[Senate Hearing 106-409]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 106-409
FEDERALLY FUNDED NATIVE HAWAIIAN PROGRAMS
=======================================================================
HEARING
before a
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
SPECIAL HEARING
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
61-420cc WASHINGTON : 2000
_______________________________________________________________________
For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402
ISBN 0-16-060331-5
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
TED STEVENS, Alaska, Chairman
THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia
ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii
PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina
CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont
SLADE GORTON, Washington FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey
MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky TOM HARKIN, Iowa
CONRAD BURNS, Montana BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland
RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama HARRY REID, Nevada
JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire HERB KOHL, Wisconsin
ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah PATTY MURRAY, Washington
BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota
LARRY CRAIG, Idaho DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California
KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois
JON KYL, Arizona
Steven J. Cortese, Staff Director
Lisa Sutherland, Deputy Staff Director
James H. English, Minority Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies
ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman
THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi TOM HARKIN, Iowa
SLADE GORTON, Washington ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina
JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii
LARRY CRAIG, Idaho HARRY REID, Nevada
KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas HERB KOHL, Wisconsin
TED STEVENS, Alaska PATTY MURRAY, Washington
JON KYL, Arizona DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California
ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia
(ex officio)
Professional Staff
Bettilou Taylor
Mary Dietrich
Jim Sourwine
Aura Dunn
Ellen Murray (Minority)
Administrative Support
Kevin Johnson
Carole Geagley (Minority)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Opening statement of Senator Daniel K. Inouye.................... 1
Statement of Paul LeMahieu, Superintendent of Education, Hawaii
Department of Education........................................ 2
Prepared statement of Paul LeMahieu.............................. 5
Statement of Dr. Bruce S. Anderson, Director, Department of
Health, State of Hawaii........................................ 7
Prepared statement of Dr. Bruce S. Anderson...................... 9
Statement of Lorraine Akiba, Director, Department of Labor and
Industrial Relations, State of Hawaii.......................... 10
Prepared statement of Lorraine Akiba............................. 14
Statement of Rowena Akana, Chair, Board of Trustees, Office of
Hawaiian Affairs, State of Hawaii.............................. 17
Prepared statement of Rowena Akana............................... 21
Housing bill..................................................... 22
Health bill...................................................... 22
Education bill................................................... 23
Opening statement of Senator Daniel K. Akaka..................... 23
Opening statement of Representative Patsy Mink................... 24
Letter from Lorraine Akiba....................................... 25
Unemployed welfare recipients.................................... 32
Letter from Rowena Akana......................................... 32
Child abuse and neglect.......................................... 33
Statement of Myron Thompson, Chairman, Board of Directors, Papa
Ola Lokahi..................................................... 36
Prepared statement of Myron Thompson............................. 38
Statement of Herb Campos, Papa Ola Lokahi........................ 40
Prepared statement of Herb Campos................................ 43
Hawaii not the health State for Native Hawaiians................. 43
Native Hawaiians search for health funding parity with other
Native Americans............................................... 44
The Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems.......................... 44
Papa Ola Lokahi.................................................. 45
Reauthorization of the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement
Act............................................................ 45
Our future challenge............................................. 45
Statement of JoAnn Tsark, Papa Ola Lokahi........................ 45
Prepared statement of JoAnn Tsark................................ 48
Native Hawaiian heart health initiative.......................... 49
Native Hawaiian Cancer Awareness Research and Training Center.... 49
Statement of Naleen N. Andrade, M.D. Professor and Chair,
Department of Psychiatry, John A. Burns School of Medicine..... 50
Prepared statement of Naleen N. Andrade.......................... 56
A brief history of events........................................ 56
Significance..................................................... 57
The Hawaii high schools health study............................. 57
Specific outcomes................................................ 57
Statement of Dr. Chiyome L. Fukino, E Ola Mau.................... 58
Prepared statement of Dr. Chiyome L. Fukino...................... 60
Statement of Beth Giesting, Executive Director, Hawaii State
Primary Care Association....................................... 61
Prepared statement of Beth Giesting.............................. 63
Statement of Dr. Sita Nissanka, Director, Native Hawaiian Health
Scholarship Program, Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate.......... 74
Prepared statement of Dr. Sita Nissanka.......................... 75
Program description.............................................. 76
Statement of Dr. Michelle Suber, resident, North Hawaii Community
Hospital....................................................... 76
Prepared statement of Dr. Michelle Suber......................... 78
The practice of naturopathic medicine as it relates to Native
Hawaiians...................................................... 78
Statement of Henry Auwae, Kupuna La'au Lapa'au O Hawaii.......... 79
Prepared statement of ``Papa'' Henry Auwae....................... 80
Statement of Stanley Kiope Raymond, Chair, Native Hawaiian
Education Council.............................................. 87
Prepared statement of Stanley Kiope Raymond...................... 88
Statement of Thomas Kamuela Chun, Director, University of Hawaii
Community College.............................................. 89
Statement of S. Nani Espinda, Director, Native Hawaiian Higher
Education Program Ksbe......................................... 91
Prepared statement of S. Nani Espinda............................ 94
Program accomplishment........................................... 95
Counseling support services...................................... 95
Program impact/outcomes: student achievement..................... 95
Community service................................................ 96
Statement of Dr. David K. Sing, Director Na Pua No'Eau........... 98
Prepared statement of Dr. David K. Sing.......................... 101
Statement of Namaka Rawlins, Director, Family-Based Aha Punana
Leo............................................................ 110
Prepared statement of Namaka Rawlins............................. 113
Native Hawaiian health, education and employment................. 113
Statement of Jean Evans, M.P.H., Project Administrator, Pulama I
Na
Keiki.......................................................... 116
Prepared statement of Jean Evans................................. 117
Needs............................................................ 117
Education goals.................................................. 119
Program description.............................................. 119
Current Pulama I Na Keiki sites.................................. 120
Investment in prevention......................................... 120
Future direction................................................. 121
Statement of Iwalani Else, Assistant Program Director, Native
Hawaiian Center of Excellence.................................. 122
Prepared statement of Iwalani Else............................... 124
Recruitment...................................................... 124
Retention........................................................ 124
Faculty development.............................................. 124
Curriculum development........................................... 125
Research......................................................... 125
Statement of Maggie Hanohano, Project Coordinator, Pihana Na Mamo 127
Prepared statement of Maryann Nakama............................. 128
Statement of Janice G.K. Yoneda, Principal, Haleiwa Elementary
School......................................................... 128
Prepared statement of Janice G.K. Yoneda......................... 130
Statement of Cathy Liliaokalani Kasparovitch Arnold.............. 131
Statement of Maryann Nakama...................................... 131
Statement of Tara Lualani McKenzie, President and Chief Executive
Officer, Alu Like, Inc......................................... 133
Prepared statement of Tara Lulani McKenzie....................... 136
Statement of Patrick Duarte, Executive Vice President, Bernice
Pauahi Bishop Museum........................................... 137
Prepared statement of Patrick Duarte............................. 139
Prepared statement of Leona M. Atcherley, Task Force Coordinator
for Ka na Ha................................................... 143
Prepared statement of Kawaikapuokalani Hewett, Cultural Health/
Education Specialist, Waimanalo Health Center.................. 144
Prepared statement of Chiyome Leinaala Fukino, M.D., President, E
Ola Mau........................................................ 148
Prepared statement of Dr. Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, Director,
Center for Hawaiian Studies.................................... 149
Prepared statement of Pihana Na Mamo: The Native Hawaiian Special
Education Project, Office of Accountability and School
Instructional Support/Special Education Section, Hawaii
Department of Education........................................ 151
Prepared statement of Joyce S. Tsunoda, Sr., Vice President for
the University of Hawaii, Chancellor for the Community Colleges 152
FEDERALLY FUNDED NATIVE HAWAIIAN PROGRAMS
----------
MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 1999
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, and Education, and Related Agencies,
Committee on Appropriations,
Honolulu, HI.
The subcommittee met at 8:30 a.m., in the 4th floor
courtroom, U.S. Courthouse, Aha Kupono, 300 Ala Moana
Boulevard, Honolulu, HI, Hon. Daniel K. Inouye presiding.
Present: Senator Inouye.
Also present: Senator Akaka and Representative Mink.
opening statement of senator daniel k. inouye
Senator Inouye. Good morning. Pursuant to the authority
granted by the chairman of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health
and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies of the U.S.
Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Hon. Arlen Specter, we
gather this morning to receive testimony on health, education
and employment and training programs serving the native people
of Hawaii.
Chairman Specter will not be able to be with us today.
However, he has called upon me to assume the responsibilities
of the Chair of this hearing.
Joining me this morning will be other members of the Hawaii
Congressional delegation, Senator Akaka and Representative
Patsy Mink. I'm also privileged to have with me assisting me
this morning is Dr. Jack Chow professional staff member of the
subcommittee on Labor Health and Human Service and Dr. Patricia
Zell the Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
On July 28, 1999 the U.S. Government filed a friend of the
court brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Rice v. Cayetano.
The brief establishes the official legal position of the United
States, namely that Native Hawaiians are the same status as
other native people of the United States and that there is a
Federal trust responsibility for Native Hawaiians.
There are 166 Federal laws that have been enacted to
address the conditions of the native people of Hawaii. Today
this hearing will focus on the programs administered under the
authority of the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act,
the Native Hawaiian Education Act as well as employment and
training programs serving Native Hawaiians.
We have a full witness list today. And accordingly, the
committee has called upon all witnesses to limit their oral
testimony to 5 minutes so that there might be time for
questions and answers. We do this reluctantly, but most
respectfully, because there are 27 witnesses. And we have to
conclude that this morning.
If you have not received an invitation from the committee
to present testimony today, please submit a written testimony
to the committee and I can assure you that it will be included
in the hearing record in full.
The hearing record will remain kept open to receive written
testimony for 2 additional weeks. And may I assure all
witnesses appearing today that their full statement will be
made part of the record in full.
Our first panel consists of the superintendent of the
Department of Education of the State of Hawaii, Dr. Paul
LeMahieu; the director of the Department of Health of the State
of Hawaii, Dr. Bruce S. Anderson; the director of the
Department of Labor and Industrial Relations of the State of
Hawaii, Ms. Lorraine Akiba. Later we will add to the panel the
chair of the board of trustees of the Office of Hawaiian
Affairs of the State of Hawaii, Ms. Rowena Akana.
Will the panel take their places. May I now call upon the
superintendent of education.
STATEMENT OF PAUL LE MAHIEU, SUPERINTENDENT OF
EDUCATION, HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Dr. LeMahieu. Thank you, sir. Aloha and good morning,
Senator Inouye. And aloha also to the members and staff of the
Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor
Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, as
well as colleagues and guests.
I am Paul LeMahieu, superintendent of education for the
Hawaii Department of Education. I welcome this opportunity to
present testimony before your subcommittee on matters relating
to Native Hawaiian education.
I'm honored to speak to you on behalf of the Hawaii
Department of Education whose legacies and responsibilities in
the education of Native Hawaiians are extensive, and both
distinguished as well as challenged.
As the superintendent of education I govern Lahainaluna
School, founded in 1831 to educate Native Hawaiians. It is
regarded by some as the oldest west of the Rockies and by other
sources as the oldest school west of the Mississippi.
On its grounds stands historical Hale Pa'i, the old
printing house where many of Hawaii's first school textbooks
were translated and published in Hawaiian.
It is the school that educated notable Hawaiian scholars
such as David Malo and Samuel Kamakau. Historical reports from
that era comment on the boundless potential and the high
literacy among Native Hawaiian peoples.
The successes experienced by these early schools in the
education of Native Hawaiians had a profound impact upon
General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, founder and first principal
of the Hampton Institute in Hampton, VA.
Born and raised in Hawaii, he was the son of Dr. Richard
Armstrong, minister of public instruction under King Kamehameha
IV. General Armstrong's convictions to provide educational
opportunities for youngsters of African American and Native
American backgrounds were shaped by his Hawaii experiences and
the accomplishments of Hawaiian youth.
Upon his death in 1893 Samuel Armstrong was laid to rest in
the grounds of Hampton Institute. At the head of his grave is a
large lava rock from his beloved island home.
That a tiny kingdom in one of the most geographically
isolated spot in the world would contribute so greatly to
American educational history and to the advancement of
education of African-American and Native American peoples at a
time where such practices were questioned and controversial is
a heritage that both humble and inspire us all.
The Hawaii Department of Education is the largest provider
of educational services to Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian children
and youth. We currently serve 46,141 students of Hawaiian
ancestry.
As a group, our students of Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian
ancestry comprise 25.7 percent of our school population, the
largest ethnic group within the Department.
The 1993 Native Hawaiian Education Assessment correctly
stated that in order for the State to positively influence the
educational status of the whole of Hawaii's students, we would
need to positively impact the educational status of its
Hawaiian students in particular. To do otherwise would not just
be statistically impossible but would be morally repugnant.
The challenges faced by Hawaii Department of Education in
serving our students of Hawaiian ancestry are many. While our
Hawaiian students comprise 25.7 percent of the overall student
population, they comprise 35 percent of our students in special
education programming.
In the area of specific learning disabilities 3,885 of the
9,872 students, or nearly 40 percent, are students of Hawaiian
and part-Hawaiian ancestry. For the past 9 years the Hawaii
Department of Education has been the recipient of funds from
Native Hawaiian Special Education Initiative, Pihana Na Mamo,
or the Native Hawaiian Special Education project.
It has implemented three major initiatives to meet the
needs of its special education Hawaiian students and their
families. These include programs in the areas of beginning
reading, behavioral support and family and community
partnerships.
We have initiated an intensive beginning reading program
called Heluhelu. The U.S. Department of Education estimates
that 80 percent of students labeled as having a learning
disability are those experiencing reading difficulties first
and foremost.
We have found this to be the case in Hawaii with large
numbers of our Hawaiian special education students being those
with problems in the areas of reading.
Additionally, our schools serve larger percentages of part-
Hawaiian and Hawaiian students have experienced significant
challenges and demonstrating acceptable reading achievement.
Heluhelu is being implemented in 21 school sites with the
project supporting intensive in-service training, ongoing
observation and consultations of children's reading and data-
keeping on reading skills and the development of students.
Pihana Na Mamo also has 16 project sites implementing
Hi'ilani, a positive behavior support program that assists
schools in implementing schoolwide proactive behavioral support
initiatives.
For the past 4 years these schools have sustained a school
team comprising of teachers, administrators, parents and other
support staff who regularly address and implement solutions to
the behavioral concerns in a preventive and proactive manner.
This initiative is maintained in partnership with a strong
research team. The results are strong and positive in terms of
improvements on observable behavioral indicators.
At over 18 school sites, Pihana Na Mamo supports 18 parent
involvers who assist schools in fostering parent, school and
community partnerships. Among their numerous tasks these parent
involvers have assisted our parents at IEP meetings, arranging
for workshops on child development and learning and developing
community partnerships as well.
While Hawaii Department of Education receives a relatively
low proportion of the Federal funding for Native Hawaiian
education programs, our students benefit from strong
partnerships with other agencies serving Hawaiian youth as
well.
I've had an opportunity since my arrival last September to
inspect almost all of them. I find them to be strong, effective
contributors to the educational program offered to our youth.
For over a decade the Department has operated Hawaiian
Language Immersion programs. We currently serve 1560 students
at 16 school sites in grades K through 12. The Department
employs 90 language immersion teachers.
Since my arrival I found these programs to be woefully
undersupported even as the interest in and demand for them
increases. As an educator I find them to be of considerable
potential for two reasons.
First, there is a moral imperative to promote the well-
being of the culture of this place. That is the case for any
education system anywhere, though it may be discharged in more
subtle ways elsewhere.
Second, as an educator, we must also be opportunists.
Whatever builds a bridge between us and our students, whatever
can be used to good effect to engage them in the learning that
we all advocate should be seized upon and used to do so.
I've seen time and again that the culture and history of
this place are sources of pride and interest for our young
people. We should use them to engage students in the learning
that we all seek.
At present a majority of the language immersion teachers
are now certified, though we face shortages precipitated by
program expansion. There are also continuing needs for pre-
service and in-service teacher training for a cadre of
relatively new and young teachers.
In addition, the necessity for ongoing curriculum
development and materials for our immersion programs remains a
constant and critical need.
In very few other areas would we ask a few educators in a
school to invent or develop all of what the education
enterprise requires, and to do so alone and in isolation. Yet
we do this to our HILP staffs.
I strongly support such program providing that it is in
addition to our standards and, therefore, increases not
diminishes our aspirations and expectations for our children
and the system that serves them.
My remarks here are intended to identify four critical
needs that I think increased support is required for Native
Hawaiian children.
First, reading and literacy development especially at the
earliest grades.
Second, family literacy, involvement and support.
Third, positive behavioral development.
Fourth, language development including immersion programs.
I personally would add more extensive education for all in
the traditional culture and history of Hawaii, though it falls
outside the purpose of the funding that we discuss here today.
We must face the fact that despite many good efforts about
which you will hear today, the academic performance of our
Native Hawaiian students lags behind their counterparts in
essentially all areas.
There's no necessary or acceptable reason for this. Its
causes are based in the debilitating impacts of diminished
opportunity. Those impacts can be remediated through effective
programing and adequate support.
As we embark upon our journey to implement standards-based
education and the realization of the achievement of high
standards by all students, the Department of Education urges
continued support of Native Hawaiian students from the Federal
Government.
The challenges in meeting their needs are many. I've often
stated that one of the reasons for my accepting the position of
Superintendent of Education in Hawaii has been that this is a
place that has the right values.
prepared statement
In the face of myriad competing economic, political and
social needs it is the absolute and high value that our Native
Hawaiian people have placed on and continue to place on
education that promises a hopeful future. Thank you.
Senator Inouye. I thank you very much, Dr. LeMahieu.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Paul LeMahieu
Good morning, Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka, Representative Mink,
Representative Abercrombie, members and staff of the Senate Committee
on Appropriations' Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services,
Education and Related Agencies, colleagues and guests.
I am Paul LeMahieu, Ph.D., Superintendent of the Hawaii Department
of Education. I welcome this opportunity to present testimony before
your Subcommittee on matters relating to Native Hawaiian education. I
am honored to speak on behalf of the Hawaii Department of Education
whose legacy and responsibilities in the education of Native Hawaiians
are extensive, and both distinguished and challenged.
As the Superintendent of Education, I govern Lahainaluna School,
founded in 1831 to educate Native Hawaiians. It is regarded by some as
the oldest school west of the Rockies, and by other sources, the oldest
school west of the Mississippi. On its grounds stands historical Hale
Pa'i, the old printing house where many of Hawaii's first school
textbooks were translated and published in Hawaiian. It is the school
that educated notable Hawaiian scholars such as David Malo and Samuel
Kamakau. Historical reports from that era comment on the high literacy
among the Native Hawaiian people.
The successes experienced by these early schools in the education
of Native Hawaiians had a profound impact upon General Samuel Chapman
Armstrong, the founder and first principal of Hampton Institute, in
Hampton, Virginia. Born and raised in Hawaii, he was the son of Dr.
Richard Armstrong, the Minister of Public Instruction under King
Kamehameha IV. General Armstrong's convictions to provide educational
opportunities for youngsters of African-American and Native American
backgrounds were shaped by his Hawaii experiences and the
accomplishments of Hawaiian youth. Upon his death in 1893, Samuel
Armstrong was laid to rest on the grounds of Hampton Institute, at the
head of his grave a large lava rock from his beloved island home.
That a tiny kingdom in possibly the most isolated spot in the world
would contribute so greatly to American education history and to the
advancement of education for African-American and Native American
people at a time where such practices were questioned and controversial
is a heritage that both humbles and inspires me.
The Hawaii Department of Education is the largest provider of
educational services to Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian children and youth.
We currently serve 46,141 students of Hawaiian ancestry. As a group,
our students of Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian ancestry comprise 25.7
percent of our school population, the largest ethnic group within our
Department of Education. The 1993 Native Hawaiian Education Assessment
correctly stated that in order for the State to positively influence
the educational status of Hawaii's students, we would need to
positively impact the educational status of its Hawaiian students.
The challenges faced by the Hawaii Department of Education in
serving our students of Hawaiian ancestry are many. While our Hawaiian
students comprise 25.7 percent of our overall student population, they
comprise 35.3 percent of our students in special education programs. In
the area of specific learning disabilities, 3,885 of the 9,872 students
or 39.4 percent are students of Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian ancestry.
For the past nine years, the Hawaii Department of Education has been
the recipient of funds from the Native Hawaiian Special Education
initiative. Pihana Na Mamo, or the Native Hawaiian Special Education
Project, has implemented three major initiatives to meet the needs of
its special education Hawaiian students and their families. These
include programs in the areas of: beginning reading, behavior support,
and family/community partnerships.
We have initiated an intensive beginning reading program called
Heluhelu. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that 80 percent of
students labeled as having a learning disability are those that are
experiencing reading difficulties. We have found this to be the case in
Hawaii with large numbers of our Hawaiian special education students
being those with problems in the area of reading. Additionally, our
schools serving large percentages of part-Hawaiian and Hawaiian
students have experienced significant challenges in demonstrating
acceptable reading achievement. Heluhelu is being implemented in 21
school sites with the project supporting intensive in-service training,
ongoing observations and consultations, and data-keeping on reading
skills development of students.
Pihana Na Mamo also has 16 project sites implementing Hi'ilani, a
positive behavior support program that assists schools in implementing
school-wide, pro-active behavior support initiatives. For the past four
years, these schools have sustained a school team of teachers,
administrators, parents, and other support staff who regularly address
and implement solutions to behavior concerns in a preventive and pro-
active manner.
At over 18 school sites, Pihana Na Mamo supports 18 parent
involvers who assist schools in fostering parent, school, and community
partnerships. Among their numerous tasks, these parent involvers have
assisted our parents in IEP meetings, arranging for workshops on child
development and learning, and developing community partnerships.
For over a decade, the Department has operated Hawaiian Language
Immersion programs. We currently serve 1,560 students at 16 school
sites in grades K-12. The Department employs 90 language immersion
teachers. At present, a majority of the language immersion teachers are
now certified, though we face a continuing need for pre-service and in-
service teacher training of a cadre of relatively new and young
teachers. The necessity for ongoing curricula development and materials
for our immersion programs remains a constant and critical need.
As we embark on our journey to implement standards-based education
and the realization of the achievement of high standards by all
students, the Department of Education welcomes continued support of
Native Hawaiian students from the federal government. The challenges in
meeting their needs are many. I have often stated that one of the
reasons for my accepting the position of Superintendent of Education in
Hawaii has been that this is a place that has the right values. In the
face of myriad competing economic, political, and social needs, it is
the absolute high value that our Native Hawaiian people have placed and
continue to place on education that promises for a hopeful future.
Thank you.
STATEMENT OF DR. BRUCE S. ANDERSON, DIRECTOR,
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, STATE OF HAWAII
Senator Inouye. Now may I call upon Dr. Anderson.
Dr. Anderson. Good morning, Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka,
staff and representatives of the subcommittee. I want to thank
you for allowing me to testify this morning and to participate
in this hearing. It's good to see you again.
My name is Bruce Anderson. I'm the director of the State of
Hawaii Department of Health. The mission of my department is to
provide leadership to monitor, protect and enhance the health
and well-being of all the people of Hawaii.
This began back in 1863 when kuhina nui Kina'u directed
pilots in Honolulu Harbor to screen arriving vessels for small
pox and other diseases. In fact the Kingdom of Hawaii
established the first Board of Health in 1853, before any State
in the United States, to address public health problems.
The focus of the Department on preventing illness and
injuries, promoting good health practices, and keeping our
environment clean and safe, has resulted in continuous
improvements in the health status of our community at large.
For the second year in a row Hawaii has been ranked by
independent national research groups as the healthiest State in
the nation.
Nevertheless, today serious health problems exist. Segments
of our population, primarily Native Hawaiians, have some of the
worst health statistics in the United States. The poor health
status of Native Hawaiians is a major concern for us.
Today, one of our major goals is to reduce the health
disparities in Hawaii's population. A recent profile of Native
Hawaiian mortality between 1910 and 1990 shows alarmingly high
death rates for both full and part-Hawaiians in comparison to
other ethnic groups.
In fact, the death rate from all causes for full and part-
Hawaiians actually increased from 1980 to 1990, while rates for
others in the State continued to improve.
Hawaiian mortality rates for heart disease, cancer, and
stroke also increased within the last decade, that is between
1980 and 1990, with the highest rates of increase among full-
blooded Native Hawaiians.
Of particular concern are the extremely high breast cancer
death rates for full-blooded Native Hawaiian women and high
death rate for part-Hawaiian women compared to other women in
the State, and the realization that these rates continue to
rise and far exceed those of others in the State.
Overall, reviews of cancer incidence, mortality and
survival data over time show a disproportionate burden of
cancer in Native Hawaiians when compared with other populations
in the United States. Only African Americans and Alaska Natives
have cancer incidences that are greater.
The Department's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Study
and Hawaii Household Survey indicate that chronic disease
factors affecting Hawaiians are obesity, sedentary lifestyles,
low fruit and vegetable consumption, and cigarette smoking and
alcohol consumption. These lifestyle behaviors are major
targets to improve the health of Native Hawaiians and other
populations.
The disparate chronic disease burden of Native Hawaiians is
a serious dilemma in the face of dwindling resources. Indeed,
it is ironic that the Federal Government is reducing Federal
support for Medicaid and other health services at a time when
they're so desperately needed by many including those in the
Native Hawaiian community.
In my short tenure as director I have pondered the unequal
health burden that Native Hawaiians bear, and realize that a
quick fix solution is not practical nor is it the answer.
My administration team and I are aware that significant and
lasting change can come from the concerted efforts in
preventive health. I'm grateful that an opportunity is
developing on the horizon to develop creative and innovative
prevention health strategies.
The recent Tobacco Settlement is expected to provide $1.3
billion for Hawaii over the next 25 years. As provided for in
legislation passed this year, 35 percent of these funds will be
allocated to wellness programs to improve nutrition and
physical activity.
