Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 35, Number 11, 1 Nowemapa 2018 — Health sovereignty for lāhui [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Health sovereignty for lāhui

Guest columist Franco Acquaro, Ph.D., associate director ofKīpuka o ke Ola, eontributed this pieee.

t is a real honor to write this brief introduction on the work and person of Dr. Claren Ku'ulei Kealoha-Beaudet. She is a Native Hawaiian leader in the field of healthcare on Moku o Keawe and is the founder and executive Director of Kīpuka o ke Ola (KOKO) - Native Hawaiian Rural Heahh Clinic in Kamuela. She is also one of the elinieal psychologist direct service providers on the treatment team at KOKO. She manages to be beautifully simple and complex (in the best

sense of both words ) at the same time - and in in the end she impresses all who eome to know her as passionate, persistent and purposeful. d( Dr. Kealoha-Beaudet was born and raised on Kukuiau Ranch on the slopes of Mauna P; Kea to Paul (paniolo) and Clara Kealoha

(eook). She was the youngest of five ehildren with older siblings Dorian Chai, Keala LeeLoy, Paul Kealoha Jr. and Perry Kealoha. The Kealoha family eventually moved to Honoka'a town where Dr. Kealo-ha-Beaudet graduated from Honoka'a High School. Education was highly valued by the Kealohas and she would go on receive a secondary teacher certification from the University of Hawai'i-Hilo, a master of arts degree in sys-

temic family therapy from American School of Professional Psychology, and a doctoral degree in elinieal psychology from Argosy University (as a Native Hawaiian Heahh Scholar recipient). Later she built a home on her family 's Hawaiian Homestead Ranch along with her husband Brandi Beaudet and together they raise their two teenage sons: Keawemauhili and Kamauokealoha. Some seven years ago the Waimea Hawaiian Homesteaders Association conducted a community needs assessment whieh identified the need for a Native Hawaiian heahh elinie in North Hawai'i - one that understood and could address the significant and dire heahh needs of lāhui within a cultur-

ally fluent framework. Dr. Kealoha-Beaudet immediately accepted this kuleana and whh her passion, persistence and

purposefulness set out to fulfill the vision of a Native Hawaiian people with heahh parity to the non-Native Hawaiian community. She inspired a team of eommunity leaders and healthcare service providers - who believed in the mission and believed in her uniquely qualified leadership capacity - to get into the lo'i alongside her and move the vision toward reality. Now, in just a few short years, Kīpuka o ke Ola (KOKO) has gone from a concept to achiev-

ng: • a 501c3 non-profit organization status • a federal accreditation as an Indepenlent Rural Heahh Clinic • an "exemplary provider" status as a Litient Centered Medical Home program • a fullv blended interdisciplinary heahh

team with primary care, pediatric care, psychiatric care, psychological care and elinieal case management • an ADA-compliant state of the art heahhcare facility with culturally competent and culturally fluent staff • an organization that will later transition to the Waimea Hui Project - the large scale community collaboration for advancing Native Hawaiian well-

being in North Hawai'i Veena Das (1990) onee wrote, "defin(ing) heahh so that instead of becoming a measure of the normal and the pathological, a means by whieh power may be exercised upon the one who declares that he is in pain, h becomes a means for the practices of freedom." Dr. Kealoha- Beaudet too believes that the heahh and well-being of the lāhui is a fundamental and foundational pieee of lasting sovereignty and so she has committed her life to securing the heahh sovereignty for lāhui. Her passion, persistence and purpose assures the success for this project. ■

Robert K. Lindsey, Jr. TrustEE, Hawai'i

Dr. Claren Ku'ulei Kealoha-BeaudeL - Photo: Courtesy