Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 5, 1 Mei 1993 — Ola kino o nā Hawaiʻi [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
Ola kino o nā Hawaiʻi
Ke Ola Mamo reaches out to O'ahu Hawaiians
by Deborah L. Ward Getting necessary heahh services to Hawaiians on O'ahu is the goal of Ke Ola Mamo, the native Hawaiian heahh care system established in 1991. Ke Ola Mamo offices are located in Kahuku, Wai'anae, Kalihi, Honolulu and 'Ewa Beach, and sites are now being explored in Waimānalo, Kāne'ohe or Kahalu'u (Ko'olauloa), Chinatown, Nānākuli and Papakōlea to help Hawaiian communities meet their health care needs. Executive director is Dexter Ke'ala Soares. Ko'olauloa project site community coordinator is Luana Beck, aided by Carol Anamizu, site coordinator and Adrianne Fernandez. Ko'olaupoko project site coordinator is MaryAnn Freudenberg. Urban Honolulu site coordinator is Maurice Naleimaile, aided by outreach worker Gladys Thomas. Administrative offices were recently moved to the grounds of Queen's Medical Center, where director Soares hopes to create links with the University of Hawai'i medical school, the American Cancer Institute, 'Imi Ho'ola pre-med program and Queen's Medical Center to provide program services for Hawaiians. Soares says the greatest needs are health education, disease prevention, case management and active outreach to help Hawaiians get needed health care. Soares also is looking to develop program links with Kahuku Hospital, St. Francis Medical Center, Castle Hospital and the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center as well as the
Queen Emma Clinic. With the latter's help, students at the UH medical, public heahh, social work and nursing schools have helped Ke Ola Mamo at eommunity heahh screenings as they gain practical experience in eul-turally-sensitive health services. Through their focus on eommunity outreach, Ke Ola Mamo staff have helped families with all types of medical conditions — including high blood pressure, pregnancy, diabetes, thyroid and other illness, otitis media in xhildren (an inflammation of the inner ear that if not treated could lead to infection or loss of hearing). Ke Ola Mamo aims to provide a system of culturally-competent services that maximizes rather than duplicates the existing heahh care service system on O'ahu. This means that, unlike some other island centers, there are no medical personnel on the Ke Ola Mamo staff. Rather, they help Hawaiians find doctors or
other medical care (including traditional Hawaiian healers), get insurance or other payment assistance, fill out forms, and mālama families and individuals with aloha to make sure they get proper attention. Ke Ola Mamo faces unique challenges in serving 0'ahu's Hawaiians, estimated at 148,198 in 1988 (according to OHA's Native Hawaiian Data Book), or approximately two-thirds of all Hawaiians in the state. They live in the Leeward, Windward, North Shore and Urban Honolulu districts, in at least 20 distinct eommunities and neighborhoods. Soares is also exploring ways to get health care to homeless Hawaiians. He has submitted a grant application to provide expanded services to the elderly,
including outreach, and help with home care, follow up, help with medical insurance and case monitoring. Ko'olauloa coordinator Luana Beck is developing a program to help high school students prevent diabetes through better nutrition. School heahh fairs have also been a key means to reach Hawaiian students and their families with health information. Ke Ola Mamo conducts free community heahh screenings with the state Department of Heakh for diabetes, high blood pressure, lung disease and eancer, conditions whieh affect Hawaiians in greater numbers than the general state population because Hawaiians tend not to seek care quickly. Ke Ola Mamo's newest addition will be a mobile van, whieh, in partnership with the Department of Heahh Office of Hawaiian Health, will visit isolated rural communities to provide heahh education and other services. Soares notes that all of these actions will lead to renewed heahh and empowerment of native Hawaiians, and from this, the heahh of the Hawaiian nation. He says, "Let us be sure we build a strong foundation for the 21st century." Funding for Ke Ola Mamo is provided through the federal Native Hawaiian Heahh Care Act, from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and other grants. The Native Hawaiian Heahh Care Act mandated the formation of a Native Hawaiian Heahh Care System on eaeh of the major islands, to be overseen by Papa
Ola Lōkahi, a board consisting of the representatives from the University of Hawai'i, Kamehameha Schools, Alu Like, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Heahh
Office of Hawaiian Heakh. Newly-appointed executive director of Papa Ola Lōkahi is Hardy Spoehr, who recently left the Kaho'olawe Island Conveyance Commission.
Ke Ola Mamo Project Sites Urban Honolulu Project Site/ Administrative office 1250 Lauhala StM Suite A1 14 Honolulu, Hawai'i 96813 Phone 537-7200 Ko'olauloa/Ko'olaupoko Project sites Kahuku Hospital, Plantation wing Kahuku, Hawai'i 96731 Phone 293-5414
ke ola mamo Ke Ola Mamo's logo, designed by Kauila Clark, represents the dawn of a new age for the health of Hawaiians. The design features a circle of aloha, healing lā'au (kalo, la'i, kukui and 'ulu), the darkness of pō and light of na'auao, surrounded by the ānuenue, symbol of the islands.
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Three of the eight Ke Ola Mamo staff (left to right): Dexter Soares, Carol Anamizu and Luana Beck.