Public health nursing services program

(a) There is established within the department of health a public health nursing services program. At the discretion of the director of health, the program may provide services, including but not limited to the following: (1) Mobilizing the department's nursing resources and responding to catastrophic and traumatic emergency events, including natural disasters and biologic outbreaks or exposures; (2) Responding to communicable disease, epidemic, and other public health disease outbreaks; (3) Providing care coordination services to the most vulnerable populations of special needs infants, toddlers, and children with complex medical conditions, including medically fragile children, as well as the elderly and other populations who have difficulty accessing the health care system; (4) Collaborating with the department of education and the Hawaii chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics in providing school health services to address the medical and health conditions of public school students that affect their learning; (5) Developing collaborative partnerships with individuals, families, communities, and providers to improve the health of families and communities through the assessment of community health needs, the setting of priorities, and policy development; (6) Collecting and evaluating data to determine family and community health needs for nursing and health service delivery changes to enhance the quality of life for families; and (7) Providing other health care related services as determined appropriate based on community health needs. (b) Provision of services by the public health nursing services program shall be limited by and subject to the availability of funds.