Of this, 10 percent will be used to support the Children's
Health Insurance Program. Twenty-five percent will be allocated
to comprehensive tobacco control efforts.
We intend that all prevention activities, including tobacco
control, will be integrated with other activities to assure a
comprehensive approach to wellness.
Incidentally, the remaining 40 percent of the settlement
will go to a rainy day fund to help to assure our State's
fiscal integrity.
In summary, the Department of Health is committed to
improving the health of Native Hawaiians. We know that
utilizing tobacco settlement funds is one step in reaching our
goal of eliminating the disparity in their health status.
We plan to do our part. However, it is clear that continued
Federal support will be necessary. We cannot do this alone.
It's unconscionable that Federal funding for programs such as
Medicaid is being reduced at a time when there's so much need.
prepared statement
The State and Federal governments in partnership with all
the other agencies present at this hearing, including those
from education and the employment sectors, must continue to
work collaboratively to improve the health and overall quality
of life of Native Hawaiians. We're all responsible stakeholders
and will benefit from our collective efforts.
I thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Dr. Anderson.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Dr. Bruce S. Anderson
Mr. Chairman and Subcommittee Members: My name is Bruce Anderson
and I am the Director of the Hawaii State Department of Health. I am
pleased to participate in this congressional hearing on the Native
Hawaiian Health, Education, Employment and Training, and to commit to
[providing consultation and guidance on health issues and services in
Hawaii, to the degree that we are able, to the Committee, Native
Hawaiian Health Care Systems, Papa Ola Lokahi and other Hawaiian health
agencies.]
As the official health agency of the State, the goal of our
Department is to protect the health and environmental well-being of all
of Hawaii's people. The Department's programs provide leadership within
the community in efforts to monitor, protect and enhance health and to
address many health and environmental challenges which affect the well-
being of our citizens and visitors to our state. The Department is the
oldest statewide health department in the nation. The initial Board of
Health was appointed by Kamehameha III in 1850 and its jurisdiction was
extended to all islands in 1853. Our history began with efforts to
resist the introduction and spread of communicable diseases, such as
small pox and cholera, in the early 19th century. Though the historical
accomplishments of the Department have been many, we realize
considerable challenges lie ahead for all who share in the
responsibilities of healthcare in Hawaii.
The poor health status of the Native Hawaiian population is a major
concern for us. We are all aware that a recent profile of Native
Hawaiian mortality between 1910 and 1990 shows alarming high death
rates for both full and part Hawaiians, while the rates for all others
in the state improved. Hawaiian mortality rates for heart disease,
cancer and stroke increased within the decade between 1980 to 1990,
with highest rates of increase among full-blooded Native Hawaiians. Of
particular concern are the extremely high breast cancer death rate for
full-blooded Native Hawaiian women and high death rate for part-
Hawaiian women compared to other women in the State, and the
realization that these rates continue to rise and far exceed those of
others in this state. An epidemiological review of cancer incidence,
mortality and survival data over time shows the continued
disproportionate burden of cancer in Native Hawaiians when compared
with other populations in the United States. Only African Americans and
Alaska Natives have cancer incidences that are greater than Native
Hawaiians. The Department's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Study
and Hawaii Household Survey indicate the chronic disease risk factors
affecting Hawaiians, are obesity, sedentary lifestyle, low fruit and
vegetable consumption, cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. These
lifestyle behaviors are major targets to improve health of Native
Hawaiians and other populations. The disparate chronic disease burden
of Native Hawaiians is a serious dilemma in the face of dwindling
health resources in the state (or, during the economic crisis in the
State).
In my short tenure as Director of Health, I have pondered the
unequal health burden that Native Hawaiians bear and realize that a
``quick fix'' solution is not the answer. My administrative team and I
are aware that significant and lasting change can only come from
concerted efforts in preventive health. I am grateful that an
opportunity is developing on the horizon, to develop creative and
innovative preventive health strategies.
The Tobacco Settlement is expected to provide $1.3 billion for
Hawaii over 25 years. Thirty-five percent of the funds will be
allocated to wellness, nutrition and physical activity programs. Up to
10 percent of the total settlement will be used to support the
Children's Health Insurance Program. Twenty-five percent will be
allocated to comprehensive tobacco control efforts. We intend that all
prevention activities, including tobacco control, will be integrated
with other activities to assure a comprehensive approach to wellness.
The remaining 40 percent of the Settlement will go to a ``rainy day''
fund for the State of Hawaii.
The Department of Hawaii is committed to improving the health of
Native Hawaiians. We know that utilizing Tobacco Settlement funds is
one step in assisting us toward this goal. It is clear that continued
federal appropriations will be essential to restoring the health of the
Native Hawaiian population. We cannot do this alone.
The state and federal governments, in partnership with all the
agencies present at this hearing, including those from the education
and employment sectors, must continue to work collaboratively to
improve the health and overall quality of life of Native Hawaiians. We
are all stakeholders in this collective responsibility.
Thank you for this opportunity to testify.
STATEMENT OF LORRAINE AKIBA, DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF
LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, STATE OF
HAWAII
Senator Inouye. May I now call on Ms. Akiba.
Ms. Akiba. Aloha. Good morning, Senator Inouye, Senator
Akaka, Representative Mink, members and staff of Hawaii's
Congressional delegation.
I'm Lorraine Akiba, director for the State of Hawaii
Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. I'm honored to be
here today to brief you on various programs including Hawaii's
Samoan and Pacific Islander project, the Rural Community
development program, the Women in High Technology project and
to offer some brief comments for your consideration regarding
Hawaii's Job Corps program.
However, before I speak on these projects I would like to
introduce two very special people today. Dr. Tin Myaing Thein
of the Immigrant Center who sits behind me and Mr. Bill Emmsley
of the Samoan Service Providers Association.
Dr. Myaing and Mr. Emmsley have graciously offered to
provide a tour of their facilities for the benefit of the
committee staff this afternoon. As well tomorrow morning our
Department of Labor staff will travel with your committee staff
to the Big Island where they will visit a rural community
development project in Puna and our One-Stop Workforce
Assistance Center in Hilo.
Because of your support we were fortunate enough to receive
an increase in funding of $1 million last year from $2 million
to $3 million to serve economically disadvantaged people of
Samoan and Pacific Islander origins.
The significance of this funding increase is that it gives
the State of Hawaii an important opportunity to serve a growing
population of people in need during economically challenging
times.
From the very beginning we were encouraged by your office's
advice to think outside of the box and to find innovative and
creative ways to help Hawaii's people. This is a refreshing and
welcome approach and exactly the method that our department has
been using in developing and employing its strategic management
and continuous improvements efforts.
It is good then to hear your respective reminders that
these additional monies should not be used to expand the
State's bureaucracy but should be used to creatively and
directly improve and strengthen the communities' social and
economic infrastructure.
It is also clear that the purpose of your support is to
promote the important objective of empowering communities to
better help themselves attain sustainable self-sufficiency.
Today I am proud to say the Department of Labor and
Industrial Relations has been in sync with the advice of your
office. Further, this approach is very well received by the
communities which we serve.
They often remind us of their appreciation for allowing
them to participate in developing and implementing innovative
approaches to delivering services.
The immigrant center, which is headed by Dr. Myaing, was
selected recently as the primary service provider for nearly
8,000 new immigrants arriving in Hawaii each year. The
immigrant center provides services such as outreach screening,
assessment, supportive counseling, acculturation assistance,
advocacy, English language training, interpretation,
translation, form assistance and other related services
designed to enhance employability.
Qualified Pacific Islanders and immigrants from countries
including the Cook Islands, The Federated States of Micronesia,
Fiji, Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Thailand
are all eligible for these types of services.
In previous years when public funds were more readily
available it was normal for agencies to offer similar services,
oftentimes to the same population within a small geographic
area of only a few miles.
Hawaii's economy has dramatically changed in the last few
years, such that we long can no longer do business in the same
way as we have in the past.
The manner in which the immigrant center has chosen to
serve its immigrant community is indicative of what is needed
to meet the challenges of the new economy and the new
millennium.
Rather than compete for the shrinking dollars the immigrant
center lead an effort to join forces with other community-based
organizations by exploiting each other's strengths to form a
seamless system whereby clients would have access to services
from a variety of entry points, and their progress towards
economic self-sufficiency would be better tracked.
This collaborative team approach to community development
is operating within the immigrant community with the immigrant
center serving as team leader.
Other team members include Catholic Charities, Child and
Family Services, and the Susannah Wesley Community Center. The
team has been functioning for about a year now.
Although there are still some improvements we are working
on, we are confident that we have a sound system which
incorporates the values of increased leveraging of resources
and maximizing collaboration and cooperation which benefits
all.
Another positive best practice model is the Samoan Service
Providers. Under the leadership of Mr. Emmsley it has
demonstrated its effectiveness at meeting the training needs of
the Samoan community for the past 11 years.
The goal of the Samoan Training and Employment Program is
to develop, nurture and support individuals of Samoan ancestry
through job training, job counseling and job placement. More
than 2000 Samoan clients have been served under the STEP
program.
As you know, the State of Hawaii is usually the first stop
for American Samoans migrating to the United States. Thus
Hawaii has the highest concentration of recently-arrived
American Samoan immigrants of any U.S. location. For many, the
transition is more than just geographical. It represents a
rural to urban movement, often to inner city public housing
projects.
Moreover, it also marks a substantial economic shift from a
subsistence way of living to a highly competitive free-market
system.
Samoans tend to bring with them many aspects of their
culture, including the matai system. Although matais and
ministers are repositories of the Samoan culture, they can also
be inhibiting factors in facilitating social integration, even
more so with the economic development of Samoans in Hawaii's
economic mainstream.
These factors have directly attributed to the Samoan
community's statistics of highest unemployment among adults,
lowest per capita among families and highest incarceration rate
among youth.
Similar to other ethnic groups like Native Hawaiians and
Native Americans, Samoan youth on a per capita basis, have one
of the highest high school drop out rates among teenagers in
the State of Hawaii.
The Samoan Training and Employment Program offered by SSPA
is specifically designed to meet the needs of Samoans, who are
unemployed, underemployed or economically disadvantaged.
By providing job training, job counseling and job placement
and other needed services, SSPA clients are able to decrease
their reliance on public assistance by increasing their ability
to support themselves and again reach self-sufficiency.
The third program that I have been asked to share
information with you about is the Rural Community Development
Project spearheaded by Dr. Clyde Sakamoto, Provost for Maui
Community College.
Dr. Sakamoto was unable to attend today's hearing, so I
have been asked to comment on his program because the
Department of Labor is one of the program's major partners.
As you know the Rural Community Development project was
started on the island of Lana'i 2 years ago with a grant from
the U.S. Department of Labor of $200,000. That funding has
since increased to a million dollars, and the activities
expanded to the islands of Maui, Moloka'i, Hawaii and Kauai.
The primary purpose of this program is to provide
employment activities leading to a job. It is gratifying that
the success of this project has leveraged these limited
resources through a growing partnership of community service
supporters and other initiatives and contributions to our
overall efforts.
We have leveraged resources from other existing Federal
resources such as the Job Training Partnership Act, our
apprenticeship programs and others.
As you know the neighbor islands are distinct and different
from urban O'ahu. They have their own beauty and uniqueness.
They also have their own strengths and ideas for addressing
their respective economic issues.
Maui County, for example, with the exception of Moloka'i,
has a distinct high technology edge with its existing advanced
computerized infrastructure located at Haleakala and the Maui
High Tech Center in Kihei.
The Big Island still has an edge in agriculture and tourism
as its mainstays for economic viability, while Kauai is
developing an edge with employment opportunities in forestry
and coffee.
Moloka'i remains a model of self-sustaining breadbasket
with industries like truck farming and aquaculture leading the
way to economic self-sufficiency.
What makes the Rural Community Economic Development Project
so different is its intended objective of having each island
determine what is best for itself.
Similar to the philosophy being encouraged within the
immigrant program I talked to you about earlier, the Rural
Development Program insists on empowering communities to
determine their own economic future.
Community advisory boards are established on each island to
lead the development and implementation of projects that are
identified by the residents themselves.
Led by Dr. Sakamoto, Maui Community College administers the
program. Together with them the department of labor serves as
an additional resource to assist the community, when and if
they need our assistance.
What we bring at department of labor to the table is a
leveraging of our many other State and Federal resources and
our ability to serve as a broker, facilitator, and a technical
assistant.
As I mentioned earlier, funds from the Job Training
Partnership Act, our State apprenticeship program and other
programs administered by the department of labor are leveraged
with rural development monies to help us get, basically, more
bang for our buck.
DLIR is also involved in the Hawaii Forestry Communities
Initiative which receives about $250,000 in Federal funds
directed to the State through the U.S. Forest Service through
the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
In our capacity as partners to both HFCI and the Rural
Development project, we have a role of merging the various
interest, should islands like Hawaii and Kauai decide that jobs
in forestry are a priority.
Similarly, because we are actively involved with the local
Seafarer's Union and American Hawaii Cruises, our familiarity
with the leadership for the passenger cruise line industry is
helpful when the different islands decide that preparing their
residents for work in this industry is good for them.
Another asset that the department of labor brings to the
table for the Rural Community Development Project is the big
picture view as it relates to the State administration's vision
of where economic development needs to go.
Governor Cayetano has expressed his strong desire to see
industries like telecommunications, healthcare, biotechnology,
environmental science and technology and information technology
be supported because he, like all of you, believe that these
industries have much promise for providing Hawaii's residents
jobs today, and in the future.
This past legislative session the Governor introduced and
had passed legislation calling for many incentives to support
these industries, including the Millennium Workforce
Development Initiative, which is a new program for job
training.
Our department has been directed by the Legislature and the
Governor to assist with developing a plan for training in these
growth industry cluster areas. We are actively incorporating
some of what is being proposed for a statewide training program
into plans being generated in the rural communities through the
Rural Community Development program.
The Women in High Technology Project is funded with a
$500,000 appropriation through the U.S. Department of Labor. A
proposal is currently being reviewed by U.S. Department of
Labor.
Upon that agency's approval, the program will provide
training to women in Maui County for jobs in high technology
where they are presently underrepresented.
The projects I have shared information with you today are
progressing well. And we believe that the goals set forth by
both Congress and the communities are being realized.
On behalf of the hundreds of people involved in these
programs, I wish to express our sincere appreciation to you and
your staff. And we would encourage your continued support of
these very worthy projects.
My final comments are really one of constructive critique.
All of you are aware of the Workforce Investment Act which was
passed by Congress last fall after many years of debate.
One of the most significant strengths and also difficulties
of the Workforce Investment Act is the mandate that State and
local governments shall have to assume more, if not most, of
the leadership and responsibilities in running many of our
Federal programs covered under the act.
Now, one of the programs touched by this Workforce
Investment Act is Job Corps. Hawaii has a great Job Corps
Program. Its facilities at Waimanalo are first class and its
local leadership is an active partnership with some of our
programs such as One-Stop centers for workforce assistance.
For the past few years, however, Hawaii's Job Corps Program
has been administered by an organization located out-of-State.
One of the reasons for this, I understand, is due to the fact
that the State of Hawaii, which at one time administered and
ran the program, could not continue to administer it because it
wasn't economically feasible.
Perhaps the time has come for us to reassess where we
should go with the Hawaii Job Corps Program given the Workforce
Investment Act and Hawaii's present economy. I believe this is
a good time to revisit the issue of having the Job Corps
locally administered again. Local empowerment and best practice
call out for such a reassessment.
prepared statement
Thank you, again, for this opportunity to present our
information and views on programs and issues which are very
important to us and to the communities here in Hawaii to which
you have not only shown your continuous support over the years,
and also to which you have given great leadership to as well.
Thank you very much.
Senator Inouye. Thank you, Ms. Akiba.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Lorraine Akiba
Aloha, Mr. Chairman and members of Hawwaii's congressional
delegation. I am Lorraine Akiba, Director for the State of Hawaii
Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR). I am honored to be
here today to brief you on various programs including Hawaii's Samoan
and Pacific Islander project, the Rural development program, the Women
in High Technology project and to offer some brief comments for your
consideration regarding Hawaii's Job Corp program.
However, before I speak on these projects, may I please introduce:
Dr. Tin Myaing Thein of the Immigrant Center and Mr. Bill Emmsley of
the Samoan Service Providers Association.
Dr. Myaing and Mr. Emmsley have graciously offered to provide a
tour of their facilities for the benefit of committee staff after your
lunch today. Tomorrow morning, DLIR's staff will travel with your
committee staff to the Big Island where they will visit a rural
development project in Puna and our One-Stop Workforce Assistance
Center in Hilo.
Because of your support, we were fortunate to receive an increase
in funding of a million dollars last year, from $2 million to $3
million, to serve economically disadvantaged people of Samoan and
Pacific Islander origins. The significance of this funding increase is
that it gives the State of Hawaii an important opportunity to serve a
growing population of people in need during economically challenging
times.
From the very beginning, we were encouraged by your office, Mr.
Chairman, to ``think outside of the box'' and to find innovative and
creative ways to help Hawaii's people. This is a very refreshing and
welcome approach and exactly the method that DLIR has been using in
developing and deploying its strategic management and continuous
improvement efforts. It is good, then to hear your reminders that these
additional monies should not be used to expand the State's bureaucracy
but should be used to creatively and directly improve and strengthen
the communities social and economic infrastructure. It is also clear
that the purpose of your support is to promote the important objective
of empowering communities to better help themselves attain sustainable
self-sufficiency.
Today, I am proud to say that DLIR has been in synch with the
advice of your office. Further, this approach is very well received by
the communities served. They often remind us of their appreciation for
allowing them the opportunity to participate in developing and
implementing innovative approaches to delivering service.
The Immigrant Center (IC), headed by Dr. Myaing, was selected as
the primary service provider for the nearly 8,000 new immigrants
arriving in Hawaii each year. IC provides services such as outreach
screening, assessment, supportive counseling, acculturation assistance,
advocacy, English language training, interpretation, translation, form
assistance and other related services designed to enhance
employability. Qualified Pacific Islanders and immigrants from
countries including the Cook Islands, The Federated States of
Micronesia, Fiji, Vietnam, Korea, Philippines, Cambodia and Thailand
are all eligible for these types of services.
In previous years, when public funds were more readily available,
it was normal for agencies to offer similar services, often times to
the same population, within a small geographic area of only a few
square miles. Hawaii's economy has changed dramatically in the last few
years, such that we can no longer afford to do business as we have in
the past.
The manner in which the Immigrant Center has chosen to service its
immigrant community is indicative of what was needed to meet the
challenges of a struggling economy. Rather than compete for the
shrinking dollar, IC lead an effort to join forces with other
community-based organization by exploiting each other's strengths to
form a seamless system whereby a client would have access to services
from a variety of entry points and their progress towards economic
self-sufficiency would be better tracked.
This collaborative team approach to community development is
operating within the immigrant community with the Immigrant Center
serving as team leader. Other team members include Catholic Charities,
Child and Family Services and Susannah Wesley Community Center. The
team has been functioning for about a year. Although there are still
some improvements we are working on, we are confident that we have a
sound system which incorporates the values of increased leveraging of
resources and maximizing collaboration and cooperation which benefit
all.
Under the leadership of Mr. Emmsley, the Samoan Service Providers
has demonstrated its effectiveness at meeting the training needs of the
Samoan community for the past 11 years. The goal of the Samoan Training
and Employment Program (STEP) is to develop, nurture and support
individuals of Samoan ancestry through job training, job counseling and
job placement. More than 2,000 Samoan clients have been served under
the STEP program.
The State of Hawaii is usually the first stop for American Samoans
migrating to the United States. Thus, Hawaii has the highest
concentration of recently arrived American Samoan immigrants of any
U.S. location. For many, the transition is more than geographical, it
represents a rural to urban movement, often to inner city public
housing projects. Moreover, it also marks a substantial economic shift
from a subsistence way of living to a highly competitive free-market
system.
Samoans tend to bring with them many aspects of their culture,
including the matai system. Although matais and ministers are
repositories of the Samoan culture, they can also be inhibiting factors
in facilitating social integration, even more so with the economic
development of Samoans in Hawaii's economic mainstream.
These factors have directly attributed to the Samoan community's
statistics of highest unemployment among adults, lowest per capita
among families and highest incarceration rate among youth. Similar to
other ethnic groups, like Native Hawaiians and Native Americans, Samoan
youth, on a per capita basis, have one of the highest high school drop
out rates among teenagers in the State of Hawaii.
The Samoan Training and Employment Program offered by SSPA is
specifically designed to meet the needs of Samoans, who are unemployed,
under-employed or economically disadvantaged. By providing job
training, job counseling, job placement and other needed services, SSPA
assists clients to decrease their reliance on public assistance by
increasing their abilities to support themselves.
The third program that I wish to share information with you about
is the Rural Development Project spearheaded by Dr. Clyde Sakamoto,
Provost for Maui Community College. Dr. Sakamoto was unable to attend
today's hearing, so I have been asked to comment on this program
because DLIR is one of the program's major partners.
As you know, the Rural Development Project was started on the
island of Lanai two years ago with a grant from the USDOL of $200,000.
The funding has since increased to a million dollars and the activities
expanded to the islands of Maui, Moloka'i, Hawaii and Kauai. The
primary purpose of this program is to provide employment activities
leading to a job. It is gratifying that the success of this project has
leveraged these limited resources through a growing partnership of
community service supporters and other initiatives and contributions to
our overall effort (e.g., JTPA, Apprenticeship, et al).
The neighbor islands are distinct and different from urban Oahu.
They have their own beauty and uniqueness. They also have their own
strengths and ideas for addressing their respective economic issues.
Maui County for example, with the exception of Moloka'i, has a distinct
high technology edge with its existing advanced computerized
infrastructure located at Haleakala and the Maui High Tech Center in
Kihei. The Big Island still has an edge in agriculture and tourism as
its mainstays for economic viability while Kauai is developing an edge
with employment opportunities in forestry and coffee. Moloka'i, it
seems, remains a model of a self-sustaining breadbasket with industries
like truck farming and aquaculture leading the way to economic self-
sufficiency.
What makes the Rural Development project so different is its
intended objective of having each island determine what is best for
itself. Similar to the philosophy being encouraged with the immigrant
program I talked to you about earlier, the rural development program
insists on empowering communities to determine their own economic
future. Community advisory boards are established on each island to
lead the development and implementation of projects that are identified
by the residents themselves. Led by Dr. Sakamoto, Maui Community
College administers the program. Together with them DLIR serves as an
additional resource to assist the community, when and if they need our
assistance.
What DLIR brings to the table is a leveraging of our many other
state and federal resources and our ability to serve as a broker,
facilitator and technical assistant. Funds from the Job Training
Partnership Act (JTPA), our State Apprenticeship program and other
programs administered by DLIR are leveraged with rural development
monies to help us get more bang for our buck. DLIR is also actively
involved in the Hawaii Forestry Communities Initiative (HFCI) which
receives about $250,000 in federal funds directed through the US Forest
service to the State Department of Land and Natural Resources. In our
capacity as partners to both HFCI and the Rural Development project, we
have a role of merging the various interests, should islands like
Hawaii and Kauai decide that jobs in forestry are a priority.
Similarly, because we are actively involved with the local Seafarer's
Union and American Hawaii Cruises, our familiarity with the leadership
for the passenger cruise line industry is helpful when the different
islands decide that preparing their residents for work in this industry
is good for them.
Another asset DLIR brings to the table for the Rural Development
project is the big picture view as it relates to the State
administration's vision of where economic development needs to go.
Governor Cayetano has expressed his strong desire to see industries
like telecommunications, healthcare, biotechnology, environmental
science and technology and information technology be supported because
he, like all of you, believes that these industries have much promise
for providing Hawaii's residents jobs today, and in the future. This
past legislative session, the Governor introduced and had passed
legislation calling for many incentives to support these industries,
including the Millennium Workforce Develpment Iniative, a new program
for job training. DLIR is directed by the legislature and Governor to
assist with developing a plan for training in these industry cluster
areas. We are actively incorporating some of what is being proposed for
a statewide training program into plans being generated in the rural
communities through the Rural Development program.
The women in high technology project is funded with a $500,000
appropriation through USDOL. A proposal is being reviewed by USDOL.
Upon the agency's approval, the program will provide training to women
in Maui County for jobs in high technology where they are presently
underrepresented.
The projects I have shared information with you today are
progressing well. We believe that the goals set forth by both Congress
and the communities are being realized. On behalf of the hundreds of
people involved in these programs, I wish to express our appreciation
to you and your staff. We encourage your continued support of these
very worthy projects.
My final comment is one that provides constructive critique.
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) was passed by Congress last Fall
after many years of debate. One of the most significant strengths and
difficulties of the WIA is the mandate that State and local governments
shall have to assume more, if not most, of the leadership and
responsibilities in running many of our federal programs covered under
the act. One of the programs touched by WIA is Jobs Corps.
Hawaii has a good Job Corps Program. Its facilities at Waimanalo
are first class and its local leadership is an active partner with some
of our programs, such as One-Stop. For the past few years, however,
Hawaii's Job Corp Program has been administered by an organization
located out of state. One of the reasons for this, I understand, is due
to the fact that the State of Hawaii, which at one time administered
and ran the program, could not continue administering it because it
wasn't economically feasible. Perhaps the time has come for us to
reassess where we should go with the Hawaii Job Corp program given the
WIA and Hawaii's present economy. I believe this is a good time to
revisit the issue of having the Job Corp locally administered again.
Local empowerment and best practice call out for such a re-assessment.
Thank you again for this opportunity to present our information and
views on programs and issues which are very important to us and which
you have not only shown continuous support over the years, but which
you have given great leadership to as well. Mahalo and aloha.
STATEMENT OF ROWENA AKANA, CHAIR, BOARD OF TRUSTEES,
OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS, STATE OF HAWAII
Senator Inouye. Now may I call on the chair of OHA, Ms.
