that make up Maui Health.
Growing up in Maui County, I know how crucial health care is and how devastating it can be to a community it can be when services are not available. Lack of services can even lead to long lasting health effects and even death. With aging patients and young rambunctious children, this is now a constant worry of mine.
Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and visitors. Our emergency department is the second busiest in the state, seeing more than 41,000 patients last year alone. For those with the most critical needs, our local families and kupuna, there is often no other option. They do not have the time to delay treatment or look for lifesaving care on another island. Our families cannot shoulder the burden of the added costs of flying to the mainland, even outer island, for treatment. It takes a financial, physical, and emotional toll on the families of their loved ones.
Available affordable housing on the island of Maui is a large part of why this is and will continue to occur. The COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened the number of affordable homes available pricing many people out and causing them to relocate. The healthcare industry has been greatly affected by this. Many healthcare workers are unable to find or sustain affordable housing and ultimately move on from the island to areas where the cost of living is more conducive to daily life. Many nurses who are born and raised in the islands must leave their island home as it is financially unfeasible to live and raise a family here with housing being a large part of that.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is short 75 registered nurses and over 150 physicians. Many potential recruits as well as contingent employees state that the lack of available housing is the prohibiting factor for staying on this beautiful island we call home.
We need to be part of a solution. That is why I am asking you to support the Maui Lani resolution.
Thank you
My name is Joyce Tamori and I am the Chief Financial Officer at Maui Memorial Medical Center. I was born and raised on Maui and understand the need for a strong healthcare system. To support our community’s needs, we need to make sure that we are able to retain Maui’s skilled medical professionals and have the ability to recruit from elsewhere, if needed. Housing has become one of the primary challenges to recruit and retain our medical professionals. The support of the County of Maui to provide 16 lots in the Fairways at Maui Lani can make a significant impact on building the necessary infrastructure on Maui.
Hello, my name is Jessica Rozet and I am a registered nurse and I am a assistant manager of the emergency department at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
We live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth that draws visitors from around the world, but we often can’t attract or retain skilled medical professionals for one reason. A place to call home. Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and our visitors, and we do so for any who come through our doors. (statistic on number patients over increase over time). For those with the most critical needs, there is often no other option. They do not have the time to delay treatment or the strength to make the trip to another island to receive care for a stroke, heart attack, or immediate surgical emergencies.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is short 75 registered nurses, despite hiring every single graduate of the University of Hawaii Maui College, every year. We here in the ED have a difficult time getting travel nurses to cover the shortages due to the cost of places to stay.
This shortage directly impacts the quality of life for all on Maui. That is why I am asking you to support the Maui Lani resolution. This will enable us to attract medical professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community, allow Maui-born medical professionals who wish to return home to practice medicine to do so, and retain current Maui care providers looking to purchase their first home on Maui.
My name is Bard Peterson. I am a life-long Maui resident and I support our hospital by serving on the Hospital Foundation’s board of directors. Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and our visitors, and our hospital provides this service to everyone in need. Maui Memorial Medical Center is currently short 160 physicians in specialties ranging from family and internal medicine to oncology, heart and lung surgery, orthopedics and urology. The hospital is also short 75 registered nurses, despite hiring every single graduate of the University of Hawaii Maui College, every year.
As you know, the County of Maui has a housing crisis; there are not enough homes to rent or to purchase for our workforce. This is especially true for workers in our healthcare industry. In order to continue to provide the best care of our community we need more housing options for our medical professionals. One of the main problems with attracting and retaining healthcare works is the lack of housing on Maui. Having a supply of homes will help ease the need for market-priced housing for the medical providers Maui desperately needs.
This project at Maui Lani will also enable us to attract medical professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community, allow Maui-born medical professionals who wish to return home to practice medicine to do so, and retain current Maui care providers looking to purchase their first home on Maui.
This is a home-grown solution to one of our greatest issues and I urge you to support the Maui Lani resolution.
Our medical Community his in great line for additional so or. Due to lack of housing available on Island due to multiple problems including skyrocketing cost of housing, we are unable to retract needed providers to take care for community. I support and would highly recommend getting additional housing that he specifically meant for hospital and healthcare providers such that we can hopefully attract additional doctors and nurses. Although the final solution should involve limiting second homes and out of state owners, this would provide a temporary solution to get the specialists our island community needs and deserves.
Vijak Ayasanonda, MD FACEP
Chief of Staff
Maui Memorial Medical Center
Co-Director Department of Emergency Medicine
Hello, my name is Michael Shea MD and I am a physician in the ICU at Maui Memorial Medical Center. We have the facilities and the financial, community and professional support to meet the most critical healthcare needs, but without housing options, physicians and nurses either won’t come or aren’t able to stay.
Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and our visitors, and we do so for any who come through our doors. For those with the most critical needs – acute stroke, severe trauma, intracranial hemorrhage, aneurysms, and many more - there is often no other option. They do not have the time to delay treatment and it’s too dangerous to make the trip to another island to receive care.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is currently short 160 physicians in specialties ranging from family and internal medicine to oncology, heart and lung surgery, orthopedics and urology. I know of two recent examples where this has directly impacted our ability to staff vital physician specialties. First, we had recruited a cardiothoracic (heart and lung) surgeon, Dr. Paul Mazur. He had signed a contract and intended to be here in March. He attempted to purchase a home multiple times, each time losing out to a cash offer above asking price. After several failed attempts to purchase a home, he decided not to take the job. Another physician is an interventional cardiologist currently at MMMC, who rents his home. He has been told that the owners intend to sell, and he has to find another place to live. He is having a very hard time finding another rental.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is short 75 registered nurses, despite hiring every single graduate of the University of Hawaii Maui College, every year. The skyrocketing cost of housing – rented or purchased – makes it impossible for a nurse who is not already living on Maui to be able to take a job with Maui Health.
This shortage directly impacts the quality of life for all on Maui.
A place to live is one of the most basic and important human needs there is. How can we ensure the quality of life for all who call Maui home if the medical professionals we need here can’t afford to live here?
Those who care for our community need to live in our community. Having a supply of homes will help ease the need for market-priced housing for the medical providers Maui desperately needs.
That is why I ask you to support the Maui Lani resolution. Thank you.
Re: Resolution 22-84, Authorizing the disposition of real property for housing and land enterprise of Maui, dba Na Hale O maui and for waiver of outstanding real property taxes
Dear Chair Lee and Council Members,
I am writing to ask your support of Resolution 22-84, which would provide 19 lots in the Fairways in Maui Lani to Na Hale O Maui (NHOM) for desperately needed affordable work force housing.
Na Hale O Maui has a proven and impressive track record of getting homes built and getting families into them. NHOM builds a long term relationship with all of their home owners, helping to ensure they are not only able to purchase a home, but also able to successfully manage a mortgage and the numerous other challenges that come with first time home ownership.
It is no secret that Maui has a housing crisis. Hardest hit are our workforce: teachers, nurses, police officers, technicians, etc. Hard working individuals and families that earn too much to qualify for low income housing opportunities, but not enough to qualify for market priced homes. These people are the life blood of our island community and culture, and we are rapidly losing them to the mainland due almost exclusively to our lack of affordable workforce housing.
The lots at Maui Lani are an opportunity waiting to happen. They have been sitting empty for many years, while families desperately need homes. While I recognize that it is important to engage all stakeholders in trying to resolve the old issues that have plagued this property, it should not stand in the way of creating homes.
I strongly urge you to support Resolution 22-84.
Mahalo,
Tamar Goodfellow
My name is Alison Patel and I am a radiology technologist and my husband, Shalin Patel, is one of the two interventional cardiologists who work at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
Our story began in 2016 when Shalin worked as a general cardiologist at the hospital for a year prior to his interventional cardiology training. He and I met during his training, and I decided to take a leap of faith with him moving to Maui. He had fallen in love with Maui and felt that he could make a difference in a small community with the skills he had learned. Ultimately, he returned to Maui in 2019 as a full time employed interventional cardiologist with Pacific Permanente Group, and we got married in December 2020 with plans of making Maui a home.
Unfortunately, due to the COVID pandemic our plans derailed. Starting as a new physician out of training, housing prices seemed already high compared to our prior location, and without a significant nest egg due to paying off student loans it was scary purchasing a home immediately. We decided to rent initially until we could save for a down payment. Then suddenly COVID came along and housing on Maui became unattainable. Prices skyrocketed and rentals became scarce. We were now competing with people bidding several hundred thousand dollars above asking and some sellers only wanted cash offers. We could not complete and still can’t. Luckily, we signed a long-term lease of 1.5 years however this will end in August. We don’t anticipate finding an adequate rental and are not sure what the housing market will do as houses are overpriced.
Maui needs market priced housing for health care providers. If I struggle to be able to buy a house I can’t imagine what our nurses, technologists, medical assistants, etc,.are feeling. Those who care for our community need to live in our community. Having a supply of homes will help ease the need for market-priced housing for medical staff. Hopefully this can help attract medical professionals and retain them.
I ask that you please approve the Maui Lani housing initiative. The community has the right to receive exceptional health care and if something isn’t done the hospital will continue to lose staff as well as struggle with recruitment. In the end the community is who is ultimately affected, and they deserve better. Therefore, we ask you to support the Maui Lani resolution. So that we can continue to provide and care for the entire Maui community. While this may not be the ultimate solution at least it is a start. To solve this crisis, we need to think outside the box. Perhaps a state income tax credit for physicians purchasing a home would be a supplemental idea to this.
