A Hawaiian Air flight is arriving at Faleolo Airport in Samoa this morning with a medical mission from the Aloha State to provide assistance to Samoa with the measles epidemic.
Hawaii Lt Governor Josh Green, organized the mission which will be in Samoa for 48 hours.
Green, who’s an emergency medical room doctor, said 55 Hawaii nurses and 10 doctors made the trip to Samoa along with a support staff to deliver much-needed immunizations and health care.
And as soon as they landed, they will hit the ground running, administering vaccinations to children and adults.
“In addition to vaccinations they need intensive care support and outpatient support for kids who are very sick,” Green said, just minutes before the Hawaiian Airlines plane departed for Samoa.
“We’re bringing some of the best doctors from Hawaii. I called the Hawaii Health Corp. into the country and to humbly serve in whatever way they ask.”
The purpose of the trip is to vaccinate tens of thousands of people against the virus in a span of just 48 hours. It’s a multi-million-dollar effort paid for entirely by donations.
“This will obviously save tens of thousands of people from getting the measles and it will save hundreds of fatalities from occurring,” Green said, in a news conference on Tuesday.
“This is a demonstration of people pulling together.”
Green said the World Health Organization and the Samoan government want Hawaii’s team to focus on immunizing patients. The team will take 50,000 doses of the vaccine to Samoa.
“Two to seven people are passing away every day,” said Dr. Nadine Tenn Salle, Chief of Pediatrics at Queens Medical Center. “They’re in need of supplies, they’re in need of basic equipment. They’re having to choose which child will be on a ventilator, which children will get vaccinations, which will get the support that’s needed.”
A donated Hawaiian Airlines flight flew the team into Samoa early Wednesday morning and Fiji Airways has volunteered to fly them back late Friday evening.
Hawaiian Air Vice President for Corporate Affairs Ann Botticelli said the airline is not charging for the charter and noted that the flight is being supported by PAR Hawaii, which is donating part of the fuel for the mission.
She said, “Polynesia is our home. We have been keeping touch with the situation in Independent Samoa through our ‘ohana at our PPG station, and when the Lieutenant Governor called and asked us to be part of this effort we immediately began to see how we could assist.”
The pastor of Ole Ierusalema Fou, a Samoan church in Kalihi, says he and his congregation are constantly praying for their loved ones back home.
“Hearing that the lieutenant governor is going straight from here to Samoa is a plus for us,” said Tafale Fuiava.
For former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, the mission is personal.
“I am very effected by this. I have family in Samoa. And obviously I have been stricken with this and certainly this will go a long way towards bringing hope and putting us in a better path to recovery,” said Hannemann. “This will not be forgotten.”