Rowena Akana.
Ms. Akana. Thank you. Aloha, kakahiaka. Good morning
Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka, Representative Mink, all of the
congressional workforce that has come here to hear us today.
As you know, my name is Rowena Akana. I'm the chairman of
the board of trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. I'm
especially pleased to appear before the members of our own
congressional delegation and their friends and colleagues in
the fight to better the conditions of Native Hawaiian people of
Hawaii.
For your past efforts and leadership I want to take this
opportunity to thank you very much.
As you know, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is the lead
agency in the State of Hawaii with the constitutional and
statutory responsibility to protect and preserve the rights and
interests of the Hawaiian community.
Consistent with that responsibility to work for the
Hawaiian people, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is the only
governmental entity at any level of government whose leaders
are chosen exclusively by the Hawaiian people.
Over much of the last century the story of the Federal
Government's relationship to the Hawaiian people has been a
tale of institutionalized neglect. For many, the legacy of that
past neglect is a present life of despair, frustration and
increasing burdens of social and physical disease.
Based on statistics reported by the State's Healthy Start
Program, of every 100 Hawaiian children born today, 65 begin
life at risk. That risk continues beyond infancy.
Compared to other groups within the State, Hawaiians are
more likely to die of cancer, diabetes, heart disease,
hypertension, and stroke.
They are more likely to suffer the disastrous effects of
alcohol and drug abuse and are more prone to respiratory
illnesses and thyroid disease. Not surprisingly then, they have
the lowest life expectancy in the State.
Hawaiians are more likely to be arrested and imprisoned, to
be unemployed and to live below the poverty level.
Hawaiian housing needs rank among the most critical in the
United States. And their communities, usually located on state-
managed trust lands, all are too often defined by substandard
roads, inadequate or nonexistent utility services and
substandard and overcrowded housing.
Contrary to the high literacy rate among the Hawaiian
people under the school system established in 1840 by
Kamehameha the III, our children now begin their educational
experience lagging behind their counterparts, and continue to
be under-represented in institutions of higher education. This
list of ills suffered by the Hawaiian people is merely
illustrative and not exhaustive.
In the last years of this century the Federal Government's
policy of neglect began to change. It is now the position of
the Federal executive branch that a heightened trust and
political relationship has existed between the United States
and the Hawaiian people since at least 1898.
With this change it is our hope that meaningful and
constructive actions are possible to reverse the legacy of
their past neglect and to begin the process of reconciliation
Congress contemplated in 1993, the Apology Resolution.
It is against there backdrop that we approach Federal
legislation seeking to better the conditions of our Hawaiian
people.
Today I will highlight our concerns with respect to
proposed legislation in three different but related areas:
Housing, health, and education.
In the area of housing the Native American Housing
Assistance and Self-determination Amendments of 1999, S. 225,
seeks to extend Federal low-income housing assistance to Native
Hawaiians.
In the areas of health and education, Federal legislation
focusing on the needs of the Hawaiian people already exist: The
Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act and the Native
Hawaiian Education Act.
On the housing bill the Senate is currently considering the
Native Hawaiian Housing Assistance and Self-determination
Amendments of 1999, S. 225.
That bill seeks to extend Federal low-income housing
assistance to Native Hawaiians living on land controlled by the
State's Department of Hawaiian Homelands or DHHL. OHA has
proffered amendments to S. 225 to clarify the historical basis
for the United States' special trust obligation to the Hawaiian
people to broaden the beneficiary class to include all
Hawaiians in need regardless of blood quantum, to expand the
eligible housing area to include all Hawaiian trust lands, and
to allow OHA to participate equally with the DHHL in addressing
the housing needs for all Hawaiian people.
We have been advised that recent Senate committee action
has taken steps to expand the bill's findings and to broaden
the definition of the beneficiary class. These are steps in the
right direction. But after a century of neglect, strides, not
steps are required.
Broadening the beneficiary class to include all Hawaiians
has no real impact if, as the case with respect to DHHL-
controlled lands, the eligible housing area is restricted to
only a portion of that class.
Many Hawaiians living in poverty and substandard housing
are ineligible for DHHL housing. And many who are eligible do
not want their housing options restricted to DHHL-controlled
lands.
The housing needs of non-DHHL Hawaiian communities such as
Maunalaha, Miloli'i, Kahana Valley, and Kikala-Keokea, which
are the Kalapana relocatees, are just as compelling as those
other communities located on the Department of Hawaiian Home
Lands-controlled land.
Moreover, expanding the eligible housing area to include
all Hawaiian trust lands is consistent with the trust
obligations owed to all Hawaiians now acknowledged by the
United States.
Finally, continuing the OHA/DHHL housing partnership will
permit the development of coordinated housing plans serving all
Hawaiians in need and not just those eligible for the
Department of Hawaiian Homelands leases.
OHA has a long-standing commitment and has demonstrated a
track record of financing housing for its beneficiaries on the
Department of Hawaiian Homelands-controlled lands.
For example, we have provided $30 million in loans to DHHL
beneficiaries and made available more than $4 million for the
proposed Waimanalo Kupana housing project.
We are currently contemplating the allocation of additional
millions to support other critical Hawaiian housing needs.
Clearly OHA has been, and will continue to be, prepared to put
its money where the need is. We simply ask that the Federal
Government do no less.
I have appended to my testimony today communications
received by OHA from members of non-DHHL Hawaiian communities
seeking our help in broadening S. 225.
I will also provide to the committee our detailed
amendments to this important housing bill under separate cover.
I urge each member of this committee to listen to the voices of
all the Hawaiian people, as has OHA, and support the efforts to
broaden S. 225.
Under the health bill. The Native Hawaiian Health Care
Improvement Act has been the law for approximately 10 years. It
is now time for reauthorization of that legislative program.
We have been working with representatives of the Hawaiian
health care community including representatives of the Queen's
Hospital, and E Ola Mau to develop joint amendments.
Those efforts have identified numerous issues involving
scope of services, allocation of responsibilities for
implementation and coordination of services and the proper role
of OHA and Papa Ola Lokahi for developing health policies and
programs affecting the Hawaiian people.
It is this position of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs that
any reauthorization of the Native Hawaiian Health Care
Improvement Act must reflect the current legal, community, and
political landscape in order to better address the dire health
statistics of our Hawaiian people.
Among the new realities is the United States' explicit
acknowledgement of its trust and political obligations to
Hawaiians. Furthermore, the health care delivery system
contemplated under the Act must begin to focus on the primary
and acute care health needs of the Hawaiian community.
It is our understanding that a series of community meetings
on the proposed health bill are scheduled to take place
throughout the State in the month of September.
We plan to have representatives at each of these meetings
and to refine our views based on our community concerns raised
at those meetings.
We ask that the record of this hearing be held open for at
least 30 days following the completion of those meetings to
permit the filing of written and final comments to aid the
subcommittee in its deliberations.
On the education bill. As in the case of health, Federal
legislation focusing on special education needs of the Hawaiian
community currently exists in the form of the Native Hawaiian
Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.
This legislation is also subject to reauthorization, and we
have been working closely with representatives of Hawaiian
educational programs to develop joint amendments.
That work has identified four areas that must be addressed
in any reauthorization of the Native Hawaiian Education Act.
First, the Native Hawaiian Education Act should be amended
to require an Early Childhood Education Council to specifically
focus on the special needs of this group.
Second, early childhood education demonstration projects
are necessary because it is time to translate the studies into
meaningful educational programs.
Third, we also believe that any reauthorization must
include programs for youth at risk.
Fourth, the Educational Council and authorized under the
Act to develop an educational policy and coordinate the
delivery of educational services must broadly represent the
interests of the entire Hawaiian community.
Because of the obvious conflicts and problems in awarding
educational assistance funds, it cannot, as some have
suggested, be limited to past and present grant recipients.
Rather, grant recipients should comprise a separate
advisory body to the decisionmaking council. In this same vein,
any reauthorization must recognize the mission of OHA and its
mandate under State law.
For example, some of the present council have suggest that
an organization sometimes referred to as PREL assume the fiscal
oversight responsibility now performed by OHA.
However, representatives of the U.S. Department of
Education have voiced some preliminary concerns with respect to
this proposal.
Final joint amendments to the reauthorization of the Native
Hawaiian Education Act are now in their final stage. Once
completed we will forward to the subcommittee for inclusion in
the record our detailed comments on jointly proposed language
reauthorizing the act.
prepared statement
I thank you for the opportunity to testify on these
important bills and look forward to answering any questions
that you may have on these bills or any other matter addressing
the education, health or housing needs of our Hawaiian
community. Thank you.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Ms. Akana.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Rowena Akana
Aloha. kakahiaka: My name is Rowena Akana. I testify today as the
Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. I am
especially pleased to appear before the members of our own
congressional delegation--friends and colleagues in the fight to better
the conditions of the native people of Hawaii. For your past efforts
and leadership, I want to take this opportunity to thank you.
As you know, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is the lead agency in
the State of Hawaii with the constitutional and statutory
responsibility to protect and preserve the rights and interests of the
Hawaiian community. Consistent with that responsibility to work for the
Hawaiian People, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is the only
governmental entity at any level of government whose leaders are chosen
exclusively by the Hawaiian People.
Over much of the last century, the story of the Federal
Government's relationship to the Hawaiian People has been a tale of
institutionalized neglect. For many, the legacy of that past neglect is
a present life of despair, frustration and increasing burdens of social
and physical disease.
Based on statistics reported by the State's Healthy Start Program,
of every 100 Hawaiian children born today, 65 begin life ``at risk''.
That risk continues beyond infancy. Compared to other groups within the
State, Hawaiians are more likely to die of cancer, diabetes, heart
disease, hypertension and stroke. They are more likely to suffer the
disastrous effects of alcohol and drug abuse and are more prone to
respiratory illnesses and thyroid disease. Not surprisingly then, they
have the lowest life expectancy in the State. Hawaiians are more likely
to be arrested and imprisoned, to be unemployed and to live below the
poverty level. Hawaiian housing needs rank among the most critical in
the United States and their communities, usually located on State-
managed trust lands, are all too often defined by substandard roads,
inadequate or non-existent utility services and substandard and over-
crowded housing. Contrary to the high literacy rate among the Hawaiian
People under the school system established in 1840 by Kamehameha III,
our children now begin their educational experience lagging behind
their counterparts and continue to be under-represented in institutions
of higher education. And this list of the ills suffered by the Hawaiian
People is merely illustrative, not exhaustive.
In the last years of this century, the Federal Government's policy
of neglect began to change. It is now the position of the Federal
Executive Branch that a heightened trust and political relationship has
existed between the United States and the Hawaiian People since at
least 1898. With this change, it is our hope that meaningful and
constructive actions are possible to reverse the legacy of past neglect
and to begin the process of reconciliation Congress contemplated in the
1993 Apology Resolution. It is against this backdrop that we approach
federal legislation seeking to better the conditions of the Hawaiian
People.
Today, I will highlight our concerns with respect to proposed
legislation in three different but related areas: housing, health and
education. In the area of housing, the Native American Housing
Assistance and Self-Determination Amendments of 1999, S. 225, seeks to
extend federal low-income housing assistance to native Hawaiians. In
the areas of health and education, federal legislation focusing on the
needs of the Hawaiian People already exist: the Native Hawaiian Health
Care Improvement Act and the Native Hawaiian Education Act.
housing bill
The Senate is currently considering the Native Hawaiian Housing
Assistance and Self-Determination Amendments of 1999, S. 225. That bill
seeks to extend federal low-income housing assistance to native
Hawaiians living on land controlled by the State's Department of
Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL). OHA has proffered amendments to S. 225 to
clarify the historical basis for United State's special trust
obligation to the Hawaiian people, to broaden the beneficiary class to
include all Hawaiians in need regardless of blood quantum, to expand
the eligible housing area to include all Hawaiian trust lands, and to
allow OHA to participate equally with the DHHL in addressing the
housing needs of the Hawaiian People.
We have been advised that recent Senate committee action has taken
steps to expand the bill's findings and to broaden the definition of
the beneficiary class. These are steps in the right direction, but
after a century of neglect, strides, not steps, are required.
Broadening the beneficiary class to include all Hawaiians has no
real impact if, as is the case with respect to DHHL-controlled lands,
the eligible housing area is restricted to only a portion of that
class. Many Hawaiians living in poverty and substandard housing are
ineligible for DHHL housing. And many who are eligible do not want
their housing options restricted to DHHL-controlled lands. The housing
needs of non-DHHL Hawaiian communities such as Maunalaha, Milolii,
Kahana Valley and Kikala-Keokea (Kalapana relocatees) are just as
compelling as those communities located on DHHL-controlled land.
Moreover, expanding the eligible housing area to include all Hawaiian
trust lands is consistent with the trust obligations owed to all
Hawaiians now acknowledged by the United States. Finally, continuing
the OHA/DHHL housing partnership will permit the development of
coordinated housing plans serving all Hawaiians in need and not just
those eligible for DHHL leases.
OHA has a long-standing commitment and demonstrated track record of
financing housing for its beneficiaries on DHHL-controlled lands. For
example, we have provided $30 million in loans to DHHL beneficiaries
and made available more than $4 million for the proposed Waimanalo
kupana housing project. We are currently contemplating the allocation
of additional millions to support other critical Hawaiian housing
needs. Clearly, OHA has been and will continue to be prepared to put
its money where the need is. We simply ask that the Federal Government
do no less.
I have appended to my testimony today communications received by
OHA from members of non-DHHL Hawaiian communities seeking our help in
broadening S. 225. I will also provide to the Committee our detailed
amendments to this important housing bill under separate cover. I urge
each member of this Committee to listen to the voices of all the
Hawaiian People, as has OHA, and support efforts to broaden S. 225.
health bill
The Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act has been the law
for approximately ten years. It is now time for reauthorization of that
legislative program. We have been working with representatives of the
Hawaiian health care community, including representatives of the
Queen's Hospital and E ola Mau, to develop joint amendments. Those
efforts have identified numerous issues involving scope of services,
allocation of responsibilities for implementation and coordination of
services, and the proper role of OHA and Papa Ola Lokahi for developing
health policies and programs affecting the Hawaiian people.
It is the position of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs that any re-
authorization of the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act must
reflect the current legal, community and political landscape in order
to better address the dire health statistics of our Hawaiian People.
Among the new realities is the United States' explicit acknowledgment
of its trust and political obligations to Hawaiians. Furthermore, the
health care delivery system contemplated under the Act must begin to
focus on the primary and acute care health needs of the Hawaiian
community.
It is our understanding that a series of community meetings on the
proposed health bill are scheduled to take place throughout the State
in the month of September. We plan to have representatives at each of
these meetings and to refine our views based on the community concerns
raised at those meetings. We ask that the record of this hearing be
held open for at least 30 days following the completion of those
meetings to permit the filing of written final comments to aid the
Subcommittee in its deliberations.
education bill
As in the case of health, federal legislation focusing on the
special educational needs of the Hawaiian community currently exists in
the form of the Native Hawaiian Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.
This legislation is also subject to reauthorization and we have been
working closely with representatives of Hawaiian educational programs
to develop joint amendments. That work has identified four areas that
must be addressed in any reauthorization of the Native Hawaiian
Education Act.
First, the Native Hawaiian Education Act should be amended to
require an Early Childhood Education Council to specifically focus on
the special needs of this group. Second, early childhood education
demonstration projects are necessary because it is time to translate
the studies into meaningful educational programs. Third, we also
believe that any reauthorization must include programs for youths at
risk. Fourth, the Educational Council authorized under the Act to
develop educational policy and coordinate the delivery of educational
services must broadly represent the interests of the entire Hawaiian
community. Because of the obvious conflict problems in awarding
educational assistance funds, it cannot, as some have suggested, be
limited to past and present grant recipients. Rather, grant recipients
should comprise a separate advisory body to the decision-making
Council. In this same vein, any reauthorization must recognize the
mission of OHA mandated under State law. For example, some on the
present Council have suggested that an organization sometimes referred
to as PREL assume the fiscal oversight responsibility now performed by
OHA. However, representatives of the U.S. Department of Education have
voiced some preliminary concerns with respect to this proposal.
Final joint amendments for reauthorization of the Native Hawaiian
Education Act are now in their final stage. Once completed, we will
forward to the Subcommittee for inclusion in the record our detailed
comments on jointly proposed language.
I thank you for the opportunity to testify on these important bills
and look forward to answering any questions you might have on these
bills or any other matter addressing the education, health or housing
needs of our Hawaiian community.
Senator Inouye. Before proceeding with questioning may I
call upon my distinguished colleague, Senator Akaka. Do you
have an opening statement you'd like to make?
opening statement of senator daniel k. akaka
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to
thank you for holding this hearing and also welcome the
Appropriations subcommittee staff to Hawaii. And also to
welcome all of the witnesses and to hear the testimony.
Mr. Chairman, this is an important, important time for
Native Hawaiians. On June 7, 1999 President Clinton issued
Executive Order 13125 to improve the quality of life of Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders through increased participation
in Federal programs where they may be underserved.
This includes the areas of health, human services,
education, housing, labor, transportation and economic and
community development.
The executive order defines the term Pacific Islander to
include the aboriginal, indigenous native peoples of Hawaii. I
welcome this initiative by President Clinton as it acknowledges
the United States' special responsibility for the welfare of
Native Hawaiians.
For far too long congressional initiatives lead by the
senior Senator and the Hawaiian delegation have
represented the main efforts on behalf of the Federal
Government to improve the quality of life for Native Hawaiians.
Initiatives like this offer us new opportunities and resources
to help the people of Hawaii.
Mr. Chairman, I'm also looking forward to the
implementation of a reconciliation process between Native
Hawaiians and the Federal Government. Reconciliation efforts
between the United States and Native Hawaiians were called for
in Public Law 103-150 the Apology Resolution.
Just last month the Department of Interior designated an
official to work on implementing a reconciliation process. The
Department of Justice has also designated an official to assist
with the implementation of Pubic Law 103-150. Although the
process is still in its infancy it is another step towards
improving the future of Native Hawaiians.
As such, I look forward to this hearing and to hear the
witnesses discuss the reauthorization of Native Hawaiian
Education Act, the Native Hawaiian Health Act, and in addition,
Native Hawaiian employment and training programs.
I am confident that this information will be of great
interest and will benefit all of us. Mahalo nui, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Inouye. I thank you very much, Senator Akaka.
May I now call upon Representative Mink.
opening statement of representative patsy mink
Mrs. Mink. Thank you very much, Senator Inouye. I apologize
for coming in late and missing your opening statement, but I
thank you for this opportunity to be present here today.
These are Senate hearings. So I feel highly privileged to
sit in and to participate and to offer a few questions along
the way.
These hearings are very, very important. They will be
recorded. They will constitute a major compendium of current
thoughts and considerations that the Congress must take.
Too often the efforts of the Federal Government are
neglected in the discussions of State-related issues in State
forums.
So the Senator's initiative in convening this session gives
us this marvelous opportunity to focus strictly upon the
Federal attention that these matters have had in the past and
must take in the future.
So I look forward to all witnesses that have been called to
testify today. And I'm sure that the Congress, my body
included, will learn a great deal. Thank you very much,
Senator.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Representative Mink.
I'd like to advise the first panel that the committee will be
submitting questions of a technical nature because of
statistical information.
However, I have just a few questions I'd like to ask. Dr.
LeMahieu, the Heluhelu program, this is a new initiative, isn't
it? Have you had enough experience to give us some reading on
it?
Dr. LeMahieu. No. As a matter of fact in preparing my
statements, one of the things that I tried to push my staff was
to provide any evaluation and statistical data that might speak
to that. And, unfortunately, given its newness and the time
that we've had to look at it it just doesn't exist yet.
Senator Inouye. If I may ask, Dr. Anderson. About 20 years
ago after meeting with teachers and the organization of
teachers I was told that large numbers of Native Hawaiian
children were either inattentive in classes or not
participating in school activities.
I called upon the infant Alu Like organization, at that
time, to conduct a study. And the study showed that an
extremely high percentage of young children in Nanakuli, for
example, had otitis. And in some cases they were totally deaf.
But the educational system had no way of determining the
degree of deafness. As a result they weren't listening to
anything and they were sitting in the back.
Do you have any information on the statistics of otitis at
this time?
Dr. Anderson. What was that you said? [Laughter.]
No, I apologize I don't. We have some representatives from
the Department, though, in the audience here. Maybe I could ask
anyone who does know anything about that. Not seeing anyone.
Senator Inouye. Well, we will be submitting that question
to you.
Dr. Anderson. I will be happy to get back to you any
statistics we have on that. I did have a chance to go to a
training program in Harvard just 2 weeks ago with my fellow
health directors.
This problem of hearing in the schools is apparently a
national program unrecognized. But now proposals being made
across the country to screen children over the country to see
if they are, in fact, deprived of any hearing that might affect
their education.
I think that might be something we would want to look into
here. But I do have the statistics for you. I will try to get
you some.
Senator Inouye. Ms. Akiba, at the present time the national
unemployment rate is 4.3 percent. What is the unemployment rate
in the State of Hawaii?
Ms. Akiba. Last month's total was about 6.2 percent
statewide but there are pockets, of course, on the other
islands, particularly in areas of Moloka'i, the Big Island and
Kaua'i that are much higher. But the statewide average was 6.2
percent.
Senator Inouye. Do you have this statistic broken down in
ethnic groups? If so, what is the Native Hawaiian unemployment?
Ms. Akiba. I think if we were to look through our, actually
combining our sources of data through some of our welfare-to-
work databases we would find the unemployment rate is much
higher among Native Hawaiians as well as other Pacific
Islanders who are currently either unemployed or underemployed
at a statistically significant rate in comparison to other
groups in Hawaii.
Senator Inouye. Would you be able to provide us with those
numbers?
Ms. Akiba. Yes, I think we would be able to provide you
with the specific numbers.
[The information follows:]
Letter From Lorraine Akiba
State of Hawaii,
Department of Labor and Industrial Relations,
Honolulu, Hawaii, August 24, 1999.
The Honorable Arlen Specter,
Chairperson, Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Labor,
Health, Education and Human Services, Dirksen Senate Office
Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Specter: I am responding to questions raised at a
Senate Appropriations Committee hearing held in Hawaii on August 16,
1999, which was presided by Senator Daniel K. Inouye.
In answer to Senator Inouye's question regarding the employment
statistics for people of Hawaiian ancestry, I am enclosing a copy of
our most recent Labor Force Information for the period ending June,
1999. The information includes employment data about various ethnic
groups residing in Hawaii, including Hawaiians.
With respect to Representative Mink's question about the selection
process for Hawaii's Job Corp program, according to information
received form USDOL regional staff, the selection is determined through
a Request for Proposal (RFP) process. Hawaii's present Job Corp
contract was awarded in February of 1997 and runs through February,
2002.
We appreciate the opportunity to present information about federal
programs which are very important to the Department of Labor and
Industrial Relations and the State of Hawaii. If I can be of any
further assistance, please call me at (808) 586-8844.
Very truly yours,
Lorraine H. Akiba,
Director.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T07AU16S.000
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T07AU16S.001
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T07AU16S.002
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T07AU16S.003
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T07AU16S.004
unemployed welfare recipients
Contact: Edward Nishimura, Hawaii State Department of Human Services
(DHS), Research Office.
Date: August 16, 1999
Comments:
There is no unemployment rate of welfare recipients.
Based on income data, an assumption can be made as to those
recipients who are unemployed. Data is not readily available by
ethnicity and areas. A memorandum must be initiated by our Department's
Director to the DHS' Director requesting such data. (Process may take
two weeks before we can meet with DHS research staff to discuss
request).
DHS is not able to determine if welfare unemployed are in the labor
force and are available for work. DHS determination of unemployed
differs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics definition of the
unemployed.
Senator Inouye. Ms. Akana, do you have the document you can
share with us on your statement that 65 percent of the children
born today to Native Hawaiian parents are at risk?
Ms. Akiba. Yes, Senator. Not with my testimony but I will
be more than happy to have it to you this afternoon. It was
information that is gathered to put together my speech.
[The information follows:]
Letter From Rowena Akana
State of Hawai'i,
Office of Hawaiian Affairs,
Honolulu, Hawai'i, August 16, 1999.
Bettilou Taylor,
Clerk, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and
Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, C/O Office of
Senator Inouye, Prince Kuhio Federal Building, Room 7-212, 300
Ala Moana Boulevard, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Dear Ms. Taylor: In my testimony before the Subcommittee Hearing
held August 16, 1999 in Honolulu, Hawaii, I included the following:
``Based on statistics reported by the State's Healthy Start Program, of
every 100 Hawaiian children born today, 65 begin life `at risk' ''.
Following my testimony, Senator Inouye asked that I provide to the
Subcommittee the underlying documentation for that statement.
In reviewing the statement in question, it appears that the
emphasis was changed in the editorial process. Based on the supporting
documentation, the statement was to read: ``Based on statistics
reported by the State's Healthy Start Program, of every 100 children
identified as `at risk', 65 are Native Hawaiian.''
The source of this statement, as corrected, is data reported by the
Hawaii Department of Health as reported in the Native Hawaiian Data
Book (1998), p. 296. A copy of that page and other relevant pages from
the Data Book are attached.
While the implication of my original statement (that 65 percent of
all Hawaiian children are born ``at risk'') is incorrect, the ratio of
Hawaiian children identified as ``at risk'' relative to other children
is equally shocking. As documented in the attachments, the rate of ``at
risk'' identification for Hawaiian children is 6.5 times higher than
children of Filipino ancestry, almost 16 times higher than children of
Caucasian ancestry, 54 times higher than children of Japanese ancestry
and 325 times higher than children of Chinese ancestry. This dramatic
over-representation of Hawaiian children among the ranks of ``at risk''
infants cries out for attention at all levels of government.
In sum, I apologize for the error of emphasis in my August 16
testimony. However, I believe that the information provided above
points in the same direction I urged in my original testimony--the
health needs of our Hawaiian community, with particular reference to
our Hawaiian children, demand the immediate and meaningful attention of
the Federal Government. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs stands ready to
work with the Congress and the Federal Executive Branch to address the
needs of the Hawaiian community.
