I have a family member that works at Maui Memorial Medical Center. For the last six weeks or more, she has shared with me how scared the staff there felt because of the lack of protective measures being provided.

Maui Health System administration had complete disregard for the safety of those on the front lines. They were not being supplied the PPE needed and were ordered that they couldn’t use their homemade masks!

Sadly, this comes as no surprise; profit over the well-being of their workers began at the onset of the takeover by Kaiser.

CEO Mike Rembis needs to step down, and whoever else chose to put profit over the health of others on our island. A good leader is judged on the welfare of those whom he leads. In this situation it has been nothing short of a tragic travesty.

We are people of Hawaii, the very culture that embraces the aloha spirit. Hawaii doesn’t need corporations to come here to make their “killing.” There are more important things than money: ohana, community, culture and the spirit of aloha.

Let’s give a clear message to those who see our beautiful islands as a commodity to further enrich themselves, to buy their second and third homes, while Hawaiians can’t afford to live on the aina which they were birthed.

You are either part of the solution or part of the problem. This kind of greed has created the environment we are in today. Be the change you want, stand up and say, enough already!

Elinor Meadows

Kula