Disability advocates are considering a lawsuit against Hilo Medical Center after an Americans with Disabilities Act complaint failed to get the U.S. Department of Justice involved. ADVERTISING Disability advocates are considering a lawsuit against Hilo Medical Center after an Americans
Disability advocates are considering a lawsuit against Hilo Medical Center after an Americans with Disabilities Act complaint failed to get the U.S. Department of Justice involved.
Nonprofit advocacy organization Disability Rights Hawaii says it has been fighting for better hospital access since 1995.
At the hospital bus stop, mobility-challenged people are asked to go makai on the Waianuenue Avenue shoulder to a sidewalk leading to a door that enters the hospital’s lower level.
Group members want a straighter bus entry for safer arrivals of mobility-challenged patients and/or a way to get from the bus stop over (or through) the grassy knoll and safely inside.
The hospital says it has taken actions such as installing ramped sidewalks through the parking lot. But members at a Disability Rights Hawaii meeting Wednesday said they want access to the hospital’s main door — just like everybody else.
The Americans with Disabilities Act says Congress recognized that disabilities don’t “diminish a person’s right to fully participate in all aspects of society, but that people with physical or mental disabilities are frequently precluded from doing so because of prejudice, antiquated attitudes or the failure to remove societal and institutional barriers.”
Disability Rights Hawaii, comprised of area residents, many of whom are wheelchair users, civil rights advocates and workers serving people with disabilities, did get a reply from the Department of Justice.
“Unfortunately, because the (Disability Rights) Section receives thousands of Americans with Disabilities Act complaints each year, we do not have the resources to resolve all of them,” a DOJ letter says.
The late-2015 letter said “no determination regarding the merits” of the group’s complaint was made.
“You may wish to contact an attorney or legal service provider to determine what remedies may be available,” the letter said.
Group members said accessibility doesn’t change fast enough until a lawsuit, such as the one that required curb ramps to let wheelchair users shop more easily. Some support filing a lawsuit against Hilo Medical Center.
The hospital and county made many changes, said Reyn Cabarloc, the hospital’s assistant administrator of Facilities and Support Services.
Waianuenue Avenue was widened by the county “very rapidly,” he said, finishing Feb. 9 after his January request.
From the bus stop, people with mobility challenges can now more-easily go along the road’s shoulder.
The hospital has accessible parking spots by the lower entrance.
Retired University of Hawaii at Hilo philosophy professor Ron Amundson, secretary of Disability Rights Hawaii, praised Cabarloc and the hospital’s efforts, but emphasized for the advocacy group, “it’s certainly not enough.”
“We’re never going to say it’s enough until it’s the same accessibility that everyone else has,” he said.
From Hawaii Pacific Oncology Center, patients can take a makai ramp through employee parking — to a crosswalk crossing the street to the bus stop — and from there along the shoulder to the sidewalk entrance.
Amundson said people who’ve never used a wheelchair, or been a family caregiver, can struggle to understand what such a long route is like.
Motorized wheelchairs need well-charged batteries. Self-propelled wheelchairs will create big workouts just getting to the hospital, Amundson said. And walker users might struggle to make it inside.
“It’s not a wonderful route, and it’s very long,” Amundson said.
From the Oncology Center, he said, it can be confusing, especially for those with cognitive issues.
Cabarloc said “way-finding” signs are needed to clarify routes. He expects temporary ones tested this year. And to request legislative way-finding funds in 2018, for accessibility and signs guiding all patients from place to place.
“From a hospital perspective, I think the signage would help,” Cabarloc said.
He said the hospital has a “preference for everyone to enter the front door.”
But, he said, “it’s not going to happen today.” And, from the bus stop to the hospital’s lower entry, though imperfect, at least “gives access.”
Amundson said that access, appreciated and much-improved now that the Waianuenue Avenue shoulder has been widened, doesn’t address the safety of patients with mobility problems who want to get to the front door.
Distance costs people who get exhausted, have medical conditions affected by movement, can’t be outdoors too long or have equipment that can get dislodged or discharged, Amundson said.
And for some, he said, “distance is so much of a cost that they’re going to accept the risk” and travel the shortest distance — to the front door.
Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