For your convenience, I have enclosed a corrected copy of my
testimony and electronic copies in both Word 97 and WordPerfect 8.0.
Should you require any additional information or documentation, please
contact Mr. Kina Akana, my Chief-of-Staff, at (808) 594-0202.
Sincerely,
Rowena Akana,
Chair, Board of Trustees.
Child Abuse and Neglect
TABLE 5.14.--NEWBORNS AND THEIR FAMILIES SERVED BY THE HEALTHY START PROGRAM, DOH, FISCAL YEAR 1992-93TO FISCAL
YEAR 1996-97
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal year--
Families ------------------------------------------------------
1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Screened................................................. 7,732 9,655 9,082 9,090 9,220
Screened Positive........................................ 3,847 4,994 4,847 5,044 5,370
Assessed................................................. 3,170 3,800 3,816 3,764 4,094
Estimated High Risk \1\.................................. 2,360 3,002 3,045 2,777 2,101
Documented High Risk..................................... 1,945 2,284 2,397 2,072 2,874
Accepted Services........................................ 881 1,011 1,165 762 1,217
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Estimated High Risk (Screened Positive/Assessed) Documented High Risk. This includes a projection
of High Risk Children among missed Assessment attempts as well as Documented High Risk Children.
Source: Hawai'i State, Department of Health, Healthy Start Program. Special Tabulation.
Approximately half of all births throughout the state receive hospital based screening for factors associated
with family dysfunction. Of the 9,220 families screened during fiscal year 1996-97, 4,094 families (44.4
percent) were found to have risk factors that could lead to child abuse or neglect. These families were
interviewed using a Family Stress Checklist to determine if the family is at risk for child abuse and neglect.
A total of 2,101 families (22.8 percent) were assessed to be at risk and were offered home intervention
services. Of this number, 1,217 families were admitted to a program for intervention services.
TABLE 5.15.--GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF FAMILIES IDENTIFIED AT ESTIMATED HIGH RISK BY THE HEALTHY START PROGRAM,
DOH, FISCAL YEAR 1993-93 TO FISCAL YEAR 1996-97
[In percent]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percent Estimated High Risk
------------------------------------------------------
Island/Program Site Fiscal year--
------------------------------------------------------
1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
O'ahu:
Central O'ahu CFS.................................... 20.1 22.9 24.8 27.0 28.4
Diamond Head HFSC.................................... 26.8 30.1 29.3 28.3 26.3
'Ewa HFSC............................................ 27.4 25.5 29.3 28.8 25.1
Kalihi Palama........................................ 42.9 43.1 47.7 40.2 42.1
North Shore C.C...................................... ......... ......... 30.0 37.1 97.7
Wai'anae CFS......................................... 47.0 53.6 57.3 52.8 27.6
Windward PACT........................................ 27.6 29.8 36.4 33.3 51.4
Ko'olauloa........................................... ......... ......... ......... ......... 32.9
Hawai'i:
Hilo FSS............................................. 44.2 36.2 37.3 36.5 32.5
Puna FSS............................................. 55.5 46.2 47.6 35.5 40.7
West Hawai'i FSS..................................... 27.1 28.1 31.0 20.5 35.9
Kauai'i: Kaua'i CFS...................................... 34.6 32.6 27.9 20.4 22.9
Lana'i: Lana'i........................................... ......... ......... 38.1 38.1 17.0
Maui: Maui FSS........................................... 19.4 23.4 25.7 24.6 23.8
Moloka'i: Moloka'i FSS................................... ( \1\ ) ( \1\ ) ( \1\ ) ( \1\ ) 73.0
Statewide................................................ 30.5 31.1 33.5 30.5 .........
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Pending.
Source: Hawai'i State, Department of Health, Healthy Start Program. Special Tabulation.
The percentage of high risk families out of the total screened population was highest in the North Shore area of
O'ahu.
TABLE 5.16.--SERVICES AVAILABLE TO FAMILIES IDENTIFIED AT HIGH RISK BY THE HEALTHY START PROGRAM, DOH, FISCAL YEAR 1996-97
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Admission Direct Service Refer Affected Unduplicated
------------------------------------------------------------------ Families Affected
Service ---------------------
Percent Percent Percent Percent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dental.......................................................... 203 14.8 34 2.5 116 8.5 279 20.4
Child Care...................................................... 95 6.9 41 3.0 172 12.6 247 18.0
Respite Care.................................................... 145 10.6 131 9.6 146 10.7 272 19.9
Financial....................................................... 941 68.7 56 4.1 332 24.3 1,047 76.5
Emp/Adult School................................................ 128 9.4 46 3.4 175 12.8 273 19.9
Housing......................................................... 278 20.3 69 5.0 146 10.7 388 28.0
Nutrition....................................................... 902 65.9 87 6.4 420 30.7 1,067 77.9
Mental Health/Family Counsel.................................... 82 6.0 21 1.5 104 7.6 164 12.0
Support Group................................................... 166 12.1 330 24.1 346 25.3 503 36.7
PHN............................................................. 234 17.1 36 2.6 170 12.4 346 25.3
Substance Abuse Treatment....................................... 56 4.1 8 .6 38 2.8 84 6.1
Women's Shelter................................................. 33 2.4 14 1.0 44 3.2 69 5.0
Legal........................................................... 68 5.0 15 1.1 110 8.0 152 11.1
Material Assistance............................................. 294 21.5 609 44.5 658 48.1 817 59.7
Family Planning................................................. 511 37.3 846 61.8 682 49.8 1,177 86.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Families active between 7/1/96 and 6/30/97 = 2,350; and served 12 or more months before 6/30/97 = 1,369.
Source: Hawai'i State, Department of Health, Healthy Start Program. Special Tabulation.
The Healthy Start Program assists parents to enhance child development and parent-child interaction and promotes positive parenting through home
intervention services. The Healthy Start Program helps them to use community resources. The largest referrals were made for financial services to the
Medicaid Program or the State Health Insurance Program (SHIP), other referrals directed parents to health care services, respite care services, Women,
Infant and Children (WIC) and Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) nutrition services.
TABLE 5.17.--PERCENT DISTRIBUTION OF NEW BIRTHS IDENTIFIED AND ACCEPTED SERVICES FROM HEALTHY START PROGRAMS:
FISCAL YEAR 1996-97
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Island Statewide
Child's Race ----------------------------------------------------------------
O'ahu Maui Hawai'i Kana'i Moloka'i Percent
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Black.......................................... 13 4 4 1 ........ 22 1.8
Caucasian...................................... 8 19 18 4 1 50 4.1
Chinese........................................ 1 ...... ....... 1 ........ 2 .2
Filipino....................................... 44 29 28 17 4 122 10.0
Hawaiian....................................... 386 124 233 41 7 791 65.0
Japanese....................................... 3 6 2 4 ........ 15 1.2
Korean......................................... 1 ...... ....... ...... ........ 1 .1
Mexican........................................ ...... 5 2 ...... ........ 7 .6
Portuguese..................................... ...... 2 ....... 2 ........ 4 .3
Puerto/Hispanic................................ 7 6 2 2 1 18 1.5
Samoan......................................... 42 2 3 ...... ........ 47 3.9
Other Asian.................................... 8 ...... ....... ...... ........ 8 .7
Other Pacific Isle............................. 22 7 9 1 ........ 39 3.2
Native American................................ ...... 2 3 2 ........ 7 .6
Other Mixed.................................... 66 2 9 ...... 5 82 6.7
Vietnamese..................................... ...... 1 ....... ...... ........ 1 .1
Unknown........................................ 1 ...... ....... ...... ........ 1 .1
----------------------------------------------------------------
Total.................................... 602 209 313 75 18 1,217 .......
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Hawai'i State. Department of Health. Healthy Start Program. Special Tabulation.
Early identification of families at risk is key to the Healthy Start Program. Eligible births throughout the
state receive hospital-based screening for factors associated with family dysfunction. Over 65 percent of
referrals to Healthy Start in fiscal year 1996-97 were Native Hawaiian newborns. In every region of Hawai'i,
many Native Hawaiian newborns begin life in a potentially hazardous predicament, far higher than any other
racial group. Fortunately, measures are being taken to identify high risk situations and offer support
services.
Senator Inouye. Dr. Anderson, does that jive with your
numbers? That 65 percent of Native Hawaiian children are born
at risk?
Dr. Anderson. Let me ask, Claire, do you have any
information that might be helpful in confirming that? Certainly
that's not out of line when you look at the numbers that we see
in high risk categories later on in life. But we will get the
numbers to you.
Senator Inouye. Obviously I have many, many other questions
I'd like to ask but because of the time factor may I now call
upon Senator Akaka.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. But
because of the time factor I'll follow your questions. I just
want to ask Ms. Akiba, the information you will be providing
the committee would include a breakdown of Native Hawaiians
unemployed on each island?
Ms. Akiba. We'll try to provide that to you per island. I'm
not sure if we will be able to provide it per island but we
will at least have Native Hawaiian data for the State.
Senator Akaka. Thank you.
Senator Inouye. Representative Mink.
Mrs. Mink. Thank you very much. Of course lots of
questions. But one specific challenge that Ms. Akiba made to us
in the Congress had to do with the Job Corps. And I wonder if
you could elaborate on that specifically what the difficulties
are in the transfer over to the State and if the State is
willing to run the Job Corps?
Ms. Akiba. I think at this point the procedure is basically
one like a request for proposal, like an RFP process. Then an
appropriate applicant for the RFP award would apply.
I think in the past there's been a problem in terms of
capacity here for the State alone to run it. I don't know if
there might be other appropriate private sector organizations,
community-based organizations or other entities locally that
have the same capabilities as the Utah-based organization which
currently runs Hawaii Job Corps as well as other Job Corps
across the country.
I'm posing the question to the delegation to perhaps re-
look at this and maybe provide an opportunity for Hawaii's
community-based organizations and others who might be in a
position now to be able to take on the program and provide
quality services, and continue the quality direction of the Job
Corps but also with a local emphasis.
Mrs. Mink. What is the Federal impediment right now that
prevents the State from taking it over?
Ms. Akiba. I'm not sure if it's totally funding. As I
understand it it was funding limitations and just the economies
of scale in the past. I think, perhaps, if the RFP process were
to encourage more local people or local organizations to apply
for the opportunity to be looked at as a potential organization
that could manage the job, and run the Job Corps programs.
Mrs. Mink. Could you supply the specifics as to what
changes are in order to make it possible for the State to run
the program? I would certainly want to support that. Thank you.
Ms. Akiba. I will.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much. Before calling upon
the next panel, I just want to advise those who may be
interested that in 1959 when the Omnibus Statehood Act was
passed and became law of the land, the Federal Government
transferred title and administrative responsibilities of the
homestead lands to the State of Hawaii.
However, in doing so it required that the State submit to
the Federal Government all changes to that law, the Kuhio Law.
That has been the precedent and the custom where the State
legislature would pass legislation and forward it to the
Congress. The Congress in turn would either approve or
disapprove.
Accordingly, if the State of Hawaii is desirous of changing
the blood quantum requirements set forth in the Kuhio Law, I
would suggest that you call upon your State legislature, after
adequate debate, decide upon what quantum you wish and forward
that to the Congress of the United States.
I think it would be wholly inappropriate for the Congress
to initiate this change. It is a change that should be
initiated in the State of Hawaii.
With that I'd like to thank the first panel and we will be
submitting questions as I noted. Thank you.
Panel No. 2 consists of the following: The chairman of the
board of directors of Papa Ola Lokahi, Mr. Myron Thompson; and
Mr. Herb Campos and Ms. JoAnn Tsark of Papa Ola Lokahi; Dr.
Naleen Andrade, department of psychiatry, John A. Burns School
of Medicine, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, of E Ola Mau; Ms. Elizabeth
Giesting, executive director of the Hawaii State Primary Care
Association.
STATEMENT OF MYRON THOMPSON, CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF
DIRECTORS, PAPA OLA LOKAHI
Senator Inouye. Now if I may proceed. May I call upon Mr.
Myron Thompson, chairman of the board of Papa Ola Lokahi.
Mr. Thompson. Aloha, Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka,
Congresswoman Mink, your very capable staff from your
respective offices as well as the different departments of the
United States.
I am Myron, ``Pinky'' Thompson. I'm actively involved with
some of the governing boards of the Native Hawaiian
organizations who will be presenting their testimonies to you
today.
They will be describing the impact that federally funded
Native Hawaiian programs have had on the indigenous people of
Hawaii.
In brief, our history depicts how the Native Hawaiians went
from being a self-sustaining society of over 800,000 people who
are healthy safe and productive to 90,000 individuals who lost
their form of government, land, culture, language, health and
overall sense of self worth in a matter of just over 200 years.
The U.S. Government understands the demise of the Native
Hawaiian people in their own homeland and recognizes Native
Hawaiians as having a trust relationship with the U.S.
Government similar to that of other Native American people by
the passage of 166 laws.
Through various Native Hawaiian programs funded by the
Federal Government many Native Hawaiians have changed their
lives for the better.
Public school kindergarten entrance scores for children who
participated in our family-based educational center programs
increased from the 11 percentile to the 30 percentile. Non-
Hawaiian children tested out at the 18 percentile.
Higher education enrollment of Native Hawaiian students at
the University of Hawaii system grew over 50 percent over the
past decade, now making up 13.6 percent of the student body, an
all-time high.
Native Hawaiian job placement rate in 1998 was 73 percent
compared to the U.S. Department of Labor's recommended
performance standard of 52 percent.
Native Hawaiian's substance abuse prevention projects
working with offenders and ex-offenders resulted in a
recidivism rate of 5 percent compared to the State's 60 percent
for the same target group.
Ninety-two Native Hawaiians received scholarships for
advanced health professional education. Thirty Native Hawaiian
physicians have now been trained through the Native Hawaiian
Health Care Improvement Act.
Although Native Hawaiians still lead the statistics for
social, health and education ills, today we also have more
Native Hawaiians serving in leadership positions in government,
education, business, military and so forth than we have ever
had in the past. This trend has only recently started to make
an impact.
Much, much more is needed to break free from the
multigenerational cycle of interpsyche depression. We are now
at a point where we must shift from treatment to prevention.
And it is the Federal funds for Native Hawaiian programs that
have given us this opportunity to make that shift.
Native Hawaiian programs that will be coming before you are
actively pursuing their goals toward long-term productivity.
It is our desire that in time many of the Native Hawaiian
programs as they exist today will not be necessary tomorrow as
Native Hawaiians improve their quality of life and are once
again healthy, safe and productive in their own special island
home.
Your continued support to these Native Hawaiian programs at
this time is needed to achieve our common vision of success.
We have a sense that much of the success in what these
organizations have achieved for Native Hawaiians is
transferable and adaptable to other communities and countries.
We seek your assistance in achieving this outcome, thus
reaping greater and broader benefit from the financial
investment by our Federal Government.
Collectively we have a vision and we need your assistance
to bring it about. Our vision is that Native Hawaiians are once
again healthy, safe, and productive. With the continued
investment in Native Hawaiians by the Federal Government at
this time we will be able to be realize our vision and beliefs
in what we are doing.
We believe that as individuals Native Hawaiians will be
strong in body, mind and spirit, rooted in the values of
Hawaii, achieve harmony and spiritual connection with their
families and communities, be effective leaders and responsible
citizens and attain self-reliance.
We believe Native Hawaiian families who perpetuate Hawaiian
culture and values have strong, successful relationships,
support their healthy development and well-being of each member
and achieve financial and economic success.
We believe the Native Hawaiian communities will have
healthy environments, social harmony with cultural respect,
dynamic leadership, civic responsibility and economic
opportunities.
prepared statement
We envision Hawaii, our special island home, guided by the
shared values of all of its people to be healthy, safe and
productive.
Thank you for your continued support and for this
opportunity to testify before you.
Senator Inouye. I thank you, Mr. Thompson.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Myron Thompson
Aloha Senators of the Subcommittee and the Hawaii Congressional
Delegation.
I am Myron ``Pinky'' Thompson, a Native Hawaiian and very proud of
it. I am actively involved with many of the governing boards of the
Native Hawaiian organizations that will be presenting their testimonies
to you today. They will be describing the impact that federally funded
Native Hawaiian programs have had on the indigenous people of Hawaii.
To better understand why the United States government has a ``trust
relationship'' with the Native Hawaiians similar to Native Americans,
one must understand a little of the history. Prior to 1778, Hawaii was
home to an estimated population of over 800,000 people in a well-
balanced social-economic system where Native Hawaiians were, for the
most part, healthy, safe, and productive. With the ``discovery'' of the
Hawaiian Islands by Captain James Cook in 1778, Hawaii eventually
became a strategic location in trade shipping routes. Trading attracted
a variety of ``outsiders'' to the islands: first for the sandalwood,
then whaling, then missionaries, then as sugar and pineapple plantation
owners. Over the years Native Hawaiians lost massive amounts of land to
these ``outsiders.'' At the same time, the indigenous population
dropped to an estimated 90,000 as their health deteriorated with the
introduction of diseases from which the Native Hawaiians were not
naturally immune such as small pox, cholera, measles, etc. During this
time of growth, the United States entered into a number of treaties and
conventions with the Hawaiian monarchy recognizing that the Hawaiian
Kingdom was indeed a sovereign entity.
In January 1893, a committee of planters and businessmen from the
United States, with the active help of the United States Minister in
Honolulu and the United States Navy, imprisoned the reigning monarch
and overthrew the Kingdom of Hawaii. In 1898, Congress annexed Hawaii
to the United States without the two-thirds Senate vote required for
annexation by treaty. With the annexation, 1.8 million acres of land
was taken by the government and later transferred to the new
territorial government of Hawaii. Since then, 166 bills regarding
Native Hawaiians became law. In a 1993 Joint Resolution, Congress
acknowledged that the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii was
``illegal.''
Our history depicts how the Native Hawaiians went from being a
self-sustaining society who were healthy, safe, and productive, to a
people who lost much of their form of governance, land, culture,
language, health, and heritage in a matter of just over 200 years. The
United States government understands the demise of the Native Hawaiian
people in their own home land and now recognizes Native Hawaiians as
having a ``trust relationship'' with the United States government
similar to that of other Native American people.
Through various Native Hawaiian programs funded by the federal
government, many Native Hawaiians have changed their lives for the
better:
--School readiness for Native Hawaiian preschoolers improved. Raised
average Kindergarten vocabulary scores for Family Based
Education Center participants to 30th percentile compared to
18th percentile for all State Department of Education schools
and 11th percentile for all Hawaiian students. (Source:
Kamehameha Schools report, 1995)
--Higher education enrollment rate of Native Hawaiian students at the
University of Hawaii system grew over 50 percent over the past
decade, now making up 13.6 percent of the student body, an all-
time high. (Source: University of Hawaii, Institutional
Research Office, 1997 enrollment)
--Native Hawaiian job placement rate in 1998 was 73 percent compared
to the U.S. Department of Labor's recommended performance
standard of 52 percent. (Source: ALU LIKE, Inc. Employment and
Training report, August 1999)
--Native Hawaiian Substance Abuse Prevention Project working with
offenders/ex-offenders resulted in a recidivism rate of 5
percent compared to the state's 60 percent for the same target
group. (Source: Hawaii Paroling Authority)
--92 Native Hawaiians received scholarships for advanced health
professional education. 30 Native Hawaiian physicians have now
been trained through the Native Hawaiian Health Care
Improvement Act. (Source: Papa Ola Lokahi report, 1999)
Although Native Hawaiians still overwhelmingly lead the statistics
for social, health, and education ills, today we also have more Native
Hawaiians serving in leadership positions in government, education,
business, military, etc. than we have ever had in the past. Even with
this trend, the various Native Hawaiian programs only recently started
to make an impact. Much, much more is needed to break free from the
multi-generational dependency cycle. We are now at a critical junction
to shift from treatment to prevention. Federal funds for Native
Hawaiian programs thus far have planted the seeds and set into motion
the forces necessary to turn the tide around. Now is not the time to
halt or reduce funding but to increase--double, even triple--the
investment to reap long-term and lasting outcomes. The Native Hawaiian
programs that will be coming before you are actively pursuing their
goals toward long-term productivity. It is our desire that in time,
many of the Native Hawaiian programs as they exist today, will not be
necessary tomorrow as Native Hawaiians improve their quality of life
and are once again healthy, safe, and productive in their own special
island home. Your continued support to these Native Hawaiian programs
at this time is desperately needed to achieve our common vision of
success.
Much of the successes in what these organizations are achieving for
the Native Hawaiians are also transferable and adaptable to other
communities and countries; thus reaping greater and broader benefit
from the financial investment by the federal government.
Collectively, we have a vision and we need your assistance in
bringing this about:
--We envision Hawaii, our special island home, as healthy, safe, and
productive, and guided by the shared values of all its people.
--We believe that as individuals, Native Hawaiians will be strong in
body, mind and spirit, rooted in the values of Hawaii; achieve
harmony and spiritual connection with their families and
communities; be effective leaders and responsible citizens; and
attain self-reliance.
--We believe that Native Hawaiian families will perpetuate Hawaiian
culture and values; have strong successful relationships;
support the healthy development and well being of each member;
and achieve financial and economic success.
--We believe the Native Hawaiian communities will have healthy
environments; social harmony with cultural respect; dynamic
leadership; civic responsibility; and economic opportunities.
I strongly urge this subcommittee to understand our vision and help
us get there through increased and continued funding of Native Hawaiian
programs. Thank you for this opportunity to testify before you.
STATEMENT OF HERB CAMPOS, PAPA OLA LOKAHI
Senator Inouye. May I now call on Mr. Herb Campos.
Mr. Campos. Thank you, Senator. Aloha to you, Senator, and
to the members of your subcommittee. And a very special aloha
nui loa to the rest of the Hawaii delegation, Senator Akaka and
Representative Mink. And especially, Senator Akaka, it's good
to see you again after being with you in the Oval Office to see
that historic signing. I'm sure it will do our people a lot of
good.
We are particularly pleased to welcome you back, Senator
Inouye, home for his health portion of the health agenda for
you have shared with us and participated in our Native Hawaiian
Health, Wellness Summit Aha in 1998, and, recently, our Native
Health Forum held in February of this year.
My name is Herb Campos and I am an officer of the Papa Ola
Lokahi, the board and directors, and president of the Native
Hawaiian Health Care System for Maui, Hui No Ke Ola Pono.
In the few minutes available I would like to share with you
the vision of our five Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems and
Papa Ola Lokahi.
I will now review with you our accomplishments since the
reauthorization of our Act in 1992, and put forth the
challenges we see for the Native Hawaiian health in the future.
First, you need to know that Hawaii, known as the ``health
care state'' is for many that. But not for Hawaiians. For many
Hawaiians it's just the opposite. Though estimates may vary,
currently Native Hawaiians without health insurance in Hawaii
are as high as 30,000.
Further, the State is jeopardy of losing up to $9 million
in Federal aid for not initiating any program to take advantage
of CHIP, the Children's Health Program. An estimated 12,000
Hawaiian children would be eligible for this program under
current Federal guidelines.
Finally, some specific chronic disease rates for Native
Hawaiians remain highest in the nation. Native Hawaiians of
full Hawaiian ancestry have diabetes, morbidity rate
approaching 65 percent.
Additionally, Native Hawaiians account for almost half of
the State's asthma cases. In dental health, access to services,
particularly preventive services which are non-existent for
those without private dental service.
Presently the State's much praised Medquest program does
not provide dental coverage for adults. Thus, adult Native
Hawaiians without insurance and those on the State's Medquest
program have no dental coverage.
These are but some of the multitude of health issues
currently affecting Native Hawaiians in our State.
Mr. Myron Thompson has shared with you a vision for Native
Hawaiians and that vision is shared by all of us in the Native
Hawaiian health arena. As these islands' first people, the
kanaka maoli, and our islands' host culture we Native Hawaiians
have seen extreme changes and endured many hurts and wrongful
acts, yet we maintain our pride in who we are and a resilience
uncommon in many native peoples.
You see, our culture, which has evolved for over a thousand
years with its values, provides a solid foundation for living
on islands in a balanced, healthy manner.
Presently, the stated congressional policy for Native
Hawaiian health in the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement
Act, and that for American Indians and Alaskan Native Health
Care Improvement Act is similar: To raise the health status to
the highest possible level and to provide all resources
necessary to make this policy effective.
Yet, there is an extreme disparity in Federal funding to
achieve this policy among our native peoples. By the Indian
Health Service data, the Federal expenditure on a per capita
basis for American Indians and Alaskan Natives is about $1,200.
For Native Hawaiians per capita is about $16.
We hope that beginning with this year appropriation and
into reauthorization period for the Native Hawaiian Health Care
Improvement Act, consideration will be given to the Native
Hawaiians achieving some degree of funding parity with American
Indians and Alaskan Natives.
Now, let's look into our five Native Hawaiian health care
systems. Each system serves as entry points for many Native
Hawaiians into the Native health care system or as a first step
toward a personal search for better health.
At the systems' core are culturally-competent and dedicated
staff determined to make their respective Native Hawaiian
communities much healthier.
Each system has a community-based board of directors, all
of whom are Native Hawaiian ancestry and from their respective
system's service area.
Together the systems since 1992 have provided a
statewide network for health service delivery, and today
provide services to over 20,000 Native Hawaiians. These
services include outreach and case management whereby systems
work with patients and clients to support their compliance in
regards to medicine, doctors' appointments and referrals to
specialists.
Screenings whereby systems provide and facilitate initial
assessments for chronic diseases in cancer, diabetes, and
cardiovascular disease.
Whereby systems access provide assistance to clients in
need of health services but unable to receive such services
whether because of lack of insurance, lack of transportation or
feeling of an alienation from health care providers.
Lifestyle modification. Whereby the systems provide special
programs focusing on diet and nutrition.
