Gov. Josh Green on Tuesday extended the emergency proclamation he signed Dec. 16 in response to the Hawaii Life Flight accident earlier this month.
The emergency proclamation was issued in response to the Hawaii Life Flight air ambulance with a crew of three that went missing Dec. 15 off the coast of Maui while en route to pick up a patient on Hawaii Island.
The extension of the proclamation allows the state to continue providing staffing and aircraft needed to ensure availability of emergency transportation for critically ill medical patients. Since the proclamation was issued, 52 patients have been transported.
Hawaii Life Flight is in a transition phase as its local crews steadily come back online and the company begins the process of coming out of its “safety stand down.”
“By coordinating efforts between Hawaii Life Flight, the state Department of Health, the (Hawaii) National Guard, the Coast Guard, the mayors, and medical facilities throughout the state, we helped to ensure that emergency transport was available for critically ill patients, especially those throughout our neighbor island communities. Together, we worked collaboratively and maintained emergency air medical transport,” Green said in a statement.
“I am so proud of the Hawaii National Guard’s professionalism and responsiveness while providing critical patient air transport support over an eight-day period.
The operations aligned with the state’s priority of saving lives and preventing human suffering,” Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara said in a statement.
The disaster emergency relief period for the emergency proclamation will continue through Tuesday, Jan. 10, unless terminated or superseded by a separate proclamation, whichever occurs first.