Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The House Health Committee hearing that unfolded last week Tuesday, began with reviewing the statuses of the Fiji nurses recruited last November where faipule learned that of the 21 nurses brought over, only 2 of the 5 nurses that took the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) passed, with the remaining 16 still getting ready to take the exam. It was further noted that the 3 who didn’t pass would be given the opportunity to take the exam again.

However, during the hearing, Mrs. Lele Ah Mu Mageo, who heads the ASCC Nursing Program, said no more resources should be poured into preparing the nurses who didn’t pass to re-sit the NCLEX and recommended that the recruiting effort concentrate on local students. (Read details of the situation with the Fiji nurses in the Friday, July 28, 2023 edition.)

Witnesses present for the committee hearing were the whole of the LBJ Board, including its chair Dr. Malomaua Tuiolosega, chairman of the LBJ J  Board, LBJ CEO Dr. Akapusi Ledua, Department of Health Deputy Director, Mr. Vesi Fautanu Tualaulelei, Clinical Service Director at the Department of Health, Mrs. Elizabeth Lauvao, Director of Nursing at the Department of Health Mrs. Margaret Sesepasara, and head of the ASCC Nursing Program Mrs. Mageo.

In the hearing, committee chair Faipule Manumaua Wayne C. Wilson and its members also heard about the Pasefika Project, and plans for upgrades to the current LBJ Hospital facility.

Samoa News notes that this new initiative called Project Pasefika, is a plan by the LBJ Board to collaborate with regional and local educational institutions, including the ASCC, to provide and establish comprehensive training programs and courses, and to also invest in the education and training of current employees and create new opportunities for local residents to enter healthcare professions.

The initiative also aims to address the critical shortage of nursing staff at LBJ, by streamlining higher education opportunities and facilitating the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination) preparation.

“Project Pasefika is a project introduced by the LBJ Board, and in February of this year, $300 million was granted from the ARPA [American Rescue Plan Act], and that $100 million is allocated for the new hospital project. The board then communicated with the Governor’s Office, in an effort to utilize this $100 million towards the [LBJ] hospital,” Dr. Tuiolosega told the committee.

 “Our goal is still the same, which is improving and developing our local hospital. There are five phases of the Project Pasefika, with phase one being completed, and now moving onto phase two,” he said, before giving the chance to LBJ CEO, Dr. Ledua to further elaborate on Project Pasefika.

“Of the $100 million that was allocated from ARPA to the LBJ we appropriated $60 million towards the building of the new facility [at the current LBJ location] and are in the planning process with the architectural company GLHN based in Phoenix, Arizona, and we are in the process of finalizing the design of the new Emergency Room, Intensive Care Unit, along with an MRI and CT scan room, with MRI and CT scan equipments included, together with the IT department and the expansion of the tele-health services,” started off the LBJ CEO.

 “Along with our plan to catering and accommodating the services that we currently have, with that $60 million, along with $40 million [balance of the $100Mil] designated to the Human Resources department in assisting with recruitment and the workforce development for the project.

“The new [addition to LBJ] hospital will be a two-story building, with the bottom floor housing the ER, therefore increasing the capacity of the new Emergency Room from the current sixteen beds to twenty-six beds,” Dr. Ledua explained.

 “The top floor of the new facility will be housing the Intensive Care Unit, with its capacity also increasing from seven beds to sixteen beds, along with the MRI room, IT department and the tele-health services”. Dr. Ledua also reported that renovations for two new Operating Rooms are currently underway, with the plans for these renovations started 20 years ago and are currently ongoing, with the hope of being completed by December of this year.

In addition, Dr. Ledua disclosed that completed projects are the newly built restroom for the ER waiting area, the new furniture, along with a new triage room completed two weeks ago, and a new physicians’ room that is serving as a waiting room in the ER.

 “From February of this year, we have opened the new Acute Care clinic, housed in the old Medical clinic, where patients that are not in critical condition are diverted, which is open from 4 PM to 10 PM in the weekdays, and 12 PM to 6 PM on the weekends, in order to help reduce the waiting time in the ER,” Dr. Ledua said, as he listed more completed projects.

Another project in the works is the improvement of the Dialysis Unit, which is still in “review”, along with a closed extension of the Dialysis Unit waiting area.