Primary care. Whereby systems provide clients with such
care either by contract or direct service as with the Kaua'i
system with dentistry.
Last but not least, traditional Native Hawaiian healing.
Whereby systems refer clients to practitioners of traditional
Native Hawaiian healing practices including lomi-lomi, la'au
lapa'au and ho'oponopono.
The Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems include the island
of Kauai, Ho'ola Lahui Hawaii, which serves native populations
of the island of Kaua'i and Ni'ihau. Its executive director is
David Peters.
Ke Ola Mamo which serve the native population of O'ahu,
executive director Dexter Soares.
No Pu'uwai which serves the Native Hawaiian population of
the island of Moloka'i and Lana'i. The executive director,
Billy Akutagawa.
The island of Maui which serves the island's native
population Hui No Ke Ola Pono, executive director Mei-Ling
Chang.
Last but not least, of course is Hui Malama Ola Na `Oiwi
serving our largest island of Hawaii and its native population.
The executive director there is Sonny Kinney.
Together through their work along with that of the
community health centers and other service providers, Native
Hawaiian morbidity rates for some cancers and diabetes have
been reduced.
Health is now on the Native Hawaiian personal agenda.
Preventive health practices including screenings, nutrition-
based programs and personal health care have all now gained
considerable acceptance in our Native Hawaiian community.
Papa Ola Lokahi, the consortium of public agencies and
private non-profit organizations concerned with improving
Native Hawaiian status, is like the birth mother for our Native
Hawaiian system.
Since its formation in 1988 Papa has moved ahead with its
multiple mandates identified in the Native Hawaiian Health Care
Improvement Act.
This has included formulating the system and providing them
with ongoing training and technical assistance, advocating for
Native Hawaiian health issues and concerns on the local,
national and international scenes, supporting research efforts
focused on Native Hawaiian health concerns and issues,
providing support to the Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship
Program, and undertaking special demonstration projects which
have important significance including projects in HIV/AIDS,
traditional healing, and diabetes and cancer.
Papa Henry Auwae will discuss some of his thoughts as it
relates to traditional healing.
Ms. JoAnn Tsark, research director for Papa Ola Lokahi's
will discuss Papa's diabetes initiative in greater detail in
her testimony.
Attached to my testimony today is a brief summary of the
accomplishments to date of Papa Ola Lokahi and the other
components of the Native Hawaiian initiative including the
Native Hawaiian Health Systems and the Native Hawaiian Health
Scholarship Program, if you look at attachment 1.
I also have noted in attachment the ongoing health
disparities in the Native Hawaiian health community. The U.S.
Surgeon's efforts to eliminate these disparities through the
new Healthy People 2010 initiative, if you check attachment 2.
Finally, we have attached for your review the chronology of
Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act in attachment 3.
Our future challenge in Native Hawaiian health is clear. We
need to find the keys to wellness for our people.
The Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act has allowed
us to begin that process. We are well on our way. Yet the
journey is not complete. It is our hope that with the
reauthorization that journey can be completed.
We are offering recommendations for some amendments to the
existing legislation which we feel will enable us not only to
better serve our people but, more importantly, to enable and
empower all Native Hawaiians to take hold of the responsibility
for their own health and wellness.
We know our challenge as a people is much larger than
simply addressing those Native Hawaiian issues that are health-
related.
Education and economic stability through employment, home
ownership, and access and utilization of our natural resources
from the land and sea are essential parts of the Hawaiian
wellness and pono to our people.
Our challenge is to prepare this and future generations of
Native Hawaiians for living in the 21st century both as a
native people proud of our heritage, strong in our culture and
its values, and as positive healthy citizens of the world
contributing to our island society, making it a healthy and
safe place in which to live.
prepared statement
On the behalf of the Native Hawaiian health care systems
and Papa Ola Lokahi, thank you for giving us the opportunity to
appear before you this morning. Aloha to all of you.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Mr. Campos.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Herb Campos
The Honorable Arlen Specter, Chairman: Aloha Mr. Chairman, Members
of your Subcommittee, and Members of our Congressional Delegation: We
are particularly pleased to welcome Senator Inouye home for this health
portion of the agenda as he has participated with us in our islands'
`aha and the Native Hawaiian Health and Wellness Summit in 1998, and,
most recently, our Native Hawaiian Health Forum held in February of
this year.
My name is Herb Campos and I am an officer of the Papa Ola Lokahi
board and President of the Native Hawaiian Health Care System for Maui,
Hui No Ke Ola Pono. In the few minutes available to me I would like to
share with you the vision of our five Native Hawaiian Health Care
Systems and Papa Ola Lokahi, review with you our accomplishments since
the reauthorization of our Act in 1992, and put forth the challenges we
see for Native Hawaiian health in the future as we begin the new
millennium.
hawaii not the health state for native hawaiians
First, you need to know that Hawaii is not the ``Health State'' for
many Native Hawaiians. Though estimates vary, currently, Native
Hawaiians without any form of health insurance are as high as 30,000
people. Further, the State is in jeopardy of losing up to $9 million in
federal aid for not initiating any program to take advantage of CHIP,
the Children's Health Insurance Program. An estimated 12,000 Native
Hawaiian children would be eligible for this program under current
federal guidelines. Finally, some specific chronic disease rates for
Native Hawaiians remain the highest in the nation. Native Hawaiians of
full Hawaiian ancestry have a diabetes morbidity rate approaching 65
percent. Additionally, Native Hawaiians account for almost half of this
state's asthma cases. In dental health, access to services,
particularly preventive services, are non-existent for those without
private dental insurance. Presently, the state's much totted MEDQUEST
program does not provide dental coverage for adults. Thus, Native
Hawaiians without insurance and those on the state's MEDQUEST program
have no dental coverage. These are but some of a multitude of health
issues currently effecting Native Hawaiian health in our state.
native hawaiians search for health funding parity with other native
americans
Mr. Myron Thompson has shared with you a vision for Native
Hawaiians . . . that vision is shared by all of us in the Native
Hawaiian health arena. As these islands' first people, as native
peoples, and as the host culture, Native Hawaiians have seen extreme
changes and endured many hurts and wrongful acts, yet retain a pride in
who we are and a resilience uncommon in many native peoples. You see,
our culture which has evolved for over a thousand years with its values
provides a solid foundation for living on islands in a balanced and
healthful manner.
Presently, the stated Congressional policy for Native Hawaiian
health as stated in the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act and
that for American Indians and Alaskan Natives as stated in the American
Indian Health Care Improvement Act is similar . . .'' to raise the
health status . . . to the highest possible level'' and ``to provide .
. . all resources necessary to effectuate this policy.'' Yet, there is
an extreme disparity in federal funding to achieve this policy among
our native peoples. By Indian Health Service data, the federal
expenditure on a per capita basis through the American Indian Health
Care Improvement Act is about $1,200 per capital for American Indians/
Alaskan Natives. For Native Hawaiians through the Native Hawaiian
Health Care Improvement Act the per capita expenditure is about $16. We
would hope that beginning with this year's appropriation and into the
reauthorization period for the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement
Act consideration will be given to Native Hawaiians achieving some
degree of health funding parity with that for American Indians and
Alaskan Natives.
the native hawaiian health care systems
Our five Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems serve as entry points
for many Native Hawaiians into the state's health care system or as a
first step towards a personal search for better health. At the Systems'
core are culturally-competent and dedicated staff determined to make
their respective Native Hawaiian communities healthier. Each System has
a community-based board of directors, all of whom are of Native
Hawaiian ancestry and from their respective System's service area.
Together, the Systems since 1992 have provided a statewide network
for health service delivery and, today, provide services to over 20,000
Native Hawaiians annually. These services include:
--Outreach and case management whereby Systems' staff work with
patients and clients to support their compliance in regards to
medicines, doctors' appointments, and referrals to specialists;
--Screenings whereby Systems' staff provide and facilitate initial
assessments for chronic diseases in cancers, diabetes, and
cardiovascular disease;
--Access whereby Systems' staff provide assistance to clients in need
of health services but unable to receive such services whether
because of lack of insurance, lack of transportation, or
feeling of alienation from health care providers;
--Lifestyle modification whereby Systems' staff provide special
programs focusing on diet and nutrition;
--Primary care whereby the Systems' provide clients with such care
either by contract or direct service as with dentistry on
Kaua'i; and
--Traditional Native Hawaiian healing whereby Systems refer clients
to practitioners of the traditional Native Hawaiian healing
practices, including lomi-lomi, la'au lapa'au, and
ho'oponopono.
The Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems include:
--Ho'ola Lahui Hawaii which serves of populations of Kaua'i and
Ni'ihau (Executive Director David Peters);
--Ke Ola Mamo which serves the population on O'ahu (Executive
Director Dexter Soares);
--Na Pu'uwai which serves the populations of Moloka'i and Lana'i
(Executive Director Billy Akutagawa);
--Hui No Ke Ola Pono which serves the population on Maui (Executive
Director Mei-Ling Chang); and
--Hui Malama Ola Na `Oiwi which serves the population on Hawaii
(Executive Director Everett Sonny Kinney).
Together through their work along with that of the community health
centers and other service providers, Native Hawaiian morbidity rates
for some cancers and diabetes have been reduced and health is now on
the Native Hawaiian personal agenda. Preventive health practices
including screenings, nutrition-based programs, and personal health
care have all now gained considerable acceptance in our Native Hawaiian
community.
papa ola lokahi
Papa Ola Lokahi, the consortium of public agencies and private non
profit organizations concerned with improving Native Hawaiian health
status, is like the ``birth mother'' for our Systems.
Since its formation in 1988, Papa has moved ahead with its multiple
mandates identified in the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act.
This has included formulating the Systems and providing them with
ongoing training and technical assistance, advocating for Native
Hawaiian health issues and concerns on the local, national, and
international scenes, supporting research efforts focused on Native
Hawaiian health concerns and issues, providing support to the Native
Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program, and undertaking special
demonstration projects which have important significance including
projects in HIV/AIDS, traditional healing, and diabetes and cancer.
Papa Henry Auwae, with whom we work closely, will discuss with you some
of his thoughts as it relates to traditional healing. Papa Ola Lokahi's
Research Director, Ms. JoAnn Tsark, will discuss the organization's
diabetes initiative in greater detail in her testimony.
reauthorization of the native hawaiian health care improvement act
Our future challenge in Native Hawaiian health is clear. We need to
find the keys to wellness for our people. The Native Hawaiian Health
Care Improvement Act has allowed us to begin that process and we are
well on our way. Yet the journey is not complete. It it our hope that
with reauthorization, that journey can be completed. We are offering
recommendations for some amendments to the existing legislation which
we feel will enable us not only to better serve our clients but, more
importantly, to enable and empower all Native Hawaiians to take hold of
the responsibility for their own health and wellness.
our future challenge
We know our challenge as a people is much larger than simply
addressing those Native Hawaiian issues that are health-related.
Education and economic stability through employment, home
ownership, and access to and utilization of natural resources from the
land and ocean are all essential parts of the ``wellness'' equation.
Our challenge is to prepare this and future Native Hawaiian
generations for living in the 21st century, both as a native peoples,
proud of their heritage, strong in their culture and its values, and as
positive participatory healthy citizens of the world contributing to
our island society making it a healthy and safe place in which to live.
On behalf of the Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems and Papa Ola
Lokahi, thank you for giving us the opportunity to appear before you
this morning. ALOHA.
STATEMENT OF JO ANN TSARK, PAPA OLA LOKAHI
Senator Inouye. May I now call on Ms. Tsark.
Ms. Tsark. Aloha to you, Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka and
Representative Mink. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to
testify today. But before I start I'd really like to
acknowledge in your audience we have Papa Henry Auwae, one of
our revered Hawaiian healers. I'd like to just acknowledge him,
Papa Auwae.
I'm here today to give you a brief overview on three of the
research and training initiatives that Papa Ola Lokahi is
currently involved in. They are the Diabetes Today Resource
Center for the Pacific which is funded by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
The second is the Native Hawaiian Heart Health Initiative
which is being spearheaded by Moloka'i General Hospital with
support from both national and local resources.
The third is the Native Hawaiian Cancer Awareness Research
and Training Network, which is a proposal pending at the
National Cancer Institute.
These initiatives address the leading causes of deaths
among Native Hawaiians in areas where previous testimony has
certainly told you there are great disparities in health when
compared both locally and nationally.
The first, the Pacific Diabetes Today Training Center
addresses diabetes mortality, which for Native Hawaiians is
more than two times higher than the four major ethnic groups
combined in the State. In fact it is 130 percent higher than
the State all races rate.
If we disaggregate the Native Hawaiian statistics we know
that pure Hawaiians bear the biggest burden. Their rates are
almost 600 percent higher than the State all races. For part
Hawaiians it's 79 percent higher than the State all races.
In 1994 diabetes was the 7th leading cause of death in the
United States. If we examine it by ethnicity it was seven for
Caucasian, African Americans, Chinese and Filipinos. It was six
for Japanese. Fifth for Hawaiians. And for Native Hawaiian
women the fourth leading cause of death.
The Pacific Diabetes Today Resource Center is a result of a
contract with the Centers for Disease Control that Papa Ola
Lokahi successfully competed for. It started last October in
1998 and will run for five years through September the year
2003.
The center is currently located at Papa Ola Lokahi with a
sister office in Ponape and the Federated States of Micronesia.
The Hawaii area office serves Hawaii, the neighbor islands
and American Samoa. And office in Micronesia, which is a
subcontract with Micronesian Human Development Center. And
you'll know that center as the one that previously ran the
medical office and training program at Ponape.
They're serving the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, the Federated States of
Micronesia, the Republic of Palau and the Territory of Guam.
Diabetes Today is a curriculum that was developed by the
Centers for Disease Control. They've had it for 7 years and
operationalizing it in the continental United States. The
opportunity that we have with our resource center is sensitize
that curriculum for Pacific audiences and provide training in
the community to develop diabetes prevention and control
programs.
It's an interactive process. And we were currently
completing focus groups both in Micronesia and the neighbor
islands.
Over the course of the next 4 years we will conduct 16
training sites and provide technical assistance to community-
based initiatives. We're working with the Diabetes Control
Program both in Hawaii and Micronesia who are then poised to
provide funds to support programs in the community.
We know that diabetes contributes to heart disease which is
the leading cause of death in the nation and particularly among
Native Hawaiians.
For pure Hawaiians the mortality rates for cardiovascular
disease is 282 percent higher than non-Hawaiians in our State.
For part-Hawaiians it's 41 percent higher.
The second initiative, the Native Hawaiian health
initiative, is actually one I'm very proud to talk about. It
was initiated on the island of Moloka'i.
As you know in 1985 the Na Pu'uwai heart study was done. It
still remains the only heart study in cardiovascular disease
risk factors among Native Hawaiians. That program, then,
through the Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems utilized direct
service delivery to provide at cardiovascular risk clinics.
Today it's a model that Na Pu'uwai on Moloka'i is sharing
with all the islands, to not just look at their model because
we know it's not a one-size-fit-all, but to look at what other
islands are doing in the area of cardiovascular disease.
This program that Moloka'i General is doing--and I know
there is a site visit scheduled to Moloka'i, so you'll get more
information in depth--but it's supported by the National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute, the Native Hawaiian Physicians
Associations, which is newly formed which comprises
approximately 63 members of the 191 Native Hawaiian physicians
that we know of today.
Also Na Pu'uwai, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Papa Ola
Lokahi, the Queen's Health Systems, the area health education
centers and the Hawaii Medical Services Association.
Native Hawaiian Heart health initiative's short-term goals
are to increase awareness on community-based interventions
addressing heart disease and to involve Native Hawaiian
physicians in community-based efforts.
We know that there's a handful of Native Hawaiian doctors
that have devoted their life to community health and Hawaiian
health statistics. The whole issue and the purpose of the
Ahahui O Na Kauka newly formed Native Hawaiian Physicians
Association is to involve more Native Hawaiian doctors in
community efforts. The Heart Health Initiative is one of the
first that they have really gotten involved in.
The long-term goal for the Hawaiian heart initiative is to
develop a conceptual framework so we too can have a
longitudinal study looking at prevention and control of heart
disease for Native Hawaiian by Native Hawaiians.
The last initiative is our recent submittal to National
Cancer Institute to establish a Native Hawaiian cancer
awareness research and training network. This application was
built on a series of leadership initiatives that NCI launched
in 1989.
It currently funds one African American leadership
initiative, two Hispanic and one Appalachian white initiative.
The last round went out to all minorities, including Native
American Indians, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and
Asian Americans.
The grant was submitted in July and we expect to hear in
March. It's a capacity building grant. The purpose is to
increase cancer awareness among Native Hawaiians, increase
accrual to and retention of Native Hawaiians in cancer clinical
trials. Like other minority groups we know they're
underrepresented in clinical trials. So any positive results
that come out of these are not reflective of our population of
rural communities.
The other is to increase the number of Native Hawaiian
researchers. In this initiative we are partnering with
institutions like the university at the Native Hawaiian Center
of Excellence, the Pacific Biomedical Research Center and other
areas that support Native Hawaiian researchers.
It's also to increase the number of research grants
addressing cancer in Native Hawaiians and to establish
participatory research protocol to support rigorous research
that respectful of cultural beliefs, practices and customs.
It's not the first time you've heard it. Hawaiian communities
are really tired of being guinea pigs in research. The would
like to control and conduct research that's relevant and has
immediate benefits to the community.
prepared statement
These projects reflect the research and training priorities
that Papa Ola Lokahi is emphasizing in the reauthorization.
That's to provide a clearinghouse for research and training
opportunities, to develop and maintain an infrastructure to
support participatory research that is relevant and respectful
of Native Hawaiian communities, and to identify and provide
venues for the development of Native Hawaiian researchers.
Thank you.
Senator Inouye. Thank you, very much, Ms. Tsark.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of JoAnn Tsark
Aloha Mr. Chairman, members of your Subcommittee and members of our
Hawaii Congressional Delegation: My name is JoAnn Tsark and I am here
on behalf of Papa Ola Lokahi, where I serve as the Research Director.
In addition to the testimony by Mr. Myron Thompson and Mr. Herb
Campos, I would like to give you a brief overview of 3 research and
training initiatives that Papa Ola Lokahi is currently involved in.
They address leading causes of death among Native Hawaiians--areas
where there are great disparities in health when compared to both local
and national populations.
The three initiatives are:
--Pacific Diabetes Today Resource Center, funded through a contract
with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
--Native Hawaiian Heart Health Initiative, spearheaded by Moloka'i
General Hospital with support from the National Institutes of
Health--National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, The Queens
Medical Center, the Association of Native Hawaiian Physicians
('Ahahui O Na Kauka), the Hawaii Medical Services Association,
and others; and
--Native Hawaiian Cancer Awareness Research and Training Network, a
proposal recently submitted for consideration to the National
Cancer Institute.
The first initiative, the Pacific Diabetes Today Resource Center
(PDTRC) addresses the disparate rates of diabetes among our population.
For the years 1989-1991, Native Hawaiians had the highest mortality
rate due to diabetes mellitus (34.7/100,000) in Hawaii--130 percent
higher than the state all races rate of 15.1/100,000. The age-adjusted
diabetes mortality rate for Native Hawaiians is more than two times
higher than the other four major ethnic groups combined.
Disaggregating the Native Hawaiian population, it is clear that our
pure Hawaiians have the largest burden with a diabetes mortality rate
518 percent higher than the state all races. Part-Hawaiians were 79
percent higher than the state all races (Johnson, Oyama, LeMarchand,
1998).
In 1994, diabetes was the 7th leading cause of death in the United
States. When examined by race, it was 7th for Caucasians, African
Americans, Chinese, and Filipinos; 6th for Japanese and 5th for
Hawaiians and 4th for Native American Indians. For Hawaiian females,
it's the 4th leading cause of death (U.S.--Diabetes Surveillance 1997).
Last year Papa Ola Lokahi successfully competed for a $2.3 million
contract with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for 5 years to
establish and maintain the Pacific Diabetes Today Resource Center. The
Center is currently located at Papa Ola Lokahi with an office in
Pohnpei, the Federated States of Micronesia. The Hawaii Area Office
serves the state of Hawaii and American Samoa. The Micronesian Area
Office serves the Western Pacific region, including the Federates
States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the
Republic of Palau, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and
Guam.
``Diabetes Today'' is a course developed by CDC on how to build
skills to plan and implement community-based programs for persons with
diabetes. The course trains community leaders who in turn apply these
skills with others in the community to plan and implement programs.
Our (Papa Ola Lokahi) charge is to adapt this curriculum for
Pacific audiences and implement training. It is an interactive planning
process and we are completing focus groups throughout the Western
Pacific and neighbor islands and Oahu and will pilot test the revised
curriculum next year. Over the course of the next 4 years we will
conduct 16 training initiatives and provide technical assistance to
community-based initiatives.
We are working with the CDC Diabetes Control Program staff in
Hawaii and Micronesia, who are poised to provide program monies for
implementation of community-based projects.
native hawaiian heart health initiative
The 2nd Initiative addresses heart disease, another area of great
disparity, where Pure Hawaiians have a mortality rate due to heart
disease that is nearly 300 percent higher than non-Hawaiians in the
state and Part Hawaiians a rate 41 percent higher than others in the
State. The only study of heart disease among Native Hawaiians was
conducted in 1985 on the Island of Moloka'i, entitled the Na Pu'uwai
Heart Study. Moloka'i continues to provide strong leadership in
increasing awareness of heart disease and developing solutions to
address this burden.
With broad based support both national and local, Dr. Emmett Aluli
and Dr. Phillip Reyes Tom Moloka'i General Hospital on Moloka'i have
launched the Native Hawaiian Heart Health Initiative. The program's
short and long term goals to address heart disease in Native Hawaiians
are:
Short Term Goals:
--To increase awareness of community-based interventions addressing
heart disease among Native Hawaiians.
--To involve Native Hawaiian physicians in these community-based
efforts.
Long Term Goal:
--To develop a conceptual framework for a longitudinal study
addressing the prevention and control of heart disease for
Native Hawaiians by Native Hawaiians.
This initiative is supported on the national as well as the local
level with monetary support from:
National
--NIH: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
Hawaii State
--Moloka'i General Hospital
--'Ahabui O Na Kauka--Native Hawaiian Physicians' Assn.
--Na Pu'uwai Native Hawaiian Health Care System
--Office of Hawaiian Affairs
--Papa Ola Lokahi
--The Queen's Health System
--Area Health Education Centers
--HMSA--Hawaii Medical Services Association
This initiative is a powerful example of solutions, which are
generated from within the community, around a common vision.
native hawaiian cancer awareness research and training center
The last initiative is Papa Ola Lokahi's recent grant submission to
the NCI to establish the Native Hawaiian Cancer Awareness Research and
Training Center. This NCI initiative builds upon their past series of
``Leadership Initiatives on Cancer'' launched in 1989 as part of NCI's
response to the disproportionate burden of cancer on minority and
medically undeserved populations.
The objectives of the Native Hawaiian Cancer Awareness Research and
Training Center are:
1. To increase cancer awareness among Native Hawaiians,
2. To increase accrual to and retention of Native Hawaiians in
clinical trials,
3. To increase the number of Native Hawaiian researchers,
4. To increase the number of research grants addressing cancer in
Native Hawaiians, and
5. To establish participatory research protocol to support
scientifically rigorous research that is respectful of cultural beliefs
practices and customs.
The grant proposal was submitted to NCI in July 1999 and we
anticipate word from NCI in March 2000.
These initiatives reflect the following priorities, which Papa Ola
Lokahi plans to operationalize to support research and framing:
--Provide a clearinghouse for research and training opportunities and
resources,
--Develop and maintain an infrastructure to support the participatory
research which is relevant and respectful of Native Hawaiian
communities, and
--Identify and provide venues for the development of Native Hawaiian
researchers.
conclusion
We recognize the disproportionate burden of diabetes and other
chronic diseases among Native Hawaiians. We believe the solutions for
addressing these disparities are emerging from within our own Native
Hawaiian communities and ask for federal support--financial and
philosophical--to enhance our work in reducing chronic diseases among
our people.
Thank you for this opportunity to speak before you.
Senator Inouye. Before proceeding the Chair has been
advised that people sitting in the back rows have difficulty
hearing witnesses. Can you all hear us? Are we getting across
to you? Thank you very much.
STATEMENT OF NALEEN N. ANDRADE, M.D. PROFESSOR AND
CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY, JOHN A.
BURNS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Senator Inouye. If not, may I call on Dr. Naleen Andrade.
Dr. Andrade. Aloha, Senator. I went to the wrong building.
I'd like to--I've copies of my testimony but to give members of
this distinguished panel an update on the status report of the
Native Hawaiian Mental Health Research Development Program.
I'd be remiss not to at this point to recognize our two
senior Senators from Hawaii, in particular Senator Inouye for
his work and untiring efforts over the last 8 years in enabling
our research group to really have a voice in the National
Institutes of Health, and to get the required funding that we
needed in order to get this job done.
Let me very briefly go through a history of events of this
particular program. We were established in 1991 with our first
grant from the National Institutes of Mental Health and we
established a mission among the small group of Native Hawaiians
in the Department of Psychiatry at the John A. Burns School of
Medicine.
Our mission was simple: To create a cadre of mental health
researchers whose scientific investigations result in effective
culturally-appropriate prevention, intervention and clinical
treatment strategies which improve the mental health status of
Native Hawaiians to the highest level possible.
We had four overall research goals. First, to determine the
rates of mental disorders among Native Hawaiians within the
general population.
The second was to establish a comprehensive database from
which researchers can identify and study the effects of
psychological, social and cultural factors which underpin the
genesis and alleviation of mental illness among Native
Hawaiians.
The third was to determine the patterns of help-seeking
behaviors by Native Hawaiians, to use traditional Western and
alternative native healing practices and the effects of those
healing practices on mental illness.