Hello, my name is Colin Lee and I am an interventional cardiologist at Maui Memorial Medical Center. I moved to Maui almost 12 years ago to start MMMC’s program to treat heart attacks here on Maui, in order to avoid the potentially fatal delays imposed by the preexisting practice of emergent transfers to Honolulu. Since that time, we have been proud to offer Maui residents and visitors state if the art cardiac care which has resulted in many lives saved. Our heart team at MMMC performs coronary stent implantations and open heart surgeries at a level of quality comparable to the major Honolulu hospitals. These and many other services were not previously available to our community without the risk, delays, and burdens imposed on families associated with the transfer of patients to Oahu. However, the future of our program uncertain as we are struggling to recruit and retain the medical providers we need to carry our life sustaining program into the future. Among the challenges we face is the extraordinarily high cost of housing on Maui.
Maui needs younger, well trained physicians possessing the drive to build stable, high quality, state of the art medical practices. Unfortunately, younger physicians are all too often saddled with huge educational debt, in addition to concerns about financing their children’s educations and worries about travel costs to visit mainland families. In the current market, purchasing a home on Maui , even with a physician’s earnings, may be out of reach. While older physicians nearer the end of their careers may have accrued the means to afford Maui housing, their shorter career horizons may negatively impact continuity of care and limit commitment to growth of services. Given the huge demands associated with the profession, finding a nice home in reasonable proximity to the hospital is an understandably high priority for any physicians considering Maui as a new home for their families and careers. Due to the unaffordability of housing, we have already failed to recruit, and in other instances failed to retain excellent physicians that Maui desperately needs.
For these reasons, I urge you to support the proposal before you to grant Maui Lani lots to the Maui Health Foundation, with the goal of providing affordable housing opportunities for health care professionals. This will be a start towards attracting medical professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community, to enable Maui-born medical professionals who wish to return home to practice medicine to do so, and help retain current Maui care providers looking to purchase their first home on Maui. Please help us to expand and improve the high quality health care our Maui community deserves.
Please see attached testimony.
April 4, 2022
Testimony Re: Resolution 82-85 – Disposition of Real Property to the Maui Health Foundation
My name is Barbara Potopowitz and I am president of the volunteers at Maui Memorial Medical Center. My position is also volunteer.
Before you today is a resolution that would allow the County to grant 16 lots at the Fairways in Maui Lani to the Maui Health Foundation for the purpose of providing eventual housing opportunities to healthcare professionals in perpetuity.
We whole heartly encourage and support this request.
Our volunteers perform many duties and experience first-hand the stress and fear that goes along with any hospital visit. It’s unexplainable in words the comfort expressed when we witness patients, family members and friends who accompany those needing medical care, knowing they can receive that care right here in their community. This is with family and friends close by for support, which is so critical for recovery. It eliminates the fear to be transported to another Island, or even the mainland, due to a lack of expertise right here
at home caused by lack of affordable housing.
We know affordable housing is an issue for many who live here, and the County is exploring many different avenues to address this problem. The resolution before you will yield an investment far greater than you can imagine. Just think of all the lives this will touch when our Maui community can be treated right here at home with medical professionals able to provide specialized medical care.
We thank you for your time today and are always available to answer any questions.
Barbara Potopowitz
President, Maui Memorial Auxiliary Volunteers
808-280-4707
Barbara.Potopowitz@KP.org
mauigirlbarb@yahoo.com
Aloha,
My name is Ken LaRue and my wife, Carrie, and I are volunteers at Maui Memorial Medical Center. We feel very lucky and fortunate to live on such a beautiful island and enjoy volunteering at MMMC. While volunteering we learned that Maui Memorial can’t attract or retain skilled medical professionals because of the price of real estate which has only gone higher over the last two years.
MMMC is the only place on this island that provides critical, lifesaving care, and we do so for anyone who comes through our doors, regardless of ability to pay. For those with the most critical needs, there is often no other option, as they do not have the time to delay treatment or the strength to make the trip to another island to receive care. We personally know people that had to endure hardship traveling to Oahu or the Mainland to receive medical services that they could not get on Maui.
We understand that Maui Memorial Medical Center is currently short 160 physicians in specialties ranging from family and internal medicine to oncology, heart and lung surgery, orthopedics, and urology. But even on a surgeon’s salary it may not be enough to purchase a home on Maui. As a result, this shortage of professional healthcare workers directly impacts the quality of life for all of us on Maui. As the population ages this will become even more critical, and we do not have time to waste.
While we have the facilities and the financial and community support to meet those critical healthcare needs, without housing options, many physicians, and nurses that we desperately need either won’t come or aren’t able to stay. We are asking you to please approve the Maui Lani resolution so that we can attract professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community. This approval may also allow Maui-born medical professionals who wish to return home to practice medicine to do so and to retain current Maui care providers looking to purchase their first home on Maui. It is the right thing to do for the health and wellbeing and future of Maui. Mahalo
Ken & Carrie LaRue
Maui Memorial Medical Center Volunteers
Hello, my name is Barbara Satterfield. I work at Maui Memorial Medical Center as the nurse manager of Maui Memorial Medical Center’s Heart, Brain and Vascular Center. My department and staff provide 24 hour care to a broad continuum of patients. Many come for routine diagnostic procedures in cardiology and radiology, while others come for emergent treatment of strokes, heart attacks and bleeding. These services are crucial to saving lives and keeping patients here on Maui.
