Director of Health Uto’ofili Asofaafetai Maga has been known to approve travel for DOH medical and dental professionals to the Manu’a Islands for the purpose of offering free services there.
In addition to the services offered during these trips, free medications are also handed out to the residents there to help alleviate the burden of having them pay for travel just to pick up some pills from the pharmacy at the LBJ Medical Center.
Last Thursday, DOH family nurse practitioner Tele Frost-Hill traveled to Ta’u where she was able to examine patients from other parts of the island including Aga’e and Fitiuta.
She will be heading out to Ofu and Olosega next Thursday.
“Everybody who came by had the chance to be seen,” she said. “Patients with different health conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, and general aches and pains were all served free of charge.”
Tele Frost-Hill is the one who introduced the first ever women’s health clinic in Manu’a earlier this year. This service has been a godsend for the women who live there, especially expectant mothers who, in prior years, have had to pay lots of money out of pocket to travel to the LBJ Medical Center to keep up with their prenatal appointments.
And while the free services are offered with a smile and received with gratitude and appreciation, it is the abundant supply of much needed medication, or lack thereof, that is becoming an issue.
“When these people are out of medication, it is hard for them to come up with enough money to travel here to get refills,” Frost-Hill said.
She added that the Dispensary has a supply of medication that is usually distributed to people by the nurse stationed there, but the supply on hand is not near enough to serve the entire population.
DOH officials say they have to work on a system where, when Frost-Hill travels to Manu’a, she can transport the prescribed medications with her.
“This is one way for us to ensure that the people there, especially the elderly, have access to medication all the time,” Frost-Hill said. “Sometimes those people go one to two weeks without any medication. That’s not good!”
Frost-Hill said that her superiors want to give the medications out for free but DOH does not have enough money to cover the associated costs.
DOH medical director Dr. Ivan Tuliau is currently trying to work on a system where, if a Manu’a resident cannot keep an appointment at the LBJ Medical Center, they can at least come up with some money to pay for their medication.
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