Jill Tokuda: “As you heard, across our country, we have strong leadership on rural health, much action to be taken, and many…”

“As you heard, across our country, we have strong leadership on rural health, much action to be taken, and many opportunities that we need to make sure that we seize. We have talked a lot about rural America, from California to Pennsylvania to North Carolina. I would like to bring us back to Hawaii now. It is the most isolated archipelago in the world, with the nearest landmass over 2,300 miles away. I can tell you, it is a long distance, given that I travel it pretty much every weekend, crossing that great, beautiful, blue Pacific Ocean. My district represents all the islands in Hawaii. On our neighboring islands, patients often have to fly to Oahu, our main island with Honolulu, to get emergency or even routine medical, dental, or mental health care. Many Oahu-based providers often spend their weekends, if they can even reach the availability of air transportation, traveling back and forth between our islands just to try to make sure our patients get the medication and services they need to survive. I know a lot of people are thinking we have telehealth now, so that should be no problem. Again, consider the remoteness of our islands and the remoteness of so many of our rural communities. Broadband speed and access are not equal everywhere across this great country and our territories.…”