My husband and I relocated from Oahu 22 years ago when he was hired into the Maui Police Department as an officer recruit. Over the years, both of us have felt very blessed and fortunate to be in professions that serve the Maui community. Our entire careers have been spent working in this county contributing to the health and safety of our family, friends and neighbors. Despite this, both of our jobs have become very challenging as the numbers of employees have diminished and recruitment for new staff has not been able to keep up. I had a small number of staff (18 total techs and nurses) to provide care, including emergencies after hours, holidays and weekends. Quite recently, my staff got smaller when I had 3 of them resign and relocate to other areas where the cost of living is lower and there were more opportunities for self-advancement including home ownership. This shortage has made it extremely difficult on the remaining staff to achieve a good work-life balance since they must now work harder and more hours to cover these operational needs. Like other departments in the hospital, the pandemic has pushed my staff to the brink of fatigue, but the outlook continues to be grim in attracting both permanent and temporary staffing.
Historically, we have been able to fill these gaps with agency/travel/contingent workers. However, this is no longer the case. In several instances, the prohibitive rental fees have made taking an assignment as a nurse or tech in my area very unappealing. I have offered assignments to 3 different individuals, only to later hear from their agency that they were unable to find suitable housing within their budget. There is a dearth of affordable housing here on Maui. Two of my current travel staff in other areas of HBV recently disclosed they are paying more than $3000/month in rental fees. In this regard, the incentive to take a lucrative travel assignment is eliminated, along with the skill and knowledge that the employee may have potentially brought. The staff in my area continue to work tirelessly, with very little hope for relief from additional staffing. This leads me to be afraid of the high possibility for further staff resignations, with the potential to jeopardize the services offered by the Heart, Brain and Vascular Center.
We have the facilities and the financial, community and professional support to meet the most critical healthcare needs, but without housing options, physicians, nurses, technical staff and other healthcare workers won’t come or aren’t able to stay.
This is the reason I am respectfully asking you to support the Maui Lani resolution.
Mahalo,
Barbara Satterfield, BS, MPH, RN
Nurse Manager
Heart, Brain and Vascular Center
Hello.
Thank you for allowing me to testify in support of the Maui Lani resolution.
My name is Terence Manegdeg, and I am the Perioperative Services Business Manager at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
I have spent my formative years living in Maui, attended Baldwin High school and Maui Community College.
Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and our visitors, and we do so for any who come through our doors. For those with the most critical needs, there is often no other option. They do not have the time to delay treatment or the strength to make the trip to another island to receive care.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is short 75 registered nurses, despite hiring every single graduate of the University of Hawaii Maui College, every year. The Operating Room has lost a couple of nurses and a surgical tech with housing and affordability as the primary reason for their resignation. Our Leadership team have been unsuccessful in recruiting viable candidates with housing as the primary reason offers are being declined.
To meet our core staffing needs, we work with our travel agencies to recruit contingency workers on a temporary basis. However, as with the recruitment of permanent staff, the same challenges are being faced by contingency workers resulting in either delay of arrival or cancellation of assignment altogether.
This shortage directly impacts the quality of life for all on Maui.
Those who care for our community need to live in our community. Having a supply of homes will help ease the need for market-priced housing for the medical staff Maui desperately needs. This will also enable us to attract medical professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community and retain current Maui care staff members looking to purchase their first home on Maui.
That is why I ask you to support the Maui Lani resolution. Mahalo.
Terence C. Manegdeg RN, BSN
Business/IT Manager, Perioperative Services
Aloha, my name is Susan Hoover, and I am a registered nurse manager at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
We have the facilities and the financial, community and professional support to meet the most critical healthcare needs, but without housing options, physicians and nurses either won't come or aren't able to stay.
That is why I am asking you to support the Maui Lani resolution.
Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and our visitors, and we do so for any who come through our doors. For those with the most critical needs, there is often no other option. They do not have the time to delay treatment or the strength to make the trip to another island to receive care.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is currently short of 160 physicians in specialties ranging from family and internal medicine to oncology, heart and lung surgery, orthopedics, and urology.
Also, Maui Memorial Medical Center is short 75 registered nurses, despite hiring every single graduate of the University of Hawaii Maui College who apply, every year.
This shortage directly impacts the quality of life for all on Maui.
Those who care for our community need to live in our community. Having a supply of homes will help ease the need for market-priced housing for the medical providers Maui desperately needs. This housing incentive will enable the community to attract medical professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community, allow Maui-born medical professionals who wish to return home to practice medicine to do so, and retain current Maui care providers looking to purchase their first home on Maui.
