Doctors and Hospitals

September 29, 2018

How do you find a doctor on the far south end of the big island of Hawaii? One that is on your Arizona health insurance network? On a Saturday morning?

Phone calls to the 800 number of the health insurance network go to an automated recording . . . “Our office hours are Monday thru Friday between the hours of 9:00 AM and 4:30 PM Eastern Standard Time. If you are calling outside these hours, please call back during regular office hours. If this is a medical emergency, hang up and dial 911.” Well, that’s no good! A search online for an urgent care center nearby yields a phone number for a Nurse Practitioner in Waiohinu who does not answer. Hmmmm! Well, I know that there is a hospital in Hilo. Also, there are a couple of urgent care centers in Hilo according to our internet search. Hilo is closer than Kona – time wise – so it is into the car and off we go.

Alanah has sliced her thumb pretty badly. While fixing breakfast, she got a knife out of the cabinet drawer in the kitchen. These knives have a cover over the blade to keep them sharp when they are in the drawer and so that you don’t accidentally cut yourself.

Not realizing that the cover was already off, because the blade is the same color as the cover, she grabbed the handle with one hand and what she thought was the cover with the other hand and pulled the knife out of the cover. . . only, there was no cover, and the knife sliced deeply into her thumb.

We drive through Na’alehu, and past Whittington Beach Park. We go past Punaluu Black Sand Beach and past the town of Pahala. Not knowing what is in Pahala, we didn’t think it wise to go cruising around a strange town hoping to find an urgent care center, so we passed by Pahala and headed up the road towards Hilo when Alanah’s phone rang. It was the host we were renting the house from. They just wanted to check that we found everything and that everything was OK. Well, . . . actually, . . . things aren’t OK. Alanah proceeded to tell her about slicing her thumb, and that we were headed in to Hilo to the hospital or an urgent care center. She said; “Don’t go to Hilo. There’s a hospital in Pahala.” So, we turn around and go back to Pahala. Sure enough, right there just off the highway is the hospital. We walk in and about fifteen minutes later, Alanah is getting her thumb stitched up.

She needs to keep it dry for the next week or so. The nurse gives her a bunch of those plastic gloves, some clean gauze, a roll of white tape, even the small scissors the doctor used. “We just have to throw it all away anyway,” she says. We finalize the paperwork and we’re out the door.

We arrive at the property around noon and begin cutting and trimming the christmas berry trees – trying to create a path in. The next door neighbor’s little dog is sitting on his porch barking. And barking. And barking. After about an hour, a woman walks up the road. “Good morning”, I said. And then correct myself, “or afternoon.”

She timidly replies “Hello”. But I can tell there is more she wants to say, but doesn’t want to be rude.

Alanah speaks up, “We’re trimming up our property.” From the startled look on her face, I wondered what she thought we were doing. We put down the clippers and the tree saw and came out onto the road towards her to intoroduce ourselves. “Hi, I’m Alanah.” my wife says. “I’m David” I add.

Our neighbor next door, Lorenzo walks up the road ang joins us.

“I’m Pua” she replies. I must have given her a questioning look so she quickly adds, “like the flower”.

We exchanged the typical neighborly formalities of small talk – where we are from, where she lives, etc,. and she asks,”You bought this place?”

“Yes”, I replied. “We bought these two lots last month and have come over to see what it is that we have bought.”

“You aren’t going to spray, are you?” she asks.

Not knowing what she is referring to, I just say no. After exchanging the typical, “Well, it was nice to meet you” greetings, she turns and leaves and comments to herself, but out loud, “I’ll have to record you on the roster.” ????? What roster? She proceeds back down the road in the direction she came from and stops at the neighbor, Lorenzo’s, gate to chat with him. I’ll have to tell you about Lorenzo in a different post.