The fourth and final goal was to establish a Native
Hawaiian Pacific Islander Minority Mental Health Research
Center to support a cadre of experts within the University of
Hawaii to study the causes, prevention and treatment of mental
illness among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
The significance of this particular program cannot be
overestimated. In the 1985 E Ola Mau report, which began our
work, emphasis and efforts, showed that Native Hawaiians had
the worst mental health statistics by all measures of all the
ethnic groups in the State of Hawaii.
What we did, because at that time there was not a single
Hawaiian researcher in the entire University of Hawaii system
of Hawaiian ancestry doing mental health research.
So which had to start from ground zero to begin to build
the skills needed in order for us to have within ten years a
cadre of Native Hawaiians with the kind of skills and knowledge
base to not only be scholars within the University of Hawaii,
but to competitively go up against other scholars nationally
and to be able to publish our work and to gain peer review
grants from the National Institutes of Health.
In that effort, as you all know, without a cadre of Native
Hawaiians we had to recruit a cadre of non-natives to help us
and to give us the technical skills in order to teach us the
quantitative analysis.
But with that we've had some amazing results which I'd like
to briefly go over and highlight with you.
At the core of our Native Hawaiian Mental Health Research
and Development Program is a huge longitudinal study of about
7,000 Native Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian adolescents located on
three islands within the State. We have followed these kids for
5 years, at five high schools throughout the islands.
We are just publishing some of the more important findings.
And I'd like to specify some of these outcomes that I think are
most salient to this effort.
The first outcome is creating a cadre of Native Hawaiian
mental health researchers and scholars. Establishing an
undergraduate, graduate, student and psychiatry resident
student researcher component was core to our task in doing
this.
Through the program we have provided training opportunities
to seven undergraduates, five graduate students in the schools
of Social Work, Sociology and the Department of Psychology at
the University of Hawaii.
We've trained eight psychiatry residents who have gone on
to become physicians in the community. And we have also trained
one junior faculty, myself.
Now, of these 21 individuals three are Asian, one is Samoan
and 17 or 81 percent are Native Hawaiian. Of the 17 Hawaiians
that we trained, one is a psychiatry technician and
professional athlete. Two became Hawaiian language teachers,
and are working on the neighbor islands.
Five are in graduate schools in the School of Medicine,
Law, Pacific Studies, Clinical Psychology and Public Health.
All on their way, by the way, to getting their doctoral
degrees.
Two are triple board psychiatry residents, which means at
the time they graduate, which will be within the next 2 years,
one next year and the following after that, in 3 years, they
will be boarded in Pediatrics, General Psychiatry and Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry.
Two are practicing child psychiatrists in rural O'ahu. Five
became psychiatrists and professors of Psychiatry and are on
the faculty.
Now, let me briefly go through some of the very significant
findings of our work which we are publishing. We published 11
articles already in refereed scientific journals.
We have 14 articles submitted and are currently in journal
peer review. We are working on an additional 19 manuscripts for
submission and, hopefully acceptance by December of this year.
We are also working on a year 2001 update of the status of
Native Hawaiian mental health which will be a comprehensive
review that examines the E Ola Mau report updates it for this
new century that we are entering.
Now, of these scientific publications that I mentioned, the
most salient which we anticipate publishing in the spring of
2000 are three landmark articles that I would like to highlight
for your information.
The first is entitled ``Socialcultural Factors Influencing
Adolescent Preference and Use of Native Healers.''
The second is, ``The Role of Culture and Ethnicity in
Psychopathology and Psychosocial Adjustment Among Native
Hawaiian Adolescents.''
The third is, ``Prevalence of Mental Disorders in Native
Hawaiian Adolescents.''
The first article presents our findings on a study of 4,182
Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian students in which we looked at the
sociocultural factors which most influence who they seek help
from, whether they be Native healer, an allopathic provider,
which is a doctor or nurse or a school teacher or counselor.
Who do they seek for both physical and cultural needs? What
our findings show is cultural identity and specifically
Hawaiian cultural identity is the strongest predictor above all
others for determining who will prefer a Native Hawaiian
healer.
The higher the cultural identification the higher the
student's preference for Native Hawaiian healer.
We also, surprisingly, found that Hawaiian males, not
Hawaiian females, which all the other studies of this type have
shown, but that Hawaiian males are more likely to use healers
than females for their problems. Which is an astounding
finding.
No other study anywhere that is published today has that
same finding. This is ramifications for us in terms of
treatment interventions and prevention strategies, which I will
again reiterate in the second article.
If I could highlight the second article which is about the
role of Native Hawaiian culture in examining the relationship
of Native Hawaiian culture among these groups of adolescents
that we studied.
Our thesis being that we needed to discern whether or not
culture was a risk factor for mental health or a protective
factor.
We have, in fact, found the role that culture plays for
Native Hawaiian kids is neither. It is not a risk factor nor is
it a protective factor. In fact, what our findings found is
that psychosocial factors such as major life events, in other
words, an example would be a parent is put in jail, has a far
more profound effect on determining whether or not a child will
become mentally ill or be incapacitated with a conduct
disorder.
We've found that far more significant in the area of family
and friend support, socioeconomic status and interestingly
enough, one of the most significant protective factors was
optimism. In other words, a child's capacity to hope and see a
new future.
Again it has tremendous implications for the other part of
this hearing which is on education. The fact that young
Hawaiians are demanding a free education at the University of
Hawaii is, perhaps, one of the most significant social events
for our people. It bodes well for their futures.
The role of culture is most pronounced not in how teenagers
see it as a risk or protective but rather that it is most
significant in how teenagers and, we feel adults as well, seek
education about their health care and seek help for
psychosocial problems.
In other words, culture appears to be most important in
determining how people seek and understand help prevention
strategies, how they choose providers of care, and how they
engage and participate in these treatments.
This is a critical finding that really has not been
published with hard data in the scientific journals. It's been
something we sort of feel is intuitively sounds correct, but we
have never had hard data to really test that hypothesis until
now.
The third article presents for the first time in Hawaii
prevalence data on Native Hawaiian mental health disorders in a
community-based sample.
We based that on the DISC data of about a little over 600
adolescents using NIMH's Diagnostic Interview Schedule for
Children, which you may know is the gold standard right now for
epidemiological research in America.
I'd like to just summarize for you our prevalence rates
which we will finalize within the next few weeks and publish.
For any disorders, any mental disorder, for Hawaiian males 26.8
percent. For Hawaiian females 37.7. For non-Hawaiian males 19.6
percent. For non-Hawaiian females 27.9 percent. Now as a
comparison the national comparison for these same, any disorder
prevalence rate is 29.9.
What this tells us is that Hawaiian females are in trouble.
We need to pay attention to what is going on in that particular
population.
Among mood disorders, this is major depression, dysthymic
disorder and bipolar illness. Hawaiian males 6.8 percent.
Hawaiian females 9.5 percent. This is compared to the national
average of 7.2. Again Hawaiian females are in trouble. They are
higher than the national average.
Non-Hawaiian males 1.0. They're very healthy, at least in
our sample which I must share this caveat, was not
representative of non-Hawaiian kids in Hawaii.
That is primarily because our sampling occurred in
predominantly Native Hawaiian communities. We wanted to make
sure that we tested as many Native Hawaiian adolescents as
possible. And, in deed, we succeeded in that effort. We got
nearly 30 percent of all Native Hawaiian teenagers in the State
of Hawaii within our sample size.
The downside was that because we pre-selected for Native
Hawaiian kids we were not able to get a representative, strong
representative sample of non-Hawaiian kids.
Non-Hawaiian females 6.9, again below the national average.
This shows us that basically our Hawaiian females have more
significant problems with major depression and dysthymic
disorders in particular.
This is major impact when we look at some of the more
recent studies coming out that one of the major reasons for
depression in adulthood is child rearing practices among young
mothers and children. If we have depressed and stressed young
mothers we can only participate with the high birth rates we
will have, we will have problems with the next two generations
of our children.
Among anxiety disorders I would like to highlight two
things that are very surprising and quite shocking, actually.
For any anxiety disorder Hawaiian males are 14.5 percent, which
is actually below the national average of 20.5 percent.
But again Native Hawaiian females 26.1 percent, above the
national average of 20.5 percent. Non-Hawaiian males 7.5
percent and non-Hawaiian females 17.6 percent.
Now, I wanted to highlight under anxiety disorders
Obsessive-compulsive disorders. These are disorders in which we
are beginning to find that previously under Freudian theory we
thought that this was bad rearing practices basically, and that
a child went through these very compulsive ritualistic
behaviors to create magic to keep bad things from happening.
We now find from the Brown University's research over the
last 8 years that in fact obsessive-compulsive disorders are
brain dysfunction that's created, they think--they're still
hypothesizing this--that may be related to Streptococcul
infections particularly of the type from rheumatoid, rheumatic
heart disease. Excuse me.
There may be similar toxins with otitis media. I mention
this as a caveat because I know, again, the congressional
delegation has worked very hard in championing, getting
research dollars for otitis media.
What Hawaiian kids, grade school and young children have
the highest rates, prevalence rates of otitis media in the
nation. It makes us wonder as to whether or not it may explain
the extraordinarily high obsessive-compulsive rates.
Let me give you an idea. The national prevalence rates for
obsessive-compulsive disorders among adolescents is less than 2
percent.
In our sample Hawaiian males 9.2 percent. Hawaiian females
17.7 percent. This is an astounding figure. So much so that we
have done additional research with the creators of this
particular module to see whether or not the way the questions
were framed might have been misunderstood.
However, in my random study of actually adolescents their
of the DISC, the children understood the questions and had no
problems answering the questions as they did, for example in
psychosis where when you ask them, ``Do you hear voices?'' They
say, ``Sure. I hear yours.''
We had no problems of understanding the actual diagnostic
questions under this module. Yet we have this astoundingly high
figures. Among the non-Hawaiian males 3.6 percent and non-
Hawaiian females 9.2 percent. Again they're higher than the
national average. Could it be a cultural pickup that we've
missed on the instrument? We think not.
But certainly even if it were, the rates that the Native
Hawaiian children are scoring are much too high to account
simply for a structural question defect which we did not find
on our focus group analysis.
Our disruptive disorders, these are attention deficit
disorder and conduct disorders of children, we found that the
national average is 11.5. In this area, interestingly enough,
our Hawaiian adolescents do very well. The males are 5.7 and
females 7.3, below the national average.
Non-Hawaiian males are 2.9 and females 6.7. Why is this
significant? Significant because it defies the stereotypes.
We've heard teachers, educators keep saying that Native
Hawaiian kids are troublemakers in school and they end up in
jail.
What our study finds is that they have actually rates,
prevalence rates among the disruptive records that are below
the national average. They are, in fact, healthy in this area.
So that the disruption we are seeing in schools are
probably not due to attention deficit disorder, nor is it due
to any conduct disorder. It probably is a depression or an
anxiety disorder of some sort. This is a significant focus for
us, again, with regard to prevention and intervention
strategies.
Finally, I think the other very shocking result for us is
in the area of substantial abuse and dependence disorders. This
for us again was extraordinarily high.
The national average is 2.2 percent right now from most
studies quoted. Now that rate is slowly climbing very quickly
with newer research that's much more comprehensive that's going
on throughout the nation.
But for Hawaiian males it's 26.8 percent. Off the wall.
Alcohol was one of the largest contributors to this statistics,
but also cannabis or marijuana and crystal methamphetamine,
very disturbingly increasing in this population. Females 37.7
percent, again compare that to national average of 2.2 percent.
Now seems extraordinarily high. Indeed it is. But Native
American populations fall very closely in parallel to us in
these same statistics. That's why we have a very strong
collaboration with the Native American Alaskan Native Center
which Mr. Darryl Manson heads in Colorado to compare our
findings.
Among non-Hawaiian males, again we should be concerned,
19.6 percent. Still very high compared to the national average
and 27.9 percent for non-Hawaiian females. Now, one could say
perhaps the mainland studies that have been sampled the kids
were more conservative.
Yes, most of the studies that have been done have been done
among white Anglo-Saxon middle class children with the
exception of the Puerto Rico study which sampled Puerto Rican
children.
This is some of the--as I mentioned this is preliminary
data. We are doing a Met analysis. What that means we're taking
all the studies that were done with DISC, the DISC interview
and we are comparing them to get a single statistic of all of
those studies and then compare them to our study to see whether
or not these findings still hold up.
That's exactly what we're doing right now as we finalize
this paper that we will publish. We want to make absolutely
sure that we are not overinflating these numbers.
But even if we factor in overinflation the trends are
there. They are very worrisome. Our children do need help in
some specific areas that are very treatable.
We have very treatable interventions for both anxiety and
depression. We have some very successful interventions for
substance abuse and alcohol use. And it behooves us to really
address those.
The final thing I would say is in creating these prevention
and treatment strategies we must look at culture. It is an
essential component to the success of these programs.
What we have found so far is that too many of the existing
interventions that exist in Hawaii are not culturally
appropriate for Hawaiian kids.
Just as an example, in our school-based learning right now
when a child has problems the idea is that the school sort of
sequesters the child and creates the support for the child. The
family is left outside of that cord loop.
prepared statement
We know by Hawaiian cultural practices that the family is
essential to creating the structure for child. Yet we do not
have culturally appropriate opportunities, really, to make that
happen in our school system. I will stop with that. Thank you.
Senator Inouye. It was not only fascinating but most
important. Thank you very much, Dr. Andrade.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Naleen N. Andrade
a brief history of events
Led by a small group of Native Hawaiians within the UH Department
of Psychiatry, the NHMHRDP was established in 1991 with federal funding
from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Its mission: To
create a cadre of mental health researchers, whose scientific
investigations result in effective, culturally-appropriate prevention,
intervention and clinical treatment strategies, which improve the
mental health status of Native Hawaiians to the highest level possible.
Four overall research goals have been, and continue to be pursued
by the research and staff members of the NHMHRDP:
Overall research goals
1. Determine the rates of mental disorders among Native Hawaiians
within the general population of Hawaii.
2. Establish a comprehensive database from which researchers can
identify and study the effects of psychological, social and cultural
factors which underpin the genesis and alleviation of mental illness
among Native Hawaiians.
3. Determine the patterns of help seeking behaviors by Native
Hawaiians to use traditional western and alternative native healing
practices and the effects of these healing practices on mental illness.
4. Establish a Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Minority Mental
Health Research Center to support a cadre of experts at UH to study the
causes, prevention, and treatment of mental illness among Native
Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
significance
UH Department of Psychiatry faculty began their work in 1987, in
response to the seminal E Ola Mau Report: A Study of the Health Needs
of Native Hawaiians (1985). The E Ola Mau Report showed that Native
Hawaiians had the worst mental health statistics among all ethnic
groups in Hawaii with higher rates of alcohol and substance abuse,
depression, suicide, abuse, incarceration, and disruptive disorders.
Further, Native Hawaiians were under-represented in the mental health
professions. And, there were no Native Hawaiian mental health
researchers at the UH. Major recommendations of the report included
increasing the numbers of Native Hawaiians in mental health
professions, training Native Hawaiian mental health researchers,
conducting research on mental disorders among Native Hawaiians, and
designing prevention and intervention strategies which addressed the
unique cultural needs of Native Hawaiians.
Mentored by senior researchers, Drs. John McDermott Jr. and Ronald
Johnson, Dr. Naleen Andrade (then an Assistant Professor) designed a
ten-year Plan, to achieve the overall research goals outlined above.
The Plan proposed that the NHMHRDP recruit and train promising Native
Hawaiians from JABSOM, the UH Psychiatry Residency Training Program, as
well as the School of Social Work and the UH Department of Psychology,
in quantitative analysis, research design, conducting field studies,
research manuscript publication, and grant proposal writing. A cadre of
local and national technical experts (e.g., statisticians, behavioral
researchers), most of who were not Hawaiian, were recruited to train
and build the Native Hawaiian research team and establish a competitive
research track record. Now in the eighth year of their ten-year plan to
establish a Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Minority Mental Health
Research Center, this faculty group, led by Native Hawaiians, are
actively publishing to establish the needed track record to
successfully compete within the National Institutes of Health agencies.
the hawaii high schools health study
To achieve the goals of the NHMHRDP, its researchers designed and
implemented the Hawaii High Schools Health Study, a five-year,
epidemiologic study of 7,000 adolescents in five Hawaii High Schools.
This study remains the primary vehicle through which the Native
Hawaiian researchers have been building the required track record to
compete for federal research grants and to establish a Minority Mental
Health Research Center. Funding for the Hawaii High Schools Health
Study came from NIMH during its first five years (1991-96) and from
private Foundations during the past two and a half years (1996-99).
specific outcomes
--Creating a cadre of Native Hawaiian Mental Health Researchers &
Scholars.--Establishing an undergraduate, graduate student, and
psychiatry resident student researcher component, the NHMHRDP
has provided research training opportunities to 7
undergraduates, 5 graduate students (in Psychology, Social
Work, and Sociology), 8 psychiatry residents, who had been
identified and recruited when they were medical students, and 1
junior faculty. Of these 21 individuals, 3 are Asian, 1 is
Samoan, and 17 (81 percent) are Native Hawaiian.
Of the 17 Hawaiians trained: 1 is a psychiatry technician and
professional athlete; 2 became Hawaiian language teachers; 5 are in
graduate schools of Medicine, Law, Pacific Studies, Clinical
Psychology; and Public Health; 2 are in Triple Board Residency training
(Pediatrics, General Psychiatry, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry);
2 are practicing Child Psychiatrists in rural Oahu; and 5 became
psychiatrists and professors of Psychiatry.
--Publishing Significant Findings on Native Hawaiian Adolescents.--We
have published 11 articles in refereed scientific journals;
have 14 articles submitted and in journal peer review; and are
working on 19 additional manuscripts in preparation for
submission by December 1999. We are also working on a Year 2001
Update of the Status of Native Hawaiian Mental Health.
Of these scientific publications the most salient, which we
anticipate publishing in the Spring of 2000, are three landmark
articles entitled: ``Sociocultural Factors Influencing Adolescent
Preference and Use of Native Healers; ``The role of culture and
ethnicity in psychopathology and psychosocial adjustment among Native
Hawaiian adolescents;'' and, ``Prevalence of mental disorders in Native
Hawaiian Adolescents.''
The first article presents our findings on a study of 4,182
Hawaiian (2,698) and Non-Hawaiian (1,438) Students what sociocultural
factors most influence who--whether Native Healer vs. Allopathic
providers (doctors and nurses) vs. School teachers and counselors--
adolescents seek for help with their physical and emotional needs. The
findings show that identification with the Hawaiian culture is the
strongest predictor for preference of Native Hawaiian healer use.
Surprisingly, Hawaiian males were more likely to use healers than
females.
The second article examines the relationship of Native Hawaiian
culture and ethnicity among 1,805 Hawaiian and 942 Non-Hawaiian
adolescents. The thesis of the article to discern what role, if any,
does Native Hawaiian culture have in the cause or risk of
psychopathology or in the protection from psychopathology. Our findings
indicate that Hawaiian culture does NOT create risk, nor does it
protect a teenager from psychopathology. Psychosocial factors such as,
Major Life Events (when bad things happen such as a parent going to
jail), Family and Friend Support, Socioeconomic status, and Optimism,
are the more important risk and protective factors influencing health
and illness among teenagers. The role of culture is most pronounced NOT
in how teenagers seek education and help for their psychosocial
problems, i.e., culture appears to be most important in determining How
people seek and understand health prevention strategies, how they
choose providers of care, and how they engage and participate in their
treatments.
The third article presents, for the first time in Hawaii,
prevalence data on Native Hawaiian mental disorders in a community-
based sample. Based on our DISC data of 615 adolescents (355 Hawaiian
and 256 Non-Hawaiian), using the NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for
Children and Adolescents, the following significant findings were
determined for Mood Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Disruptive Behavioral
Disorder, and Substance Abuse/Dependence:
Percent
Any Disorder:
Hawaiian male................................................. 26.8
Female........................................................ 37.7
Non-Hawaiian male............................................. 19.6
Female........................................................ 27.9
National Comparison of Prevalence rates: Preliminary.......... 29.9
Mood Disorders:
Hawaiian male................................................. 6.8
Female........................................................ 9.5
Non-Hawaiian male............................................. 1.0
Female........................................................ 6.9
National Comparison of Prevalence rates: Preliminary.......... 7.2
Anxiety Disorder:
Any anxiety disorder:
Hawaiian male............................................. 14.5
Female.................................................... 26.1
Non-Hawaiian male......................................... 7.5
Female.................................................... 17.6
National Comparison of Prevalence rates: Preliminary.......... 20.5
Obsessive-Compulsive disorder:
Hawaiian male............................................. 9.2
Female.................................................... 17.7
Non-Hawaiian male......................................... 3.6
Female.................................................... 9.2
National Comparison of Prevalence rates: Preliminary.......... <2
Disruptive Disorders:
Hawaiian male................................................. 5.7
Female........................................................ 7.3
Non-Hawaiian male............................................. 2.9
Female........................................................ 6.7
National Comparison of Prevalence rates: Preliminary.......... 11.5
Substance Abuse/Dependence:
Hawaiian male................................................. 26.8
Female........................................................ 37.7
Non-Hawaiian male............................................. 19.6
Female........................................................ 27.9
National Comparison of Prevalence rates: Preliminary.......... 2.2
STATEMENT OF DR. CHIYOME L. FUKINO, E OLA MAU
Senator Inouye. Dr. Fukino.
Dr. Fukino. Aloha, Senator Inouye, members of the Senate
Appropriation Subcommittee. I'm Chiyome Leinaala Fukino, M.D.,
president of E Ola Mau, a nonprofit corporation of Native
Hawaiian Health Care Providers dedicated to improving the
health of Native Hawaiians.
We are testifying in support of authorization of
appropriations for fiscal years 2000 through 2010 for the
Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act. Since our
incorporation in 1986 E Ola Mau has consistently advocated for
culturally appropriate delivery of health care services to
Native Hawaiians.
The landmark study, from which our name is derived,
documented for the first time the abysmal health status of
Native Hawaiians in this our aina hanau, native land,
birthplace.
As a member of the Board of Papa Ola Lokahi, we have
watched the struggling emergence of the Native Hawaiian Health
Care Systems. We continue to advocate for coordination of
health care services between the Native Hawaiian Health Care
Systems and other providers within Hawaii's health care
community.
Native Hawaiian health statistics continue to be collected
by multiple agencies using widely disparate parameters. Uniform
statewide ethnicity tagging has not been established.
Current sources of data require one to three years for data
compilation and publication, making timely health needs
assessments and program outcomes reporting difficult.
Nevertheless, more readily available death statistics
underscore the continuing poor health status of Native
Hawaiians. Our participation for more than a decade in numerous
matters pertaining to Native Hawaiian health has culminated in
the development of the E Ola Mau Native Hawaiian Health
Statistics Database.
E Ola Mau believes that a unified relational database that
includes both static and real-time data is essential in the
planning of cost-effective health related programs.
The E Ola Mau Native Hawaiian Health Statistics database
introduces a standard data collection methodology. Our database
currently contains information from Sate and private sector
published reports.
We are working with some of the agencies that have
published these reports to begin real-time data input and
design customized output report layouts that facilitate rapid
compilation, analysis and dissemination of collected data.
E Ola Mau has designed a preliminary research program based
on information contained in the Native Hawaiian Health
Statistics database to enter real-time data and longitudinally
monitor critical outcomes data.
The program monitors hypertension, diabetes mellitus,
coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure and
hyperlipidemia, five chronic illnesses which account for the
majority of health care costs in both in-patient and out-
patient settings.
The E Ola Mau La'au Lapa'au Database contains information
gathered by E Ola Mau over the past decade while working with
Kupuna La'au Lapa'au throughout the State of Hawaii.
Published scientific research already done on identified
la'au is included in the database which will serve as a
resource for Western trained health care providers who treat
Native Hawaiian patients who utilize traditional remedies.
E Ola Mau recommends adoption of statewide uniform
ethnicity tagging to improve the monitoring and assessment of
Native Hawaiian health status. Current methods of ethnicity
identification include a mixture of self-identification,
surname and ``eyeball'' recognition.
Of the approximately 17,000 records included in the E Ola
Mau Native Hawaiian Health Statistics Database, less than 5
percent are identified as Native Hawaiian statistics.
While there is increasing awareness among academic and
governmental agencies of the need for research and service
allocation for Native Hawaiian health, there is still much more
work to be done in order to improve the health of Native
Hawaiians.
The Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act is one
critical component of this journey. E Ola Mau will continue to
work with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Papa Ola Lokahi to
draft appropriate language for the reauthorization of the
Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act.
prepared statement
It is imperative that the Native Hawaiian Health Care
Improvement Act accurately reflects the evolution of Native
Hawaiian agencies and their increasing capacities to
participate in improving the health of Native Hawaiians thereby
allowing Papa Ola Lokahi to focus more specifically on its area
of expertise which is now available. Mahalo.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Doctor.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Dr. Chiyome L. Fukino
Honorable Daniel K. Inouye, Hearing Chair: I am Chiyome Leinaala
Fukino, M.D., President of E Ola Mau, a nonprofit corporation of Native
Hawaiian Health Care Providers dedicated to improving the health of
Native Hawaiians. We are testifying in support of authorization of
appropriations for fiscal years 2000 through 2010 for the Native
Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act.
Since our incorporation in 1986, E Ola Mau has consistently
advocated for culturally appropriate delivery of health care services
to Native Hawaiians. The landmark study, from which our name is
derived, documented for the first time the abysmal health status of
Native Hawaiians in this our aina hanau (native land, birthplace). As a
member of the Board of Papa Ola Lokahi, we have watched the struggling
emergence of the Native Hawaiian Health Care systems. We continue to
advocate for coordination of health care services between the Native
Hawaiian Health Care Systems and other providers within Hawaii's health
care community.
Native Hawaiian health statistics continue to be collected by
multiple agencies using widely disparate parameters. Uniform statewide
ethnicity tagging has not been established. Current sources of data
require 1 to 3 years for data compilation and publication, making
timely health needs assessments and program outcomes reporting
difficult. Nevertheless, more readily available death statistics
underscore the continuing poor health status of Native Hawaiians.