That is why I ask you to support the Maui Lani resolution. Thank you.
Susan Hoover
Aloha,
Thank you Council members for allowing me to provide support for the Maui Lani Resolution and further explain the impact of this Resolution.
My name is Marian Horikawa-Barth and I am the Chief Nurse Executive at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
I am a Maui girl, born at Maui Memorial, attended Baldwin High School and Maui Community College. I have been at Maui Memorial for 18 years and have spent many years of my career working on the Mainland. I came home to raise my family, there is no place like home, like Maui.
We live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth that draws visitors from around the world, but we often cannot attract or retain skilled medical professionals for one reason. A place to call home. Finding a place to live on Maui is extremely difficult. Nurses that have good jobs and a steady income are struggling to find housing they can afford. My fellow nurses and nurse managers have many examples of staff that have left the island because they cannot afford to buy a home, or lose potential nurses due to the high housing prices. Maui and Maui Memorial offers great career paths and lifestyle. Unfortunately living on Maui is difficult and the high cost of housing is a key factor limiting our ability to retain and recruit nursing staff.
That is why I am asking you to support the Maui Lani resolution.
Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and visitors, and we do so for everyone that comes through our doors. Our emergency department is the second busiest in the state seeing more than 41,000 patients in 2021. We offer award level cardiac and stroke care, as well as excellent trauma, mother-baby, medical/surgical and behavioral health care. For those with the most critical needs, there is often no other option. These folks do not have the time to delay treatment or look for life saving care on another island. Having skilled medical professionals is central to continuing to provide high level quality care.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center has 75 vacant registered nurse positions, despite hiring 80 plus University of Hawaii Maui College nursing program graduates over the last 3 years. This island, state and national nursing shortage stresses our Maui nurses that are already stretched and exhausted with the pandemic.
The nursing and healthcare provider shortage directly impacts the quality of life for all on Maui. The Maui Lani Resolution will enable us to attract medical professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community and prepare us for future growth. Please support Maui-born medical professionals who wish to return home to care for our Ohana and retain current Maui nurses looking to purchase their first home on Maui.
Mahalo for your time
Marian Horikawa-Barth DNP RN CPHQ CENP
Chief Nurse Executive
Nursing Administration
Testimonies received by BFED Committee
Hello, my name is Cassandra Saranillio, and I am the ICU Nurse Manager at Maui Health.
We have the facilities and the financial, community and professional support to meet the most critical healthcare needs, but without housing options, physicians and nurses either won’t come or aren’t able to stay.
That is why I am asking you to support the Maui Lani resolution.
Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and our visitors, and we do so for any who come through our doors. For those with the most critical needs, there is often no other option. In the ICU, we see many of these types of patients who come in needing emergent Open-Heart Surgery, critical need continuous dialysis treatment, Strokes, and many other emergent conditions that cannot be delayed nor wait for transport to O’ahu. The most critical patients must be cared for by our expertly trained critical care nurses.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is short 75 registered nurses, despite hiring every single graduate of the University of Hawaii Maui College, every year. Nearly a quarter of this nursing shortage is for critical care trained nurses. It is a lengthy process to train a critical care nurse who is safely prepared to take care of an ICU patient independently. The patients are our family members, our neighbors and us! We take this very seriously. We do not allow a new ICU nurse to take these critical patients until they are safe and ready to do so. We have interviewed numerous experienced critical care trained nurses, many who are originally from Hawai’i and wanting to return. They are excited to accept a position with us, but after looking for housing on Maui they must decline the employment offer. Most tell me that they simply cannot afford the housing they need. Some of our current nursing staff are also having difficulty finding permanent housing they can afford. They have shared that they may have to move to the mainland in order to afford a home.
This shortage directly impacts the quality of life for all on Maui. For critical care especially so because it takes 6-12 months to train a brand-new critical care nurse so they’re safe to care for ICU patients independently. Maintaining a balance of experienced ICU nurses and newly trained ICU nurses is very important to ensuring the community has the safest mix of ICU nurses on each shift. These experienced nurses won’t come from Maui because Maui Memorial Medical Center has the only ICU on the island, so they must come from the outer islands or the mainland. We also cannot afford to lose the current critical care nurses we have because they can’t find affordable housing.
Those who care for our community need to live in our community. Having a supply of homes will help ease the need for market-priced housing for the medical providers Maui desperately needs.
That is why I ask you to support the Maui Lani resolution. Thank you.
Honorable Keani Rawlins-F emandez
Chair, Council Budget and Finance Committee
And Members of the Committee
200 S. High Street
Wailuku, HI 96793
Subject: Testimony in Support of Council Resolution Authorizing the Grant of 16 Lots in the Fairway at Maui Lani to the Maui Health Foundation
Dear Chair Rawlins-Fernandez and Committee Members:
We are in full support of the proposed resolution to grant sixteen lots in the fairway at Maui Lani to the Maui Health Foundation. I am currently a member of the foundation and have been for over 5 years and my wife has a long history working at Maui Memorial Medical Center. In my
tenure as a member, we have heard repeatedly from the hospital staff and the administration that the greatest obstacle to recruiting and retaining quality healthcare workers for our hospital is the lack of housing. This lack of housing availability has now reached a critical stage and requires urgent action by all ofus who care about our hospital and its provision of high quality healthcare for our residents and visitors.
