The Many Faces of Josh Green: Multi-Tasking is an Understatement for this Doctor-Senator

By Bob Hogue

It’s hard to believe that Josh Green sometimes gets criticized for working too hard—but he does.

Perhaps it might seem daunting to think that one person could hold down two full-time jobs on separate islands—as a doctor and a state legislator, and still find time to be a loyal family-man, open a free medical clinic, run a marathon, and even write a book of fiction.

But Green, the 38-year-old Big Island doctor recently elected to the Hawai‘i State Senate after serving two full-terms in the State House of Representatives, is as undaunted by the naysayers as he is about his tremendous workload.

“I’ve heard the criticism that no one can do justice to two full-time jobs, but I can handle it,” he says. “I work full-time as a legislator and I work full-time as a doctor, working 48 hours on weekends when the [legislature] is in session. I see a major nexus between being a doctor and being a legislator. All legislators should have second jobs; that gives them another perspective. Having that perspective is what the concept of being a citizen legislator is all about. I have a first-hand perspective [and] in my time in the legislature, I’ve only missed two days.”

Green is like the Energizer Bunny; he just keeps going and going.

“It’s a lot, but I’m very energetic,” he says. “I put so much into being a ‘Doc’; I have to give it my all every day. I feel the same way about serving in the legislature. I talk to so many people [in his doctor’s office or in the emergency room] and I hear their problems and want to help solve them. I recognize that it’s important that I give it my all in everything I do.”

It was that passion that got Green into politics in the first place.

After growing up near Pittsburgh, PA where he was an outstanding student and a high school tennis champion, the young graduate of Swarthmore and Penn State took advantage of a National Health Corps Scholarship and moved to one of the most remote places in the nation—Ka‘u on the Big Island—for his first professional job.

“It was a great experience,” he says of the four years he spent as the lone doctor at the Ka‘u Family Health Center in Na‘alehu. “I was the only doctor for nearly a thousand square miles. I took care of anything that walked in the door—everything from helping a child with a runny nose to diagnosing a brain tumor in an elderly person. I saw the whole gamut. It became easy to become a big part of the community.”

Green also saw things that changed his life forever.

“It was at the height of the ‘ice’ crisis and I saw a lot of drug issues. Twice I saw children die in the emergency room due to the violence brought on by the use of ‘ice’,” he says. “It made me angry, and I wanted to do something about it.”

So Green, who had recently moved from Ka‘u to Kailua-Kona, got into politics. In 2004, he ran for the State House seat representing the 6th District—North Kona, Keauhou and Kailua-Kona.

“I walked door-to-door wearing my [doctor] scrubs, and I got a great deal of positive response,” he recalls. “I think people reacted well to a doctor running for office.” Green won handily and was re-elected in 2006. This year, he ran for the 3rd District State Senate seat vacated by Republican Paul Whalen. Green, a Democrat, won the Senate seat by earning a landslide victory in the primary. He had no opponent in the general election. His new Senate district now extends from Kohala to Ka‘u, where, incredibly, he still finds time to work in both hospital emergency rooms.

In the Senate, just as he was in the State House, Green will be a strong advocate in the medical and health arena. He helped lead the fight for medical tort reform this past legislative session, and was angry that nothing got through the process.

“It’s disconcerting when the Judiciary Chair won’t even hear the bill,” he says. “Why couldn’t we even have a debate? Let’s get the issues out in the open and have a debate about it.”

Green is equally concerned about an impending doctor shortage on the Neighbor Islands. “We recently lost three orthopedists on the Big Island. We don’t even have one neurosurgeon on the Big Island,” he says. “Hawai‘i is the lowest of the 50 states in insurance reimbursement and the highest in costs. We’re losing doctors to California, New York, Utah, Texas, and elsewhere—something has to be done about it.”

Toward that end, Green has introduced a “5-Point Plan” that he believes will make a big difference. The plan includes health insurance reform and medical malpractice insurance reform, creating a Hawai‘i Health Corps to bring doctors to under-populated areas, investing in medical education, and building bridges between health care cooperatives and private-public partnerships.

“I’m driven day to day,” he says. “I want everyone treated fairly. That’s what drives me—I’ve always been that way. Even when I was a kid, I was like that. When I see someone abusing themselves or not getting health care, I get mad. I want to do something.”

About the often-frustrating legislative process, he says, “It’s not about the pay. I like the fight.” He also believes strongly in expanding Hawai‘i’s educational opportunities, working on energy issues, and improving Big Island roads and highways.

In addition, Green finds time for other activities, including being with his wife Jaime, and his two-year-old daughter Maia. He’s run a marathon and he works as an emergency doctor each year for the Ironman Triathlon. He’s even written a book—a collection of short stories called “The Idea Man”. “It’s a collection of stories tied together about two boys who become men, from the ages of 5 to 90,” he said. “I started writing it when I was a Resident [physician] in Pennsylvania, and I continue to write. It’s an eccentric story, very whimsical. I find it incredibly satisfying and a creative outlet to balance the problems I see.”

Although the stories are not autobiographical, it would be easy to call Josh Green “The Idea Man”, too. You can also call him Doctor, Senator, Author, Athlete, Husband, and Father— all titles apply to one of the hardest-working people on the Big Island. ❖