In Hawaii, “Ohana” refers to family. Since the wildfires broke out last week, our NEMT business (now known as Transdev’s Health Solutions team) has been doing all they can to help their extended Ohana – our clients, our Medicaid customers and the Hawaiian community we serve. They are truly living our purpose and serving the common good!
The morning of August 9this when our local team first learned of the wildfires in Hawaii, both on Maui and the Big Island. Immediately, they reached out to our Health Plan clients to see how they could assist. Within the hour, they were all on a conference call discussing ways Transdev could support the communities impacted. This included assisting with the coordination of transporting people to shelters, hotels, or a family member’s house outside of the fire zones. The team also worked on setting up food and meal delivery services.
Following the initial meeting with the Health Plan clients, the team immediately started reaching out to their subcontracted transportation providers, as well as other transportation providers on the island to coordinate services. During this time, the Clinical and Facilities team also reached out to all the dialysis centers to ensure members were still able to receive their life sustaining services.
Due to the number of deceased individuals who could not be identified and with the death toll climbing each day, the team also was asked to provide transportation to DNA testing centers. This additional service helps families get to those centers so they could be tested and notified directly when a family member was located.
In addition to wildfire relief, our teams are still coordinating regular transportation services in support of our members in need. This coordination is becoming increasingly challenging during this crisis, since now, the team is finding themselves competing with tourists who are looking for their own transportation and lodging options off the affected islands to escape the wildfire damage.
Stephanie Boschenreither, National Operations Director for our Transdev Health Solutions business commented that “it has been heart wrenching to see/hear about the devastation that is going on in Hawaii but, I couldn’t be more proud of our team and the support we can offer to the communities we serve each and every day.”
For those interested in helping people specifically affected by the Hawaii wildfires, you can select Hawaii Wildfires on redcross.org, or call 1-800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767), or text the word HAWAII to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
Background on our Transdev’s Health Solutions Operations in Hawaii
Transdev’s Hawaiian operations is based out of their office in O’ahu. Transdev provides NEMT services to support our various Health Plan clients and their Medicaid members across all the Hawaiian islands. Our transportation services and logistical work is critical in Hawaii as many of the smaller Hawaiian islands have only basic medical services. When our clients’ Medicaid members need specialty care, like high-risk pregnancy services, high level dental services etc., our team helps coordinate not only their flights to the bigger islands, but also their lodging, their meals etc. In some cases, the coordination can involve a full-day, overnight or week/multiple week services depending on the needs of the member.