It is our understanding that these lots have been identified in the recently approved Maui County Comprehensive Housing Plan as an ideal site for workforce housing due to their close proximity to the hospital and other medical services.
We humbly and respectfully ask your committee to support and approve the proposed resolution as soon as possible so that healthcare workers will be able to have the opportunity to a have place they can call home and continue to provide high quality health care for our Maui Ohanas.
Thank you for your kind consideration.
To whom it may concern,
I am an Assistant Nurse Manager at Maui Health. I am writing my testimony to the critical shortage of skilled medical professionals and the dangers this represents to our community.
The housing demand on Maui has grown exponentially over the last five years. Beautiful beaches, incredible views, and desirable weather makes Maui an undeniably attractive place to live. The increase in demand and housing has priced out many working families. The dramatic rise in the median housing prices has made it impossible for the average working family to afford their own homes. Families are forced to make a choice; stay to serve the community they love or move.
One of my employees faces this very decision. She was born and raised on Maui, graduated high school on Maui, started her family on Maui, and served her community for over a decade at MMMC. This past year she gave up on her dream of owning a house here on Maui and will be moving to Utah. She will have to leave her parent and extended family behind. She was forced to sacrifice her home to buy a house.
This is just one of countless similar stories. The shortage of skilled medical professionals is a threat to the community at large. There are shortages of physicians, nurses, physical therapist, pharmacists, and countless other skilled positions because families can longer find affordable housing.
The Maui Lani resolution should be passed so that we can meet the healthcare needs our community demands. We need to be able to provide affordable housing to Maui-born medical professionals who wish to practice at home.
Thank you,
Matthew Flight
To Honorable Alice Lee, Chair and Members of the Maui County Council
My name is Kelly Catiel and I am a Regional Quality Nurse Manager at Maui Health.
I am blessed to have been born and raised on the island if Lana’i and am now blessed to call Maui my home. I have been fortunate enough to birth my two children at Maui Memorial Medical as well as undergo both urgent and elective procedures here. Many of my family members have also received wonderful care by the compassionate healthcare staff that make up Maui Health.
Growing up in Maui County, I know how crucial health care is and how devastating it can be to a community it can be when services are not available. Lack of services can even lead to long lasting health effects and even death. With aging patients and young rambunctious children, this is now a constant worry of mine.
Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and visitors. Our emergency department is the second busiest in the state, seeing more than 41,000 patients last year alone. For those with the most critical needs, our local families and kupuna, there is often no other option. They do not have the time to delay treatment or look for lifesaving care on another island. Our families cannot shoulder the burden of the added costs of flying to the mainland, even outer island, for treatment. It takes a financial, physical, and emotional toll on the families of their loved ones.
Available affordable housing on the island of Maui is a large part of why this is and will continue to occur. The COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened the number of affordable homes available pricing many people out and causing them to relocate. The healthcare industry has been greatly affected by this. Many healthcare workers are unable to find or sustain affordable housing and ultimately move on from the island to areas where the cost of living is more conducive to daily life. Many nurses who are born and raised in the islands must leave their island home as it is financially unfeasible to live and raise a family here with housing being a large part of that.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is short 75 registered nurses and over 150 physicians. Many potential recruits as well as contingent employees state that the lack of available housing is the prohibiting factor for staying on this beautiful island we call home.
We need to be part of a solution. That is why I am asking you to support the Maui Lani resolution.
Thank you
My name is Joyce Tamori and I am the Chief Financial Officer at Maui Memorial Medical Center. I was born and raised on Maui and understand the need for a strong healthcare system. To support our community’s needs, we need to make sure that we are able to retain Maui’s skilled medical professionals and have the ability to recruit from elsewhere, if needed. Housing has become one of the primary challenges to recruit and retain our medical professionals. The support of the County of Maui to provide 16 lots in the Fairways at Maui Lani can make a significant impact on building the necessary infrastructure on Maui.
I support the Maui Lani Resolution 22-84.
Thanks,
Joyce Tamori
VP, CFO - MHS
Hello, my name is Jessica Rozet and I am a registered nurse and I am a assistant manager of the emergency department at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
We live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth that draws visitors from around the world, but we often can’t attract or retain skilled medical professionals for one reason. A place to call home. Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and our visitors, and we do so for any who come through our doors. (statistic on number patients over increase over time). For those with the most critical needs, there is often no other option. They do not have the time to delay treatment or the strength to make the trip to another island to receive care for a stroke, heart attack, or immediate surgical emergencies.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is short 75 registered nurses, despite hiring every single graduate of the University of Hawaii Maui College, every year. We here in the ED have a difficult time getting travel nurses to cover the shortages due to the cost of places to stay.