 “There are also other planned projects on the back-burner of the LBJ board’s priority, but fund allocations are non-existent, with these projects being a rehabilitation center, physical therapy and wellness center, patient care education, nutritional diabetes/ hypertension center, and non-communicable disease health education center, and we will be including that in our upcoming budget presentation,” he reported.

Another big project the LBJ Board plans on giving top priority to is a new training facility, to provide continuous training for workforce development, where they are able to receive certification, and to improve the education of patient care and outcome.

 “It is a project we have planned and in the last 3 weeks, we had a meeting with a university in Hawaii to form a partnership to train our nurses, in order to address the nurse shortage the territory is currently experiencing,” Dr. Ledua said.

 “We have tried to establish a quick solution to fix the nurse problem, while we wait for the development of the nursing program at ASCC, but we feel that with the current shortage of nurses, we needed to find a solution right away we cannot wait for two years to solve this problem, and so we have formed this partnership and are in the final stages of signing a memorandum of understanding with Chaminade University in Hawaii, that will provide us with the training and upgrading of our nurses’ skills and certification, and to also assist in attaining more nurses so that we don’t experience a nurse shortage again.”

Dr. Ledua further explained more plans to address the nursing shortage that will be coming in a few months.

Faipule Vailoata Eteuati Amituana’i asked Dr. Tuiolosega, if  the “$100 million of the granted funds from the Governor is enough for the hospital?”

Dr. Tuiolosega said that the “$100 million was not enough for the projects, but that $300 million would suffice.”

Dr. Tuiolosega went on to say that “in keeping in contact with companies overseas that are building these new healthcare facilities, they know that $100 million is not enough, and that they [the LBJ Board] are working in securing additional funds, and are seeking the help of different agencies and funds, such as the Helmsley Trust Fund, who have agreed to provide additional financial assistance and are currently working on a package for the LBJ Pasefika Project.”

Vailoata then acknowledged the Board’s proposal and cited that “the budget needed is immense,” but he can see that it’s a big plan but the sources of funding cannot meet their proposals. He went on further to say that “it seems like the Board is trying to do something, but your relationship with the Governor’s office is unsteady at best, and that everybody knows that the recommendation has been given to the Governor to not build a new hospital in Tafuna but to focus on LBJ and right now you guys are tugging at your lifeline to secure more funding.”

The faipule then asked Dr. Tuiolosega to address from where the money would come to purchase the equipment.

Dr. Tuiolosega revealed that “the Helmsley Trust Fund will be purchasing a new MRI machine, and they are currently working on a package that will include other parts of the MRI machine, along with a CT machine, because Helmsley was informed that they were short $20 million.”

Vailoata then inquired if they are planning to train our local nurses on how to operate the MRI machines.

Dr. Ledua said that “they received an acceptance letter from a university in Utah for two of their [LBJ] senior x-ray technicians to attend classes to attain their Masters of Science in Radiology, and after completing three semesters, and upon return are expected to train our local technicians to be certified in Radiology and be trained and certified as an MRI technician to provide service.” He added that they are anticipating that these services would be available in two years time.

Vailoata said that he asked because a lot of companies that are recruited from overseas usually come to install hospital machines and within a month of these companies leaving, these machines start breaking down and they would go back to looking for someone to come repair these machines and someone new to operate them.

BACKGROUND HELMSLEY TRUST FUND

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust is a global philanthropy committed to helping people live better lives and creating stronger, healthier futures for individuals and communities.

The Helmsley Charitable Trust partners with people and organizations across the globe to invest in new ideas or research across six program areas: Crohn’s Disease, Israel, Rural Healthcare, Type 1 Diabetes, Vulnerable Children in Sub-Saharan Africa, and New York City.

During their lifetimes, Harry and Leona Helmsley donated many millions of dollars to a wide range of causes, focusing primarily on health-related institutions and efforts. They left a tremendous philanthropic legacy, which paved the way for the Helmsley Charitable Trust today.

In 2008, The Helmsley Charitable Trust began its active grant-making after the passing of Leona Helmsley, who left nearly all of the Helmsleys’ estate to the Trust, giving its Trustees the responsibility to decide which charitable purposes to support. Since then, the Helmsley Trust Fund has grown from a start-up to a global philanthropy with an $8 billion endowment that works in partnership with organizations across the U.S. and select parts of the world.