Wai'anae poor cut off by strike
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Registered nurse Virginia Hatfield counts herself as one of the bus strike's forgotten victims: not old enough to qualify for elderly services, not frail enough to ride the Handi-Van, but poor enough to be left largely stranded by the lingering labor dispute.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
And the Wai'anae Valley resident believes that many others in her community are having trouble getting to work, grocery shopping and the doctor.
Put out of work by a back injury, registered nurse Virginia Hatfield says it's a constant struggle to get to medical appointments in Honolulu without bus service. She fears many on the Leeward coast are in the same bind.
"I'm not alone," she said.
Hatfield stopped working last spring when a degenerative back condition put her in so much pain, she could no longer function as a nurse.
Normally, she rides the bus to town two or three times a week and sees the route crowded with the elderly, the ailing and the poor.
As the strike winds up its fourth week, "I don't know how those people are getting around," she said.
She worries that people she usually sees at the food bank aren't able to get there.
Hatfield herself is getting by with the help of friends and neighbors who share what they have. She called the city to try to get a ride to town, but the vans are fully subscribed and the city said it was taking no new reservations.
While the city is leasing more vans each week and assigning volunteers to drive various routes, Hatfield is among those saying the limited service isn't enough.
State social workers say the Leeward community has been hit hard by the bus strike. Carol Luna, a supervisor in the Wai'anae office of the state Department of Human Services, works with poor people who receive state assistance.
"It's a major problem for our clients. A lot of them can't get out of the area," Luna said. That means they're unable to get to work, school, medical appointments, job interviews, volunteer work, training and many crucial appointments that qualify them for checks and other government help.
City Councilman Mike Gabbard, who represents the area, said residents clearly rely on the city bus. "They want the buses back," he said. Yesterday he started driving a city shuttle van himself, trying to ease the shortage a little at a time.
Hatfield accepted an offer from a neighbor to drive her to Straub Clinic and Hospital yesterday for a specialized test, a spinoscopy. Without his kindness, she said, she probably would have had to cancel.
Hatfield, 56, moved to the Islands from New York City in 1993 after the World Trade Center bombing. She holds a master's degree in mental health nursing from Columbia University. She moved to the Leeward Coast last year, off Wai'anae Valley Road, because she can afford to rent a room in a house on her federal disability income of $418 a month. But her back has continued to trouble her, and she can no longer stand easily.
With the strike in its fourth week, Luna wonders what will happen if some of her clients lose their government help or have benefits cut because they haven't been able to fulfill the normal requirements.
Pat Murakami, an official with the state Department of Human Services, said the state would consider allowing some people to continue their benefits even if they don't get to all their appointments.
Murakami said officials are allowed to make exceptions on a case-by-case basis for good reasons, such as a bus strike.
"This is truly something beyond an individual's control," said Murakami, administrator of the department's benefit, employment and support services division.
Luna said the strike is disrupting the lives of so many, even those who are able to catch rides. She said some people are late to work; others are paying baby sitters more because it takes them longer to get around.
"It really can throw their budget out of whack," she said.
Hatfield said she worked in an extended-care facility until last year. Before that, she worked with special-needs children beginning in 1998.
"I've been unable to work since last spring," she said.
Her back problems mean she can't function in a hospital or clinic setting that would require quick thinking and physical reflexes. "In order to work as a nurse, you have to be on the ball," Hatfield said.
She wonders about people without telephones and others who might not have reached out to neighbors, friends or family. "You'll find these people when the strike is over," she said.
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
