When a bout of pneumonia put Robert Granger in the hospital on Moloka’i in December 2024, an emergency room doctor called for an air ambulance to send him to a better-equipped hospital in Honolulu.
For Granger, who had lived on Moloka’i for four decades, it was a well-worn 36-minute flight. Boarding an aircraft to see a doctor is a widely accepted way of life in rural Hawai’i.
Doctors at The Queen’s Medical Center on O’ahu treated his lung infection. But Granger’s health quickly deteriorated. When it became clear that the 84-year-old patient was likely to die soon, a nurse began the process of discharging him from the hospital to enroll in hospice care…