Baptism by Fire

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Lindo and Schonely take over new roles

By Dan Murphy

“I’m very happy – it’s just the lifestyle and there’s no traffic. It’s a good place to be,” he said.

Molokai local Rick Schonely was also promoted and will take over Lindo’s vacated Fire Inspector position. Schonely, who served 22 years at the Pukoo Fire Station, said he is also enjoying his new role.

“I was on the line for many years fighting fires, doing medicals, rescues, etc. Now I’m out to pasture as you could say as an inspector and I love my job,” he said. “It lets me raise my son and sleep in my own bed every night.”

When Schonely is not fighting fires, he also plays in Molokai’s famous Six Pak band. He said that the rest of the band was happy to hear his schedule would be a bit more regular now.

As fire inspector, Schonely said his job is to help the community be as safe and prepared for a fire as possible. He hopes that during his time as inspector he can get the community to work with him to help fight fires.

“The community can be a firefighter too,” Schonely said. “We clean around our house, make sure our brush is down, practice an evacuation plan and all that kind of stuff. Everyone is on the front line of saving lives and keeping our property and our island safe.”

Lindo said he was confident that his replacement’s local background will allow him to do a good job in keeping the community safe.

 “I think he’s going to do great,” Lindo said. “What better person to do the job than someone who knows the people well and knows the island.”
Lindo and Schonely had to skip the honeymoon on their new promotions thanks to the late August fire, but both men passed the first test in their new positions with flying colors.

Patients’ Pilgrimage

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Kalaupapa patients to travel to Rome for Damien’s canonization.

By Dan Murphy

Thousands of people will flock to Vatican City on Oct. 11 for the once-in-a-lifetime experience of witnessing Father Damien’s canonization. None will deserve the unique view as much as the 11 Hansen’s disease patients who will make the trip all the way from Hawaii.

The traveling patients make up roughly half of the living Hansen’s disease patients and hail from both Kalaupapa and a care center in Honolulu. They will come together on Oct. 1 to start their journey to Damien’s canonization.

“Everybody here is very excited,” said Kalaupapa‘s youngest patient, Norbert Pealea. “It’s also symbolic because we were outcasts and we represent the thousands of people that died before.”

The two-week trip will start in Belgium, where the group will tour Tremelo, Damien’s hometown and the site of his museum. They will also go to St. Anthony’s Chapel in Louvain where Damien’s body is buried.

It’s Miller Time at Kalaupapa

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

New administrator sets goals for community.

By Dan Murphy

Retirement didn’t last long for Mark Miller. Two months after migrating south to Oahu, Miller decided the retired life wasn’t for him and took a job with the Hawaii’s Department of Health’s (DOH) Hansen’s disease program. Two years later, he is now the DOH’s administrator on Kalaupapa.

“I found that laying on the beach and golfing was really nice, but I was so used to being busy all the time that doing those things on the weekend was enough for me,” Miller said. “I came down to find this job that I really wasn’t looking for. It kind of found me; it was almost like a calling."

Miller moved to Hawaii after retiring from his post as Director of Tourism for the state of Alaska. He said leaving the frozen coast of Alaska for Hawaii’s sunny shores was a pleasant change of pace. During his first career, Miller learned the inner workings of the construction and transportation industries, which he said helped qualify him for the job at Kalaupapa. Miller was a rookie in the healthcare field and knew very little about Hansen’s disease before arriving in Hawaii. But he quickly fell in love with the place and people at Kalaupapa.

“I was here quite a bit, mostly for community meetings, and I really loved the place,” Miiller said. “It’s a place for serenity and thought.  There are still a lot of vital, incredibly interesting people.”
 
He spent the last two years traveling between DOH’s offices in Honolulu and Kalaupapa. Miller was a planner and worked to close a landfill and install a major generator upgrade at the healthcare center on the peninsula. He officially replaced long-time administrator Michael McCarten on Aug. 1.

Community Construction
In his first month, Kalaupapa’s new skipper has already taken steps to building a stronger community amongst the patients and 20-odd DOH employees that call the small peninsula home. Miller instituted bi-weekly volleyball matches that have become popular events for all, and has also tried to recognize workers for their hard work.

“They didn’t have a feeling of community here for a long time at this office and I think that I’ll be good at building that,” he said. Miller wants to make sure that his staff is all working together to provide the best care they can for the dozen patients that still remain in town.

Affordable airfare and emergency planning are the other items atop Miller’s to do list as he settles into his new job. Patients and employees currently have to pay almost $500 for the ten minute flight to Molokai’s topside. With regular doctor appointments on Oahu, those costs add up quickly and make it hard to afford the treatment patients need. Miller said he hopes that he will soon find a low cost solution with a regular air service.

He is also working to prepare all of Kalaupapa’s citizens for many worst case scenarios. Before taking over as administrator, Miller wrote the emergency plan for Kalaupapa and is doing his best to implement it now. He has trained locals to operate fire equipment and is trying to update EMT training for as many people as possible.

“One of my goals is to make sure that I am absolutely positive that if I am struck dead by lightning and a tsunami is coming, everybody here will do the right thing and save themselves,” he said.

As long as Miller can avoid the lightning and the DOH will keep him, he said he plans to stay at Kalaupapa for a long time.