A year after an emergency heart transplant, Puna pastor Alan Tamashiro returned to Hilo to thank the medical team involved in his rescue. Hawaii News Now reported that Tamashiro, 67, reunited with the team at Hilo Benioff Medical Center on Nov. 10.
The care described in the station’s report stretched from Hilo to Maui and then California. After doctors diagnosed Tamashiro with congestive heart failure in 2025, he collapsed in September and was taken to Hilo, where doctors placed a heart pump. He was transferred to Maui Memorial Medical Center for a larger pump, then flown to USC in California for an emergency transplant. The report identifies Dr. Michael Firstenberg, a Maui Memorial cardiothoracic surgeon, as the doctor who provided the pump that helped keep Tamashiro alive until the transplant.
A wider transport picture
Tamashiro’s transfers took place amid a broader rise in air-medical transport in Hawaiʻi. The state Department of Health’s Aeromedical Services Working Group reported that statewide air-medical transport volume has increased since 2020, averaging more than 500 additional transports a year compared with pre-2020 levels. That statewide measure does not describe Tamashiro’s transfers specifically, but it provides context for the role air transport plays in care across the islands.
The transplant was also part of a procedure performed at record levels nationally. The OPTN/SRTR 2024 Annual Data Report counted 4,636 heart transplants in the United States that year, an 81.5% increase from 2013. Those figures describe national activity, not the decisions or circumstances in Tamashiro’s case.
At the Hilo reunion, Tamashiro’s wife, Marlene, credited the team with continuing to work on his behalf, according to Hawaii News Now. Tamashiro said he still has kidney issues and low red blood cells. His return to Hilo was a chance to thank the people who helped him reach a transplant, while his recovery continues.