Our participation for more than a decade in numerous matters
pertaining to Native Hawaiian health has culminated in the development
of the E Ola Mau Native Hawaiian Health Statistics Database (NHHS). E
Ola Mau believes that a unified relational database that includes both
static and real-time data is essential in the planning of cost-
effective health related programs. The E Ola Mau NHHS Database
introduces a standard data collection methodology. Our Database
currently contains information from state and private sector published
reports. We are working with some of the agencies that have published
these reports to begin real-time data input and design customized
output report layouts that facilitate rapid compilation, analysis and
dissemination of collected data.
E Ola Mau has designed a preliminary research program based on
information contained in the NHHS Database to enter real-time data and
longitudinally monitor critical outcomes data. The program monitors
Hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus, Coronary Artery Disease, Congestive
Heart Failure and Hyperlipidemia, five chronic illnesses which account
for the majority of health care costs in both in-patient and out-
patient settings.
The E Ola Mau Laau Lapaau Database contains information gathered by
E Ola Mau over the past decade while working with Kupuna Laau Lapaau
throughout the state of Hawaii. Published scientific research already
done on identified laau is included in this Database which will serve
as a resource for Western trained health care providers who treat
Native Hawaiian patients who utilize traditional remedies.
E Ola Mau recommends adoption of statewide uniform ethnicity
tagging to improve the monitoring and assessment of Native Hawaiian
health status. Current methods of ethnicity identification include a
mixture of self-identification, surname, and ``eyeball'' recognition.
Of the approximately 17,000 records included in the E Ola Mau NHHS
Database, less than 5 percent are identified as Native Hawaiian
statistics.
While there is increasing awareness among academic and governmental
agencies of the need for research, and service allocation for Native
Hawaiian health, there is still much more work to be done in order to
improve the health of Native Hawaiians. The Native Hawaiian Health Care
Improvement Act is one critical component of this journey.
E Ola Mau will continue to work with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs
and Papa Ola Lokahi to draft appropriate language for the
reauthorization of the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act. It
is imperative that the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act
accurately reflects the evolution of Native Hawaiian agencies and their
increasing capacities to participate in improving the health of Native
Hawaiians thereby allowing Papa Ola Lokahi to focus more specifically
on its area of expertise.
STATEMENT OF BETH GIESTING, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HAWAII
STATE PRIMARY CARE ASSOCIATION
Senator Inouye. May I now call upon the executive director
of the Hawaii State Primary Care Association, Ms. Giesting.
Ms. Giesting. Thank you very much, Senator Inouye, Senator
Akaka, Representative Mink and congressional staff. My name is
Beth Giesting, the executive director of the Hawaii State
Primary Care Association. And it is my honor to be here to
address you this morning.
As you have heard, ample data exist describing Native
Hawaiian disproportionate rates in mortality and morbidity.
Only Native Hawaiians themselves can change the status of their
health and with the aid and support of select institutions they
are eager to do so.
We believe programs that are already established are
helping Native Hawaiians and with expansion can support even
more Kanaka Maoli succeed to better health.
Authorities on Native Hawaiian health emphasize that health
and healing among Kanaka Maoli are part of a culturally-
centered process balancing spirituality, personal relationships
and the natural environment.
Clearly then, the means to improve the health of Native
Hawaiians is not via the Western medical system, although that
system has tools that can be used, nor is the solution quick,
easy, or inexpensive.
Improving diet and nutrition, increasing levels of exercise
and reducing smoking, drinking and use of illicit drugs will
greatly advance the health of Native Hawaiians. And such
lifestyle changes can only be the result of culturally-based,
integrative approaches.
The Native Hawaiian Health Care Act recognizes both the
need to provide help and the fundamental difference in how to
achieve the goal of better health status for Native Hawaiians.
The Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems and the Native
Hawaiian Health Professions Scholarship Program established
under the act are examples of two programs that, in
collaboration with community health centers, can have a
tremendous affect on the health status of Kanaka Maoli over
time.
These programs are part of mid-and long-term strategies.
The system's aim to inculcate healthy lifestyles in the context
of Native Hawaiian culture, as well as meeting more immediate
needs through outreach, case management, referral and enabling
services.
The scholarship program seeks to encourage appropriate and
timely use of health care services among Native Hawaiians by
helping those who understand and are of the culture become the
providers of health care.
A secondary benefit of the scholarship program is
encouraging Kanaka Maoli to help themselves and their
communities as health care professionals. Community Health
Centers also play a key role in helping Native Hawaiians
improve their health status. They already meet many of those
health needs, having served 20,500 Native Hawaiians on three
islands during fiscal year 1998.
Health centers' programs exist in areas where many Native
Hawaiians live, notably, Waianae, Waimanalo, Windward and North
Shore O'ahu, Hana, Hilo, Pahoa and Ka'u.
Health centers specialize in serving those who experience
barriers to the mainstream health system. These barriers may
include poverty and lack of insurance, lack of transportation,
and cultural dissonance.
Centers provide a wide range of community-appropriate
primary care that often includes dental, mental and behavioral
health, urgent care and nutrition.
Health centers employ Native Hawaiian scholars and, with
additional resources, would be able to hire more. What
community health care centers want to do more of is help their
patients, Native Hawaiians and others, get and stay healthier.
Although that is their goal, health and prevention programs
are generally beyond the means of financially strapped health
centers.
An example of a program that other health centers would
like to emulate is Waimanalo Health Center's' Ai Kupele, a
culturally-centered approach to promoting healthy behaviors
such a nutrition and exercise, and preventing substance abuse
and domestic violence.
Programs such as 'Ai Kupele, supported by short-term
grants, are in danger when funding cycles ends.
Three elements are critical to the success of the
approaches that we must take to improve the health of Native
Hawaiians. They include financial resources, policy support,
and time.
Our Western health care system is centered on medical
rather than health care and is funded almost exclusively by
public and private health insurance.
A medical model supported by diminishing insurance dollars
does not support the activities most likely to influence health
lifestyles among Kanaka Maoli.
Traditional fee-for-service health insurance pays
physicians for medical diagnoses and procedures performed on
people with medical conditions. managed care should in theory
support health promotion and a broader spectrum of
practitioners.
In realty, however, it does not. There is no financial
incentive for prevention as long as individuals are in and out
of managed care programs with little or no long-term
enrollment.
Moreover, many of the people who are most in need of health
care interventions are uninsured. They can little afford to
avail themselves of timely and preventive clinical care much
less get health advice and counseling.
This committee can advance efforts to reduce health
disparities among Native Hawaiians by providing the resources
that are needed to help fund activities that promote healthy
lifestyles.
Working with established community-based organizations,
that is Community Health Centers and the Native Hawaiian Health
Care Systems and the Health Professions Scholarship, these
things are the most effective means to accomplish this goal.
These efforts may be expensive, although not as expensive
as maintaining the health status of Native Hawaiians as it is.
The commitment also has to be for the long haul. It takes
ample time and consistent work to help people improve their
health habits. Even when more salubrious practices replace bad
habits, it can take years before these changes result in
measurable improvements. Training an adequate Native Hawaiian
health professional workforce also takes decades.
prepared statement
Finally, I would say this committee might also take on the
more far-reaching and visionary role and that would be
considering a national health care program. Such a program
would have the virtues of eliminating the barriers of poverty
and lack of insurance while giving the health care system an
incentive to support wellness activities. Thank you very much.
Senator Inouye. Thank you, very much.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Beth Giesting
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, and Members of our
Congressional Delegation: Ample data exist describing Native Hawaiians'
disproportionate rates of
--Asthma and other respiratory conditions
--Diabetes
--Hypertension and chronic heart disease
--Cancer
--Dental caries
--Substance abuse
--Teen pregnancy
--Late entry to and lack of prenatal care
--And other conditions
Only Native Hawaiians themselves can change the status of their
health and, with the aid and support of select institutions, they are
eager to do so. We believe established programs are helping Native
Hawaiians, and, with expansion, can support even more Kanaka Maoli (the
native people of Hawaii) succeed to better health.
The Approach to Health and the Native Hawaiian Health Care Act.--
Authorities on Native Hawaiian health emphasize that health and healing
among Kanaka Maoli are part of a culturally-centered process balancing
spirituality, personal relationships and the natural environment.
Clearly then, the means to improve the health of Native Hawaiians is
not via the Western medical system (although that system has tools that
can be used), nor is the solution quick, easy, or inexpensive.
Improving diet and nutrition; increasing levels of exercise; and
reducing smoking, drinking and use of illicit drugs will greatly
advance the health of Native Hawaiians, and such lifestyle changes can
only be the result of culturally-based, integrative approaches.
The Native Hawaiian Health Care Act and its successor Native
Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act recognize both the need to provide
help and the fundamental difference in how to achieve the goal of
better health status for Native Hawaiians. The Native Hawaiian Health
Care Systems and the Native Hawaiian Health Professions Scholarship
Program, established under the Act, are examples of two programs that,
in collaboration with community health centers, can have a tremendous
affect on the health status of Kanaka Maoli over time. These programs
are part of mid- and long-term strategies. The systems aim to inculcate
healthy lifestyles in the context of Native Hawaiian culture, as well
as meeting more immediate needs through outreach, case management,
referral, and enabling services. The scholarship program seeks to
encourage appropriate and timely use of health care services among
Native Hawaiians by helping those who understand and are of the culture
become the providers of health care. A secondary benefit of the
scholarship program is encouraging Kanaka Maoli to help themselves and
their communities as health care professionals.
The Critical Role of Community Health Centers.--Community Health
Centers also play a key role in helping Native Hawaiians improve their
health status. They already meet many of those health needs, having
served 20,500 Native Hawaiians on three islands during fiscal year
1998.
--Health centers' programs exist in areas where many Native Hawaiians
live, notably, Wai`anae, Waimanalo, Windward and North Shore
O`ahu, Hana, Hilo, Pahoa, and Ka`u.
--Health centers specialize in serving those who experience barriers
to the ``mainstream'' health system. These barriers include
poverty and lack of insurance, transportation, and cultural
dissonance.
--Centers provide a wide range of community-appropriate primary care
that often includes dental, mental and behavioral health,
urgent care, and nutrition.
--Health Centers employ Native Hawaiian Scholars and, with additional
resources, would be able to hire more.
What community health centers want to do more of is help their
patients--Native Hawaiians and others--get and stay healthier. Although
that is their goal, health and prevention programs are generally beyond
the means of financially strapped health centers. An example of a
program other health centers would like to emulate is Waim--nalo Health
Center's 'Ai Kupele, a culturally-centered approach to promoting
healthy behaviors such as nutrition and exercise, and preventing
substance abuse and domestic violence. Programs such as 'Ai Kupele,
supported by short-term grants, are in danger when funding cycles ends.
What These Programs Need to Succeed.--Three elements are critical
to the success of these approaches:
--Financial resources.
--Policy support.
--Time.
Our Western health care system is centered on ``medical'' rather
than ``health'' care and is funded almost exclusively by public and
private health insurance. A medical model supported by diminishing
insurance dollars does not support the activities most likely to
influence healthy lifestyles among Kanaka Maoli. Traditional fee-for-
service health insurance pays physicians for medical diagnoses and
procedures performed on people with medical conditions. In theory,
managed care supports health promotion and a broader spectrum of
practitioners. In reality, it does not--there is no financial incentive
for prevention as long as individuals are in and out of managed care
programs with little or no long-term enrollment. Moreover, many of the
people who are most in need of health care interventions are uninsured.
They can little afford to avail themselves of timely and preventive
clinical care much less get health advice and counseling.
The Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education can advance efforts to reduce health
disparities among Native Hawaiians by providing the resources that are
needed to fund activities that promote healthy lifestyles. Working with
established community-based health organizations (i.e., Community
Health Centers and the Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems) and the
Health Professions Scholarship Program is the most effective means to
accomplish this goal.
These efforts may be expensive: They must target all the
approximately 220,000 Kanaka Maoli in Hawaii, not just those in
selected communities or defined socio-economic groups. The scholarship
program is a necessary tool to assure that Native Hawaiians can find
competent professionals from whom they will be comfortable seeking
care. It is also important that Native Hawaiians be proportionately
represented among the health professions and future health policy
makers.
The commitment has to be for the long haul. It takes ample time and
consistent work to help people improve their health habits. Even when
more salubrious practices replace bad habits, it can take years before
these changes result in measurable improvements. Training an adequate
Native Hawaiian health professional workforce also takes decades.
This Committee might also take on the more far-reaching and
visionary role of considering a national health care program. Such a
program would have the virtues of eliminating the barriers of poverty
and lack of insurance while giving the health care system an incentive
to support wellness activities
Thank you for giving us this opportunity to testify.
Senator Inouye. Before proceeding I'd like to announce that
2 years ago, as some of you are aware, we began the
consultation process with E Ola Mau and Papa Ola Lokahi to
draft the appropriate measure for the Native Hawaiian Health
Care Improvement Act reauthorization.
The consultation process will be completed this September,
which is just about a month from now. And after the conclusion
of that process the draft bill will be submitted to us. And we,
in turn, will call upon the Senate legislative counsel for
drafting it into a formal Senate format.
When that is completed we will introduce the measure. And
after the introduction we will conduct hearings in Hawaii as a
final step.
What I'm trying to point out is that as a result of this
consultation process the Health Bill for Native Hawaiians will
be the product not of Washington but of Hawaii.
As some of you may be aware the Native Hawaiian Health
Improvement Act includes, among other things, recognition of
native doctors. This is the first time that this nation has
recognized native doctors or kahunas.
We also have the reauthorization of the Education Act. We
will be conducting hearings on this measure together with that
of the health measure beginning, hopefully, in November after
the session is ended in the Congress.
So be ready for important hearings because this will be the
hearing to determine the scope of the measure that we hope the
Congress of the United States will approve.
Mr. Thompson, we have heard some statistics from you and
your Papa Ola Lokahi team that substantiate the findings of
many studies that have been conducted which show that the
native peoples of the United States the Indians, the Aleuts,
the Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians, have conditions on
health that are in many cases in some categories worse than
Third World countries. It is a national disgrace.
One statistic interested me: $1,200 per capita for Native
Indians and Alaska Natives and $16 for Native Hawaiians.
Looking at those numbers as presented would conjure up a
horrendous picture. But it should be noted that as a result of
treaty obligations, 100 percent of the cost of health care in
Indian Reservations are paid for by the Federal Government.
There are no funds from the State or the county.
In the case of Native Hawaiians there are many dollars that
utilize to benefit Native Hawaiians which may not show up slow
up on your $16. For example, the funds that Dr. Andrade has
spoken of.
So these statistics, unless you analyze, it may be
distorted. I believe that dollar for dollar Native Hawaiians
receive more per capita than other indigenous people of the
United States, which doesn't say much.
I think all should be receiving much more so that our
health status could be better than Third World countries.
Are you people agreeing to the 65 percent of children born
today at risk? Is that the finding of Papa Ola Lokahi also?
Mr. Thompson. I'm not aware of it, Senator, at this point
in time. I was surprised to hear it. We would like to pursue in
talking to people about that.
Senator Inouye. Because I've never heard of any numbers
worse than that even for Third World countries. Sixty-five
percent. Can you check that out for us?
Mr. Thompson. We shall.
Senator Inouye. Of the programs that are now in progress in
your organization are you satisfied with the results?
Mr. Thompson. Some of our programs have been very
productive in terms of prevention. And I alluded to that in
our--by referring to our early childhood development program in
our family-based education centers where the pregnant mother is
addressed and new fetus is also addressed in terms of its well-
being. The results of that program have been quite impressive,
I think.
It's those kinds of programs we need to look at and
possibly improve and expand not only for our youngsters but for
all the youngsters of Hawaii.
Senator Inouye. Is your team satisfied with the
consultation process that has been conducted over the last 2
years in the drafting of the new bill?
Mr. Thompson. Oh, yes. We're very pleased with the
opportunity to work with the Federal people in relation to the
consultation.
Senator Inouye. Well, we're all set to introduce the
measure as soon as the final process has ended. I am enthused
about the new product that will be coming up.
Mr. Thompson. We are too, Senator.
Senator Inouye. The congressional delegation is prepared to
jointly introduce this in the House and in the Senate. So we
look forward to successful advocacy of Native Hawaiian health.
Mr. Thompson. This brings it right back to the community in
determining the priorities and the programs. Thank you.
Senator Inouye. Dr. Andrade, you know, I could have sat
here for hours listening to you. We will be submitting
questions, statistical types, that we hope you will respond to.
In listening to your testimony it reminded me that in
Indian Reservations at the present time 28 community colleges,
there are no universities yet. They're all supported by the
Federal Government, very miniscule support, but they're
supported by the Federal Government. They receive no State
funds or county funds.
In your case we do receive State funds to assist Native
Hawaiians, don't we?
Dr. Andrade. That's minimal, Senator. It comes primarily
from because I'm a tenured professor, the contribution I give
my research is in kind. That's our primary contribution to our
research effort which is about 40 percent time which I give.
That's really--and the facilities that we utilize.
Our major source of funding has been from the National
Institutes of Mental Health. I have to say Dr. Patrick Deleon
from your office has been our champion in terms of really
getting to NIH and making them aware of how important our grant
is.
We compete with everyone else. But without that extra voice
in Washington bringing us to the forefront of NIMH
administrators it would be very difficult for us to have a
voice because we're geographically so isolated.
The other area where we have been very fortunate is private
foundations. We've sought moneys from there as well. They have
been most helpful in helping us fund our efforts.
We right now have a grant, a 5-year grant that we are
hoping will get funded. It has been approved. We're waiting for
the funding notice from NIHM.
Senator Inouye. I have been accused of maintaining an in-
house mental health lobbyist. Now the secret's out. [Laughter.]
We'll admit to that. When will your paper be published?
Dr. Andrade. I'll make sure your committee gets copies of
all, the especially those three papers, which are all in
manuscript form. As soon as we just finish up on the MET
analysis, especially for the prevalence rates, I will send
copies to your committee to make sure you have them available.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much. Dr. Fukino, what sort
of collaboration or liaison do you maintain with the State
Board of Health?
Dr. Fukino. We have, as part of our membership, members of
the Department of Health--wait the State Board of Health?
Senator Inouye. I mean State Department of Health, I'm
sorry. Yes.
Dr. Fukino. I know that we are supposed to be meeting with
director Anderson probably in the next couple of weeks. I don't
know if we have an appointment scheduled yet.
We have met with smaller branches within the Department of
Health to look at their data and to assist them in aggregating
in a faster way.
Actually this is a relatively new program that we have
started within this past year in part because of grant money
that we received from the Queen Emma Foundation.
We also were told recently that our grant proposal to NIH
is in the stage where it goes to scientific merit review I
think sometime in October of this year with regards to the
database in particular, the cardiovascular risk assessment
monitoring program that we have been monitoring.
Senator Inouye. Ms. Giesting, I was most pleased to learn
of your assessment of the Waimanalo Health Center. How would
you assess the other centers?
Ms. Giesting. I believe that the other centers, to the
extent they serve very high proportions of Native Hawaiians,
also have special programs and make special efforts to meet
those needs.
As you know not all of the heath centers are providing
services to very large numbers of Native Hawaiians. So they all
do have a number of ways to overcome cultural language, income,
other kinds of barriers, but not necessarily special programs
for Native Hawaiians.
Senator Inouye. Finally, if I may get back to you, Dr.
Andrade. I was most interested in your statement that cultural
values have a major impact upon the health conditions of native
peoples.
This panel here, your congressional delegation, over the
years have been involved in a lot of cultural programs. For
that we have been receiving a lot of criticism. For example,
funds for the construction of the Hawaii Loa or the Hokule'a
headlines ``A Million Dollars For A Canoe.''
But we have been told that these canoes have done a lot to
restore pride not only in navigation but in the Polynesian
people and their history. Would those programs help?
Dr. Andrade. In a phrase, absolutely. What we believe from
the findings that we see, and in particular the paper on the
native healers, for those young Hawaiian boys soon to be men
and how they seek native traditional methods for their
problems, tell us that a forum like the Hokule'a opens the door
for us to then introduce ideas about: Whether or not you should
use drugs or alcohol.
How you communicate with your parents about problems you
may have. How do you communicate with your siblings about
problems that you have.
Also that we have to remember that our existing school
systems, for the most part, are measures of conformity in terms
of success. They are not measures of esteem, of optimism. That
kids do best when they feel hopeful and when they feel cared
for.
Really successful kids sort of turn things around when you
ask them will usually focus in on a counselor or teacher that
has personalized their experience, and made that translation
for them of the existing Western school system into something
that's personal, that's relevant, if you will, is cultural.
What the Hokule'a does and other initiatives like the
Hokule'a within schools like alternative school base--and one
that comes to my mind immediately that I know is affected by
the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate pull back of funding was
at Honaunau, the Hale Ho'oponopono project which was pulled
back early on.
That was a superb project for keeping kids who would
otherwise never stay in school and get into serious abuse
problems, stay in school and become successful men and women.
Not many of them, perhaps, went on to college. The fact of
the matter is they're productive citizens today. That's the
difference.
I also believe, if I can just extrapolate, a lot of people
have said 10 years later all the money from the Hawaiian Health
Care Act why have we not seen more appreciable changes in the
positive direction with the health status?
Because it's sort of chilling when you realize, Senator,
we're sitting here 10 years later. We're hearing the same
litany of statistics, if not worse, in some cases.
I believe the reason why the Native Hawaiian health care
centers and that system has not been able to make the impact
they need to is because we do not have individuals who are
trained in both worlds.
In other words, they have the technical skills and the
cultural skills. We don't have enough of them to make that
transition with the population out there.
So what happens? It's easier when you have a grant to use a
preformed set of protocols and say: This is how we treat
substance abuse. Then impose that on this population. This is
how we treat depression. This is how we treat this or that.
That just doesn't jive for Native Hawaiians in a cultural
way. I believe our research is one of the first research
studies to really look at that question from an objective
standpoint and, indeed, show evidence that that's what we're
missing. We need to put that component in.
One specific example I can give you of the success of that
is the Hale Ko'o Pa--excuse me. It's the substance abuse
program that I'm absolutely blocking on in Waianae for Native
Hawaiians which Ho'oipo DeCambra oversees. Ho'o Mau Keola.
Thank you. This is a marvelous program.
What they did is they got the package deal from the Feds.
They realized this was not working. It was a great 12 step
program, well established nationally. But it wasn't working for
their clients who kept coming back in a revolving door,
predominantly Native Hawaiian clients from every socio-economic
background throughout the State.
What they did is they got cultural experts, and they
reframed the 12 step program utilizing ho'oponopono stages and
inputting through cultural experts traditional Native Hawaiian
psycho-education, psycho-drama.
Incredibly creative but culturally so appropriate. Their
recidivism rate went from, I think they had a recidivism rate
of about 60 percent.
Within 2 years of implementing these changes and programs
it went down to less than 1 percent. Those people are still out
5 years later. This is an incredible change.
This, I think, is an example of what can happen when you
get qualified people. Because what the leaders did at Ho'o Mau
is that they brought people with expertise on both sides,
cultural experts and Western-trained doctors, experts, and then
brainstormed together and produced the product that had both.
I believe this is what this next phase of the Hawaiian
Health Care Act really needs to look at and put monies into
that particular area of focus.
Senator Inouye. Your answers make me feel so good. Then you
would say that your studies would support programs like
language immersion?
Dr. Andrade. Again, absolutely.
Senator Inouye. What about the restoration of fishponds?
Dr. Andrade. Oh, God. I could go on: Yes, yes, yes.
[Laughter.]
Senator Inouye. So we're on the right track?
Dr. Andrade. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Senator Inouye. So we're not wasting money?
Dr. Andrade. Every time in our people's environment whether
it's in our homes, outside our homes, walking to school, going
to work, you see a fishpond that's restored that brings mullet
and moi into the supermarket.
When you have lunch wagons that serve Hawaiian plate
lunches that are very healthful, what you're doing is you are
reaffirming for that ethnic group that what they have is sound,
it is nutritious, it is long lasting.
It brings to a group of people the reaffirmation which is
what culture is. If you think about it, what is culture?
Culture is a means by which we reaffirm our sense of morality.
It is that yardstick that a group has to measure what
within itself makes it bigger than itself. And all of the
physical and educational and social institutions that reinforce
that concept only bring home again to the Hawaiian people that
what you have is something very special, that we are not going
to let go away.
Senator Inouye. Thank you. Senator Akaka.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. It's
delightful to hear what we've heard about our Hawaiian people
and also to hear the problems that the Hawaiian people have.
Coming back to the 64 percent, it's really unreal for me to
think that any ethnic group would have that kind of statistic.
I certainly want to have this confirmed, that may be in future
hearings, to hear what has happened since all of these programs
are in place.
Pinky, I want to congratulate you and Papa Ola Lokahi in
particular for your vision and what you're trying to do in
understanding the Hawaiians, their problems and their future.
With that that helps us to determine what we need to support
your vision and your programs.
I always felt that the Hokule'a was helping the Hawaiians.
Because I believe that one of our problems that's deep-seated,
Dr. Andrade, is that of self-esteem and pride. As you
mentioned, even the plate lunch, it's self-esteem and pride
when they feel, ``That's our own. It's good for us. It helps us
to be healthy.'' I think we need to do more of this as we can.
But first but what we're doing now is trying to understand
what the Hawaiians are. Another part to this I'm interested in
finding out--I think I'm certain that the surveys and
statistics you have are--and maybe I'm wrong so correct me--are
of the Hawaiians who live in Hawaii.
What I am interested in knowing also is how do these
compare with Hawaiians who live on the mainland. Also to look
at that and to see if there is a difference, what difference it
makes living in a different environment.
From the Papa Ola Lokahi, Mr. Campos, I was interested in
the CHIP program that you mentioned and especially mentioning
how this was not used to its fullest.
I would ask you is there something that we can do about
that at the present time or it's just too late?