This shortage directly impacts the quality of life for all on Maui. That is why I am asking you to support the Maui Lani resolution. This will enable us to attract medical professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community, allow Maui-born medical professionals who wish to return home to practice medicine to do so, and retain current Maui care providers looking to purchase their first home on Maui.
Thank you,
My name is Bard Peterson. I am a life-long Maui resident and I support our hospital by serving on the Hospital Foundation’s board of directors. Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and our visitors, and our hospital provides this service to everyone in need. Maui Memorial Medical Center is currently short 160 physicians in specialties ranging from family and internal medicine to oncology, heart and lung surgery, orthopedics and urology. The hospital is also short 75 registered nurses, despite hiring every single graduate of the University of Hawaii Maui College, every year.
As you know, the County of Maui has a housing crisis; there are not enough homes to rent or to purchase for our workforce. This is especially true for workers in our healthcare industry. In order to continue to provide the best care of our community we need more housing options for our medical professionals. One of the main problems with attracting and retaining healthcare works is the lack of housing on Maui. Having a supply of homes will help ease the need for market-priced housing for the medical providers Maui desperately needs.
This project at Maui Lani will also enable us to attract medical professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community, allow Maui-born medical professionals who wish to return home to practice medicine to do so, and retain current Maui care providers looking to purchase their first home on Maui.
This is a home-grown solution to one of our greatest issues and I urge you to support the Maui Lani resolution.
Mahalo.
Our medical Community his in great line for additional so or. Due to lack of housing available on Island due to multiple problems including skyrocketing cost of housing, we are unable to retract needed providers to take care for community. I support and would highly recommend getting additional housing that he specifically meant for hospital and healthcare providers such that we can hopefully attract additional doctors and nurses. Although the final solution should involve limiting second homes and out of state owners, this would provide a temporary solution to get the specialists our island community needs and deserves.
Vijak Ayasanonda, MD FACEP
Chief of Staff
Maui Memorial Medical Center
Co-Director Department of Emergency Medicine
Hello, my name is Michael Shea MD and I am a physician in the ICU at Maui Memorial Medical Center. We have the facilities and the financial, community and professional support to meet the most critical healthcare needs, but without housing options, physicians and nurses either won’t come or aren’t able to stay.
Maui Memorial Medical Center is the only place on this island that can provide critical, lifesaving care to our residents and our visitors, and we do so for any who come through our doors. For those with the most critical needs – acute stroke, severe trauma, intracranial hemorrhage, aneurysms, and many more - there is often no other option. They do not have the time to delay treatment and it’s too dangerous to make the trip to another island to receive care.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is currently short 160 physicians in specialties ranging from family and internal medicine to oncology, heart and lung surgery, orthopedics and urology. I know of two recent examples where this has directly impacted our ability to staff vital physician specialties. First, we had recruited a cardiothoracic (heart and lung) surgeon, Dr. Paul Mazur. He had signed a contract and intended to be here in March. He attempted to purchase a home multiple times, each time losing out to a cash offer above asking price. After several failed attempts to purchase a home, he decided not to take the job. Another physician is an interventional cardiologist currently at MMMC, who rents his home. He has been told that the owners intend to sell, and he has to find another place to live. He is having a very hard time finding another rental.
Today, Maui Memorial Medical Center is short 75 registered nurses, despite hiring every single graduate of the University of Hawaii Maui College, every year. The skyrocketing cost of housing – rented or purchased – makes it impossible for a nurse who is not already living on Maui to be able to take a job with Maui Health.
This shortage directly impacts the quality of life for all on Maui.
A place to live is one of the most basic and important human needs there is. How can we ensure the quality of life for all who call Maui home if the medical professionals we need here can’t afford to live here?
Those who care for our community need to live in our community. Having a supply of homes will help ease the need for market-priced housing for the medical providers Maui desperately needs.
That is why I ask you to support the Maui Lani resolution. Thank you.
Michael Shea M.D.
Chief Medical Director
Maui Health
To: Alice Lee, Chairperson, and Council Members
From: Tamar Goodfellow
Re: Resolution 22-84, Authorizing the disposition of real property for housing and land enterprise of Maui, dba Na Hale O maui and for waiver of outstanding real property taxes
Dear Chair Lee and Council Members,
I am writing to ask your support of Resolution 22-84, which would provide 19 lots in the Fairways in Maui Lani to Na Hale O Maui (NHOM) for desperately needed affordable work force housing.
Na Hale O Maui has a proven and impressive track record of getting homes built and getting families into them. NHOM builds a long term relationship with all of their home owners, helping to ensure they are not only able to purchase a home, but also able to successfully manage a mortgage and the numerous other challenges that come with first time home ownership.
