by Ronna Sweeney, KUAM News Tuesday, May 06, 2008 E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

It was a close call for two patients from Guam receiving medical care in Los Angeles today as ground transportation to get them to the airport coordinated through the Guam Medical Referral Office almost was a no show. Imagine, if you can, that you're ill, maybe with cancer and in the huge city of L.A. to receive treatment. You're awaiting transportation to or from the airport, or maybe you need to get to a medical appointment, but your ride never shows up.

That scenario almost happened to two Guam patients today. On Friday, vans being leased to provide ground transportation had been returned to the owners, who were leasing their vans to the Government of Guam, leaving patients with no ride to be found. Guam Medical Referral Office director Peter Alexcis Ada explained, telling KUAM News, "What's going on here is we're doing a transition doing a government operation to outsourcing and on the 31st of April the people that we were leasing a vehicle from had taken back its vehicles and now the new operators, once the governor signs the official contract they will take over the entire operation."

Even though Governor Felix Camacho has yet to sign the contract, Ada says as of earlier today the vans are back in full operation. And thankfully he adds no patients had any scheduled appointments and there were no arrivals or departures over the weekend. "There was a hamper of two patients only out of Los Angeles, but that matter was immediately taken care of as of this morning," he noted.

Currently around 21 patients from Guam are in L.A. receiving treatment from an array of facilities like the UCLA Medical Center, Saint Johns Health Center and the Good Samaritan Hospital. And those patients rely on the transportation provided through the Guam Medical Referral Office.

Ada notes that though things have been worked out for the time being, they're still behind in making lease payments for the vehicles. He said, "We're not going to deny that. We are behind. That's because we're dependent on cash flow, but as soon as we get the money we dish it out as quickly as we can. So we're not going to deny that. We are behind, but at the same time we stand committed to make sure the patients are taken care of."