KULA COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
P.O.Box 417
Kula, HI 96790
http://kulamaui.com

The vision of the Kula Community Association is to preserve open space, support agriculture, maintain a rural residential atmosphere, 
and to work together as a community.
The specific purpose of this Association is to improve the quality of life for the residents of Kula, to promote civic welfare 
and generally to benefit the community of Kula.

March 26, 2002
Senator Brian T. Taniguchi, Chair, and Members
Senate Ways and Means Committee, State of Hawaii
Hawaii State Capitol, Room 210
415 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Dear Senator Brian T. Taniguchi, Chair, and Members:
The Kula Community Association requests restoration of the $50,000 reduction proposed in HB 1800, Budget Worksheet Item 730, under Emergency Medical Services. This funding was appropriated during the 2001 session to provide an additional two hours for ambulance service in Kula, extending service from ten to 12 hours a day. 
The Kula ambulance currently is on call from 6:30 in the morning until 6:30 pm. Kula is the only community in Maui County that does not have 24-hour, locally-based ambulance service. In the entire state there are only two other localities with less than 24-hour service and they have service for 16 hours a day.
This is the only ambulance service to be cut this year and to our knowledge the first time ever that a 911 State ambulance service has been cut. The Kula Community Association calls on you to - at the very least - leave the existing funding intact. 
The community has been pressing for more funding to increase service. When the Kula ambulance is not on duty, the nearest ambulance responds. This lengthens the response time for Kula residents from 15 or 20 minutes to as much as 45 minutes and leaves the community whose ambulance responds (Makawao, Kahului, and even Kihei or Lahaina) without the locally-based ambulance. 
The Kula ambulance must respond to calls over a huge area - from the summit of Haleakala down to the junction of Pulehu and Omaopio Roads and from Five Trees past Kaupo. Kula residents and visitors are involved in high risk occupations and activities, including hang-gliding, downhill biking, horseback riding, hunting, farming, and hiking. 
Kula already has a station for its ambulance. The major expense for the additional service is the personnel cost. We estimate the cost for each additional hour of service at approximately $30,000, with an annual cost of under $500,000 for the 12 hours needed to provide us full coverage.
In the past ten years, population in Kula has increased over 15 percent, and will continue to grow as the Hawaiian Homelands projects in Keokea are settled and existing lots are built out. The largest increases are in the age groups over 45. There has been a 32 percent increase in the number of those over 65, and a 123 percent increase in the 45 to 64 group. 
These population changes will result in an increasing need for emergency need for medical services. If this funding is cut and if we do not get funding for additional hours of service, it will be a real blow for our residents who have been working for years to increase our service to the basic level of 24-hour, locally-based service. 
Thank you for your consideration of our request.
Sincerely, 


Elliott Krash, President