It is no secret that Maui has a housing crisis. Hardest hit are our workforce: teachers, nurses, police officers, technicians, etc. Hard working individuals and families that earn too much to qualify for low income housing opportunities, but not enough to qualify for market priced homes. These people are the life blood of our island community and culture, and we are rapidly losing them to the mainland due almost exclusively to our lack of affordable workforce housing.
The lots at Maui Lani are an opportunity waiting to happen. They have been sitting empty for many years, while families desperately need homes. While I recognize that it is important to engage all stakeholders in trying to resolve the old issues that have plagued this property, it should not stand in the way of creating homes.
I strongly urge you to support Resolution 22-84.
Mahalo,
Tamar Goodfellow
Aloha,
My name is Alison Patel and I am a radiology technologist and my husband, Shalin Patel, is one of the two interventional cardiologists who work at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
Our story began in 2016 when Shalin worked as a general cardiologist at the hospital for a year prior to his interventional cardiology training. He and I met during his training, and I decided to take a leap of faith with him moving to Maui. He had fallen in love with Maui and felt that he could make a difference in a small community with the skills he had learned. Ultimately, he returned to Maui in 2019 as a full time employed interventional cardiologist with Pacific Permanente Group, and we got married in December 2020 with plans of making Maui a home.
Unfortunately, due to the COVID pandemic our plans derailed. Starting as a new physician out of training, housing prices seemed already high compared to our prior location, and without a significant nest egg due to paying off student loans it was scary purchasing a home immediately. We decided to rent initially until we could save for a down payment. Then suddenly COVID came along and housing on Maui became unattainable. Prices skyrocketed and rentals became scarce. We were now competing with people bidding several hundred thousand dollars above asking and some sellers only wanted cash offers. We could not complete and still can’t. Luckily, we signed a long-term lease of 1.5 years however this will end in August. We don’t anticipate finding an adequate rental and are not sure what the housing market will do as houses are overpriced.
Maui needs market priced housing for health care providers. If I struggle to be able to buy a house I can’t imagine what our nurses, technologists, medical assistants, etc,.are feeling. Those who care for our community need to live in our community. Having a supply of homes will help ease the need for market-priced housing for medical staff. Hopefully this can help attract medical professionals and retain them.
I ask that you please approve the Maui Lani housing initiative. The community has the right to receive exceptional health care and if something isn’t done the hospital will continue to lose staff as well as struggle with recruitment. In the end the community is who is ultimately affected, and they deserve better. Therefore, we ask you to support the Maui Lani resolution. So that we can continue to provide and care for the entire Maui community. While this may not be the ultimate solution at least it is a start. To solve this crisis, we need to think outside the box. Perhaps a state income tax credit for physicians purchasing a home would be a supplemental idea to this.
Mahalo for your time,
Alison and Shalin Patel
Dear Members of the Maui County Council,
Hello, my name is Colin Lee and I am an interventional cardiologist at Maui Memorial Medical Center. I moved to Maui almost 12 years ago to start MMMC’s program to treat heart attacks here on Maui, in order to avoid the potentially fatal delays imposed by the preexisting practice of emergent transfers to Honolulu. Since that time, we have been proud to offer Maui residents and visitors state if the art cardiac care which has resulted in many lives saved. Our heart team at MMMC performs coronary stent implantations and open heart surgeries at a level of quality comparable to the major Honolulu hospitals. These and many other services were not previously available to our community without the risk, delays, and burdens imposed on families associated with the transfer of patients to Oahu. However, the future of our program uncertain as we are struggling to recruit and retain the medical providers we need to carry our life sustaining program into the future. Among the challenges we face is the extraordinarily high cost of housing on Maui.
Maui needs younger, well trained physicians possessing the drive to build stable, high quality, state of the art medical practices. Unfortunately, younger physicians are all too often saddled with huge educational debt, in addition to concerns about financing their children’s educations and worries about travel costs to visit mainland families. In the current market, purchasing a home on Maui , even with a physician’s earnings, may be out of reach. While older physicians nearer the end of their careers may have accrued the means to afford Maui housing, their shorter career horizons may negatively impact continuity of care and limit commitment to growth of services. Given the huge demands associated with the profession, finding a nice home in reasonable proximity to the hospital is an understandably high priority for any physicians considering Maui as a new home for their families and careers. Due to the unaffordability of housing, we have already failed to recruit, and in other instances failed to retain excellent physicians that Maui desperately needs.
For these reasons, I urge you to support the proposal before you to grant Maui Lani lots to the Maui Health Foundation, with the goal of providing affordable housing opportunities for health care professionals. This will be a start towards attracting medical professionals who can meet the greatest healthcare needs in our community, to enable Maui-born medical professionals who wish to return home to practice medicine to do so, and help retain current Maui care providers looking to purchase their first home on Maui. Please help us to expand and improve the high quality health care our Maui community deserves.
Respectfully,
Colin Lee, MD