#Kaiser Permanente Hawaii

Kaiser Permanente Hawaiʻi and STEMworks, a program of Maui Economic Development Board, are hosting Career Exploration Day on Saturday, April 26, for Maui County high school students.

Kaiser Permanente Hawaiʻi has awarded grants totaling $275,000 to three local nonprofits to help fund their support of vulnerable youth and families throughout Hawaiʻi. Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies received a $75,000 grant award, Boys & Girls Club of Hawaiʻi received $50,000, and Boys & Girls Clubs of Maui, Inc. received $150,000.

Kaiser Permanente Hawai’i opened a new Mom and Newborn Center on Maui, the first of its kind on the Valley Isle. Located at Kaiser Permanente’s Maui Lani Medical Office in Wailuku, the center embraces moms and newborns within 48 hours of being discharged from the hospital. The center adds the convenience of combining postpartum check-ups for both mom and baby in one visit, providing physical and emotional well-being assessments for mom, as well as weight and other health monitoring for baby. The lactation consultant who visits with mom and baby in the hospital will visit the couple again at the Mom and Newborn Center to provide continued support in the breastfeeding process.

Kaiser Permanente Hawai’i has added four new maternity care providers at the Wailuku Medical Office to ensure expectant families can continue to receive high quality care on-island. The new team members include obstetricians-gynecologists Jennifer Leeper, DO, and James Morong, MD, along with certified nurse-midwives Brooke Raidmae, CNM, and Carolyn Wetzel, CNM. 

O‘ahu’s Melanie Shim, MD, and Maui’s Felicitas Livaudais, MD, were both recognized for their outstanding volunteer activities that improve community health and wellness.

Kaiser Permanente Hawaiʻi announced the selection of its new president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals Hawaiʻi, Edmund “Ed” Chan. Chan’s roots in Hawaiʻi began early in his career. In 2000, after completing his Registered Dietitian training in Boston, he accepted a position as a clinical dietitian for Hale Makua Health Services in Kahului, Maui. Chan also took on roles at the Community Clinic of Maui and served as a consultant dietitian to Maui Youth & Family Services.

Kaiser Permanente will close its mobile health vehicle site at the Royal Lahaina Resort today, and move all equipment to the new modular Lahaina clinic, which will open its doors to serve Kaiser Permanente members on Thursday, March 28.

Kaiser Permanente is now offering the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine to members 60 years and older. The vaccines are available by appointment only and are covered like all routine vaccinations, typically at no cost to Kaiser Permanente members, according to the member’s plan coverage.

Three new physicians join Kaiser Permanente on Maui and Hawaiʻi Island including Hanaa al-Khansa Nik Rushdi, MD who joins the pediatric hospital medicine department at Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Kaiser Permanente Hawaiʻi announced the hire of four new doctors to its staff of more than 700 health care providers in the state, including one member who joins the team at Maui Memorial Medical Center in Wailuku.

The state Department of Health’s Maui District Health Office continues its response to the Maui wildfires. Through its Maui District Health Office and local partners, the Department provided updates on behavioral health services, emergency prescription assistance, unsafe water advisories, and the prevention of respiratory and vector-borne diseases.

Kaiser Permanente is moving its mobile health vehicle from its current location at Lahaina Gateway Center to Nāpili Park beginning Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. The decision to move the mobile health vehicle was driven by a higher demand from the community for medical services in the Nāpili area. 

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii welcomes three new physicians to its Kihei Clinic, Wailuku Medical Office and Kona Medical Office. Doctors Deidrie Jo Colter, Douglas Stevens, and Benjamin Tautges join the optometry and physiatry departments, and will serve Kaiser Permanente’s 266,000+ members in Hawaii.

Kaiser mental health therapists in Hawaiʻi voted overwhelmingly Saturday to ratify a new three-year contract, effectively ending a 172-day strike–the longest by mental health care workers in US history, according to union representatives.

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, about 100 volunteer physicians, providers, nurses, staff and their family members participated in the Kaiser Permanente Hawaiʻi Annual Day of Service at Paeloko Learning Center in Waiheʻe.

Matthew Teters, MD, and Zev Tovian, MD, join Kaiser Permanente Maui Lani in the family medicine and hospital medicine departments, respectively.

Striking psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses and chemical dependency counselors say the ratio of mental health care workers to patients is not enough, “resulting in dangerously long wait times that far exceed clinical standards.”

Ginger offers confidential, emotional support through on-demand coaching via text-based chats and skills-building content. Starting today, eligible Kaiser Permanente members can use their smartphone to connect with a highly trained emotional support coach 24/7 – at no cost and with no referral or appointment needed. The private, one-on-one texting sessions provide support for coping with common challenges such as managing stress or getting better sleep. 

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii named Monica Nickolas, RN BSN, MPH as the new director of clinic operations.

After being closed for more than a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaiser Permanente Hawaiʻi’s clinic in Kīhei will reopen April 4.