Oakland, Calif. – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will fund $4 million for a critical generator upgrade project for Kauai’s Wilcox Medical Center. The Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant will ensure that Kauai’s primary medical facility, Hawaii’s only Level III trauma center, is able to provide patients with life-saving power during and after disasters.
Two 30-year old, 500-kilowatt generators cannot be upgraded, and will be replaced with two 1,000 kilowatt-diesel generators with new fuel tanks, automatic transfer switches, and switch gear sets. This will increase the center’s power capacity and provide cost-effective, uninterrupted power to support both critical and routine hospital operations in the event of a disaster.
As an identified critical health and medical lifeline facility under Hawaii’s multi-hazard mitigation plan, the 72-bed hospital offers preventive care and emergency services to the island’s more than 72,000 residents and thousands of tourists each year.
The $12.3 million project will include $4 million from FEMA, with the balance paid by the Wilcox Medical Center.
FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program helps states, territories, federally-recognized tribes, local communities, and certain private, non-profit organizations become more resilient to potential infrastructure damage and reduce future disaster costs.
Lifelines is a National Response Framework construct for outcome-based stabilization efforts that enables the continuous operation of government and critical business functions that are essential to human health, safety, and economic security. The seven lifelines are: Safety and Security; Food, Water, and Sheltering; Health and Medical; Energy (Power & Fuel); Communications; Transportation; and Hazardous Material.
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