Mr. Campos. It's not too late. We're still going to lobby
in the State Legislature next year to make sure this program
passes and the State keeps it going. We will be working with
Dr. Anderson and the Legislature to make sure that it doesn't
fall through. Hopefully it doesn't. It means a lot to the
Hawaiian people, especially our children.
Senator Akaka. I was also intrigued with your lifestyle
modification part about nutrition and diet. I think basically
this is another part of the Hawaiians that can certainly help
their health. A Hawaiian word that we sometimes live by is ono.
As long as it's ono we eat it. Sometimes it doesn't help us
healthwise.
Dr. Andrade, marvelous hearing from you always. And to hear
the depths of your understanding of psychiatry and particularly
your understanding of Hawaiians, and also telling us about the
problems that Hawaiians have.
I wondered whether--and I feel that at the bottom of all
this is self-esteem and pride--whether anything is being done
with the Department of Education along these lines to try to
reach the Hawaiians in Hawaii?
Dr. Andrade. I know from the high schools that we have
worked on there is a profound dedication by top leadership in
these schools to really perpetuate Hawaiian ethnic pride. They
take it very seriously.
I don't know if I could make the same statement statewide
but I venture to guess that because most educators I mean I
think, refreshingly to me, I found cared very deeply about the
students they cared for and they teach. I mean I think
overwhelmingly so. They very much welcome any kind of input.
For example, one of the major things that our research
group does for the school that we work in give annual workshops
on dealing with Hawaiian issues, dealing with kids who may be
threatening or just not in sync with the rest and how to get
teachers who are recently recruited from the continent
understanding and more fluent in the local culture. So I think
that those things are happening as well.
Senator Akaka. One interesting thing about your testimony,
particularly, was when you mentioned about males, Hawaiian
males seeking treatment by native healers. You mentioned that,
I wonder in particular, what significance does this have?
Dr. Andrade. The question is really a complex one. I'm not
saying that by way of not answering you. But it's just that I
think one of the major mistakes we can make when we try to
shape public policy is to find the quick answer.
Because obviously just the data I showed on the cultural
scale and the native healers really showed us the depth to the
whole role of culture that we hadn't even anticipated as
scientists. It's a totally different point of view.
Had we just kind of looked for, oh, great it's a risk
factor or it's a protective factor, we really would have missed
the entire boat which is the really major focus for culture is
really on intervention and prevention strategies.
It's not worrying about risk or protective factors. Take
that then with why do boys choose then to go to traditional
healers?
I believe some highlight may be shown in one of the
findings that we found in our Native Hawaiian culture scale. In
that scale we have subscales of culture, cultural elements.
For example, we have elements of spiritual religious
beliefs and practices, lifestyle practices, things that kids
get together and do.
The example with lifestyles those are things like
traditional opelu fishing, lohi farming, hunting, pig hunting,
which is considered very much for Hawaiian young men and
fathers very important part of the culture because it's food
gathering practices, opihi, limu all of the things that you
really have to sort of learn the ritual to get and gather these
things.
As opposed to the social activities subscale which is
things like going to the Merry Monarch Hula Festival, listening
to Da Kine radio station which is the most popular on O'ahu, at
least, Hawaiian music station, and those kinds of activities
that kids get together and a lot of kids do.
What we find is that among the Native Hawaiian males they
tended to--that were in trouble, that get into trouble--they
tended to score much higher on the lifestyles.
What that we think that indicates that developmentally
they're at a stage that they're really, kids and adolescents
are trying to sort of consolidate their behavior and their
identity. That's where cultural identity becomes a major factor
in that phase of development.
What we believe is that among the Native Hawaiians males
who really resonate towards the food gathering practices, that
an extension, traditional healers basically who follow those
rituals in gathering because you gather food and you gather
herbs, and going out into the forest and learning about the
forest when you hunt. You learn about the native remedies that
are in the forest in case you get injured.
How do you use fern, a fern poultice to stop the bleeding
if you cut yourself from a boar.
So what we think for these Hawaiian males which
traditionally practice food gathering practices that they in
fact will tend to go to traditional healers just by virtue of
the environment that they are comfortable in.
The traditional healers are comfortable in forests. They're
comfortable in the ocean and sea where they gather a lot of
their la'au.
We believe this is the connection. Dr. Cathy Bell who is
one of the young triple board residents, she will graduate next
year, she was an honor student at Yale. She has already won two
national awards for the research work is the first author of
that people on native healers.
Her plan is to go for a first time investigated grant to
study this question more carefully so that we might be able to
make some interventions for adolescents and families that are
much more meaningful.
Senator Akaka. Thank you so much for your response. Mr.
Chairman, thank you.
Senator Inouye. Representative Mink.
Mrs. Mink. Thank you, Senator. I have a million questions.
I know there's no time for all of them. I merely want to say
how much I learned from your testimony today, some startling
statistics like the Native Alaskan comparison with the Native
Hawaiian expenditure.
All of the questions having to do with Western medicine
versus Hawaiian medicine, one that's more culturally relevant.
It raises a question that I think would be helpful if we
had it in the record if not today perhaps supplied, that is in
the nonparticipation in Western medicine, which can cause some
very serious complications for people who reject it.
What is the ratio of participation in the Native Hawaiian
community in Hawaii with respect to programs like Medicare? Do
they participate? Do they not participate? Is the level of
participation much lower in that program than the regular
population? Are there some answers on that?
Because that would surely be indicative of a criterion of
need with respect to the Native Hawaiian community.
Mr. Thompson. Congresswoman Mink, I'm not aware of any
statistics at this point in time regarding the participation of
Native Hawaiians in the Medicare program. But it's certainly a
question that needs to be addressed, and we shall.
Mrs. Mink. I think that outreach is always a problem.
That's certainly the finding of Congress with reference to
Children's Health Insurance Initiative, the CHIP program.
It's really tragic that the State Legislature did not come
up with the monies to match the $9 million which was made
available by Congress.
But there again, the level upon which the Native Hawaiian
community would come forward and participate in even CHIP is
something that I think bears watching.
Maybe we might find that additional funding would be
necessary in order to level off the participation in these
generally available health related funds for the Native
Hawaiian community. Thank you very much, Senator.
Dr. Fukino. If I could respond to Representative Mink for
just a while. The question of participation with programs like
Medicare or any kind of health insurance I think is important.
But it's also important to look at not just whether or not you
have access to the program but whether or not you use it.
One of the concerns that E Ola Mau has had is that there is
I think a general feeling that the middle class Native Hawaiian
is adequately cared for and looked after because they work and
they carry health insurance.
As a private practitioner I can tell you the cultural bias
of Native Hawaiians are present even if you do have health
insurance and own a house.
E Ola Mau has looked at this data from a statistical
standpoint. HHC data, Healthy Hawaiian Communities data that
looked at where Native Hawaiians are socio-economically. We
have identified what we call the Honolulu corridor which by
ahupua'a definitions brought us east Hawaii all the way to the
Ewa Plains.
Native Hawaiians in this area are viewed as being okay
because they are employed and they have health insurance. Yet
when you look at the health statistic, death statistics and
incidence of disease these Native Hawaiians also participate in
the poor health status.
So the concern that I think we as Native Hawaiian
practitioners have is not just the accessibility but the use of
these services.
Senator Inouye. I'd like to thank all--yes?
Dr. Andrade. Yes. I just want, Senator, to add onto my
colleague's comments in terms of, for Representative Mink, the
use of insurance and statistics.
I believe if we look at the blood quantum issue you will
find that the higher the blood quantum the worse the problems.
Now, people might jump to the conclusion that there is
something genetic because it's blood quantum.
That, in fact, is not the case at least from what we are
finding in our studies. What we found is that blood quantum had
very little to do in terms of creating variance. In other words
what accounts for the difference or changes that we find
between one group and another, in this case Native Hawaiians.
So it wasn't something genetic. In fact what we think has
more to do with it is that most Hawaiians with higher blood
quantums are in enclaves. And those enclaves like Nanakuli,
Waianae, Keaukaha and so forth are in economically very
depressed--Moloka'i is another predominantly Hawaiian
community--very economically depressed communities.
So, in fact, the causes are really social and economic
rather than racial. I really wanted to make that point really
clear.
Because I think the economic trends which would presuppose
somebody qualifying for Medicare, for example, really would
show that trend as well.
Senator Inouye. I thank you very much. It appears at this
stage we will not be able to conclude our hearings at 12:00.
But fear not, I'll be around.
Our next panel consists of the director of the Native
Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program, Dr. Sita Nissanka; Dr.
Michelle Suber, Dr. Nanette Judd, Mr. Henry Auwae, Mr.
Kawaikapuokalani Hewett, director of the Cultural Health
Program. Waimanalo Health Center. I thank you all for
attending.
May I call on Dr. Nissanka. Will the witnesses come
forward. Is Mr. Henry Auwae here? Oh, here. Now we can start
with you. Is Mr. Hewett here? If not, I thank all of you for
attending. May I call upon Dr. Nissanka.
STATEMENT OF DR. SITA NISSANKA, DIRECTOR, NATIVE
HAWAIIAN HEALTH SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM,
KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS BISHOP ESTATE
Dr. Nissanka. Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka, Representative
Mink, and the staff. Can you hear me now?
My name is Sita Nissanka. I'm the director of the Native
Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program at Kamehameha Schools
Bishop Estate. And I'm honored to be provided this opportunity
to testify.
The purpose of the Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship
Program is to improve the health status of the Native Hawaiians
by selecting Native Hawaiians for scholarships, to be trained
in selected health professions, prepare scholarship recipients
to deliver primary health care services to Native Hawaiians as
well as disadvantaged and vulnerable populations in underserved
communities.
The Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program was
implemented October 1, 1990 and is currently authorized by the
Native Hawaiians Health Care Improvement Act.
The program is funded through a cooperative agreement
between the Public Health Service Division of Programs of
Special Populations and Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate.
The Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate is responsible for
recruiting, screening, retention counseling and preparing
students to give their services in health professional shortage
and medically underserved areas.
The program applicants must be Native Hawaiians, citizens
of the United States and enrolled or accepted into accredited
health professional training programs.
The eligibility requirements are judged based on work
experience, academic record, demonstrative interest in
providing primary health care services, experience or interest
in working with the Native Hawaiian population and knowledge of
Native Hawaiian culture and values.
The Hawaii State Primary Health Care Association is
responsible for placing scholarship recipients after graduation
and monitoring their services. The Federal Government directly
awards and disburses the scholarship funds.
The scholarship assistance includes full tuition, related
educational expenses such as books and supplies, and other
reasonable educational expenses as well as a monthly stipend of
approximately $1,000. And this amount increases by 10 percent
each year.
The scholarship recipients are committed to a service
obligation of 1 year of service for each year of scholarship
assistance with a minimum of 2 years and maximum of 4 years.
The obligated service requirement is fulfilled through
services in order of priority in any one of the five health
care, Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems, a health
professional shortage area or medically underserved area
located in the State of Hawaii or any geographic area or
facility similarly designated by the U.S. Public Health Service
in the State of Hawaii.
The scholarship recipients are required to engage in full
time clinical or non-clinical practice of the profession for
which the scholarships were awarded.
The total number of scholarship recipients to date is 92.
Thirty-seven are currently in service. Sixteen of these health
professionals have completed their services, service
obligations and still remain in service in underserved areas.
A detailed status report on scholarship recipients is also
attached with the testimony.
Scholarship recipients in training and in service are
active participants in rural communities and in Native Hawaiian
cultural activities, and have developed very innovative
programs to get communities involved in their own health and
disease prevention activities.
I want to add this. Dr. Andrade's testimony mentioned
several doctors in her triple board particularly Dr. Bell.
These are our students. They have been. They are scholarship
recipients now in medical school and going into residency.
prepared statement
We have more and more Native Hawaiian medical students now
interested in the mental health field because there is a great
need and we do encourage that. Thank you very much.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Dr. Sita Nissanka
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and distinguished committee members. My
name is Sita Nissanka, Director of the Native Hawaiian Health
Scholarship Program (NHHSP) at Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate (KSBE).
I am honored to be provided this opportunity to testify.
The purpose of the Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program is to
improve the health status of the Native Hawaiians by selecting Native
Hawaiians for scholarships, to be trained in selected health
professions, prepare scholarship recipients to deliver primary health
care services to Native Hawaiians as well as disadvantaged and
vulnerable populations in underserved rural communities.
program description
The Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program was implemented
October 1, 1990 and is currently authorized by the Native Hawaiian
Health Care Improvement Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-396).
The Program is funded through a cooperative agreement between the
Public Health Service, Division of Programs for Special Populations and
Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate.
Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate is responsible for recruiting,
screening, retention counseling and preparing students to give their
services in health professional shortage and medically underserved
areas.
The program applicants must be Native Hawaiians, citizens of the
U.S. and enrolled or accepted into accredited health professions
training programs. The eligibility requirements are judged based on
work experience, academic record, demonstrated interest in providing
health primary care service, experience or interest in working with the
Native Hawaiian population and knowledge of Native Hawaiian culture and
values.
The Hawaii State Primary Health Care Association is responsible for
placing scholarship recipients after graduation and monitoring their
services.
The Federal Government directly awards and disburses the
scholarship funds. The scholarship assistance includes full tuition,
related educational expenses, such as books and supplies, and other
reasonable educational expenses as well as a monthly stipend of
approximately $1,000. This amount increases by 10 percent each year.
The scholarship recipients are committed to a service obligation of
one year of service for each year of scholarship assistance, with a
minimum of two years and maximum of four years.
The obligated service requirement is fulfilled through service in
order of priority, in (1) any one of the five Native Hawaiian Health
Care Systems, (2) a health professional shortage area or medically
underserved area, located in the State of Hawaii or any geographic area
or facility similarly designated by the U.S. Public Health Service in
the State of Hawaii. The scholarship recipients are required to engage
in full time clinical or non-clinical practice of the profession for
which the scholarships were awarded.
The total number of scholarship recipients to date is 92. Thirty-
seven (37) are currently in service, sixteen (16) of these health
professionals have completed their service obligations and still remain
in service in underserved areas. A detailed status report on
scholarship recipients is attached.
Scholarship recipients in training and in service are active
participants in rural communities and in Native Hawaiian cultural
activities and have developed very innovative programs to get
communities involved in their own health and disease prevention
activities.
STATEMENT OF DR. MICHELLE SUBER, RESIDENT, NORTH HAWAII
COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
Senator Inouye. Doctor Suber.
Dr. Suber. Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka and Representative
Mink, it's a pleasure and an honor to present to you today the
practice of Naturopathic medicine as it relates to Native
Hawaiians.
I have had the opportunity to be a resident at North Hawaii
Community Hospital on the Big Island doing a program in
integrated medical care during the past year.
In the draft of the National Plan to Advance Integrated
Health Care, three priorities have been identified: Fund the
development of research infrastructure at the accredited
naturopathic medical schools and programs.
Provide funding to identify and replicate models of
integrated care in which naturopathic physicians and other
credentialed complementary and alternative providers
participate on a level playing field with conventional
providers.
Eliminate the statutory and regulatory barriers to the
participation of naturopathic doctors in the nation's Public
Health Service.
My relationship to the health of Native Hawaiians in
particular has been primarily through private practice in
naturopathic family care, as well as through work with four
medical doctors on staff at North Hawaii Community Hospital.
Based on my experience with caring for the Native Hawaiian
population, it's essential that these national priorities set
forth for safe, accountable and complete healthcare also be
approached at a local level, participation in the nation's
Public Health Service having the most immediate and profound
effect for Native Hawaiians.
Sensible places to begin are Hawaii's six sites designated
as Health Professional Shortage Areas for primary care. These
are: Hana/Haiku; Lana'i Island, Moloka'i Island, Puna; Ka'u and
Hamakua.
The people of Hawaii require competent care particularly in
the treatment and very importantly, the prevention of certain
chronic diseases. The application of the founding principles of
naturopathic medicine, such as nutrition, exercise, and a
healthy lifestyle, are critical. Native Hawaiians have
impressive statistical rates of chronic degenerative diseases,
such as cancer, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes mellitus.
According to the 1996 study entitled, ``Creating a
Surveillance System for Diabetes in Hawaii,'' approximately
52,000 people in Hawaii have some form of diabetes.
This is 48 percent higher than the national rate. The
prevalence rate among residents of the Big Island is nearly 50
percent higher than the statewide prevalence rate which appears
to be related to the higher number of people of Hawaiian and
part-Hawaiian ancestry on the Big Island.
Obesity is also a major health issue in our State. The
statewide average 21.8 percent for Native Hawaiian's and part-
Hawaiians it is 46.2 percent. This is from the ``Hawaii Health
Performance Plan, Optimum Health for Hawaii's People.''
Naturopathic physicians are licensed in twelve States to
provide primary care medical services. The tenets of
naturopathic medicine include the following: Treating the whole
person, educating our patients in their own care, utilizing the
healing power of nature and seeking and treating the cause of
illness versus merely treating symptoms.
Using science-based tradition we focus not only on the
prevention of disease but also on the wellness and vitality of
our patients and our communities.
On our own accord we participate in all of the major models
of accreditation and certification to certify our safety and
accountability.
There is a natural affinity in both goals and values
between the naturopathic profession and the Public Health
Service.
The emphasis on prevention and training for self-care, the
deep caring for the underserved and the systemic view of
complex relationships among patient, family and society, these
are aspects where the mutuality of goals and values become
apparent.
Opening the Public Health Service to naturopathic
physicians will serve Native Hawaiians by increasing the scope
of primary care and preventive services offered to the
underserved.
prepared statement
It will help the profession to be at the forefront of
developing models of integrated service delivery. Thank you
very much.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Doctor.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Dr. Michelle Suber
the practice of naturopathic medicine as it relates to native hawaiians
In the draft of the National Plan to Advance Integrated Health
Care, three priorities have been identified:
1. Fund the development of research infrastructure at the
accredited naturopathic medical schools and programs.
2. Provide funding to identify and replicate models of integrated
care in which naturopathic physicians and other credentialed
complementary and alternative (CAM) providers participate on a level
playing field with conventional providers.
3. Eliminate the statutory and regulatory barriers to the
participation of naturopathic doctors in the nation's Public Health
Service.
During the past eleven months I have had the distinct honor of
being the only naturopathic physician doing a residency program on the
staff of a conventional hospital in the United States. My relationship
to the health of Native Hawaiians in particular has been primarily
through private practice in naturopathic family care, as well as
through work with four medical doctors also on staff at North Hawaii
Community Hospital on the Big Island. Based on my experience with
caring for the Native Hawaiian population, it is essential that these
national priorities set forth for safe, accountable, and complete
healthcare also be approached at a local level, participation in the
nation's Public Health Service having the most immediate and profound
effect.
Sensible places to begin are Hawaii's six sites designated as
Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) for primary care: Hana/Haiku;
Lana'i Island, Moloka'i Island; Puna; Ka'u; and Hamakua.
The people of Hawaii require competent care particularly in the
treatment and very importantly, the prevention of certain chronic
diseases. The application of the founding principles of naturopathic
medicine, such as nutrition, exercise, and a healthy lifestyle, are
critical. Native Hawaiians have impressive statistical rates of chronic
degenerative diseases, such as cancer, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes
mellitus.
For example, according to the 1996 study entitled ``Creating a
Surveillance System for Diabetes in Hawaii,'' approximately 52,000
people in Hawaii have some form of diabetes. This is 48 percent higher
than the national rate; the prevalence rate among residents of the Big
Island is nearly 50 percent higher than the statewide prevalence rate
which appears to be related to the higher number of people of Hawaiian
and Part-Hawaiian ancestry on the Big Island. Obesity is also a major
health issue of our state, the statewide average 21.8 percent, for
native Hawaiians/Part Hawaiians it is 46.2 percent. (Hawaii Health
Performance Plan, Optimum Health for Hawaii's People, draft 11/09/98.)
Naturopathic physicians are licensed in twelve states to provide
primary care medical services. The tenets of naturopathic medicine
include the following: Treating the whole person, educating our
patients in their own care, utilizing the healing power of nature, and
seeking and treating the cause of illness (versus merely treating
symptoms). Using science-based tradition, we focus not only on
prevention of disease, but also on the wellness and vitality of our
patients and our communities. On our own accord, we participate in all
of the major models of accreditation and certification to assure our
safety and accountability.
There is a natural affinity in both goals and values between the
naturopathic profession and the Public Health Service. The emphasis on
prevention and training for self-care, the deep caring for the
underserved, the systemic view of the complex relationships among
patient, family and society--these are aspects where the mutuality of
goals and values becomes apparent. Opening the Public Health Service to
naturopathic physicians will serve Native Hawaiians by increasing the
scope of primary care and preventive services offered to the
underserved, and it will help the profession to be at the forefront of
developing models of integrated service delivery.
STATEMENT OF HENRY AUWAE, KUPUNA LA'AU LAPA'AU O HAWAII
Senator Inouye. Now may I call on Mr. Auwae.
Mr. Auwae. Aloha, Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka,
Representative Mink and your staff. I'd like to introduce
myself. My name is Papa Henry Auwae. I'm head of all the La'au
Lapa'au kupuna in the State of Hawaii and also traditional
healers for, and teacher and instructor for 100 students from
Hawaii, Moloka'i, O'ahu and also teach people from Ni'ihau,
Kaua'i or Maui.
I work with all ethnic group of people in treating and
teaching the art of healing. I have, I was taught by my great
great grandmother who was 114 years when she passed on. I
started when I was 7 years old. I'm 93 years old now.
I also have 16 children, 7 boys and 9 daughters. As of
today I have 300 grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great
great grandchildren.
I come before this committee to support Papa Ola Lokahi for
their endeavor in helping training and the group that I'm
teaching for the last 5 years training people for la'au lapa'au
healers.
I have worked with 2,500 different kind of medicine,
different kind of herbs. But the main training I have I learned
from my great great grandfather it's spiritual learning.
Spiritual learning is pule to help heal people. If you
don't have a love for the people then it's not your business to
heal people. You have to train, have compassion, have aloha,
have all the making of learning and helping other people to get
well.
This is the things that I support Papa Ola Lokahi for their
effort of helping me help other people in the healing process.
Not only Hawaiians. I learned from my great great grandmother
that God put all herbs on earth. He didn't say not only for
Hawaiians but for all mankind. This is what I learned. This is
what I pass on to my students.
I have a lot of different type of people in my group. And
we need more people to learn to teach, but people that have
heart, that believe and a little bit head to think.
You know today a lot of people they only think about money.
But my days when I learned until today money doesn't come first
to me. Health comes first. Life come first. Not the cost. But
in today's world we need the kala. We need the money to go
ahead with all the different trainings we have.
I have also kupuna. I'm the head of all the kupuna la'au
lapa'au in the State. But I have to work together with the
Western doctors and make our kupunas realize that Western
doctors' also a big help to our kupunas.
Because the Western doctors they went to school, they know
all about the different medicine, the different ways to help
us. Sure, we know about Hawaiian medicine but we don't know
everything. This is the kind of thing that we have to build a
bridge between each group of people so that we understand each
other.
That's where the aloha come in. That's where we have to
think for the life of the land and life of the people. We have
to get a way for our Western doctors to help our kupunas.
The bill 1946 that we were studying, I looked over last
year and it came to us as kupunas to work on the bill and we
had seven of the utmost kupuna in the State of Hawaii. And we
acted on the bill. Took us several days but we came to a
conclusion. And we gave the report to Papa Ola Lokahi. They
will let the legislature know what the bill calls for.
prepared statement
But, you know, for kupunas to make up and give license to
any other people I don't think so it's right. The only person
that give you license for any kind of healing is God. There's
nobody that can tell us Hawaiians how to vote and how to tell
us what medicine to use because these different people. We all
have different directions, different way of healing. This is
something that we have to really study hard to come to a
conclusion of what that bill should be. Thank you very much.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Mr. Auwae.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of ``Papa'' Henry Auwae
Aloha: My name is ``Papa'' Henry A. Auwae, master of laau lapaau,
traditional herbal medicine. My genealogical line consist of healers
and I am a seventh generation Hawaiian healer. I was trained by my
great great grandmother at the age of seven and have been practicing
la'au lapa'au for over 75 years. I am 93 years old and have been
recognized, honored and acknowledged by the State of Hawaii as a master
in la'au lapa'au. I am committed to maintaining the ways and methods of
my ancestors and support efforts to perpetuate this Hawaiian
traditional art. Presently, I am teaching 100 haumana (students)
apprentice of different ethnicity in la'au lapa'au on the islands of
O'ahu, Hawaii and Moloka'i. I am also Po'okela (master) of Kupuna Laau
Lapaau O Hawaii, a non-profit organization of kupuna who are practicing
this art statewide. I have intimate knowledge of over 2,500 herbs and
in my lifetime have treated thousands of people from Hawaii and around
the world with health problems such as cancer, diabetes, heart, HIV/
AIDS, broken bones, skin problems, etc. I do not charge for my services
or for the la au (herbs), have worked with other indigenous healers and
Western doctors and have participated in many conferences and
workshops. Presently, I have an active patient load of approximately
300 people and treat patients from all over the state on the islands of
Hawaii, O'ahu and Moloka'i.
As Po'okela I come before you to testify in support of the Native
Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act and its traditional Native
Hawaiian healing practices amendments as recommended by Papa Ola
Lokahi. I am very pleased with their continued support of my work and
appreciate their efforts to help perpetuate all traditional Hawaiian
healing practices. Within the last five years, we have lost many of our
practitioners. It is imperative now that we must all work together
unconditonally to make sure that our ancestors' knowledge is not lost.
My great great grandmother taught me that la'au (herbs) was placed
on earth for ALL mankind and our healing powers are from God. As one of
a small group of traditional healers left, I offer my services to help
our people and to this organization to assist in their objectives and
goals relating to health and healing with all the knowledge that I was
taught by my great great grandmother.
In 1998, the 19th State Legislature passed Senate Bill 1946,
Relating to the Practice of Medicine, and the Governor signed it into
law as Act 162 on July 14, 1998. This act clarifies that those
individuals of Hawaiian ancestry who are practicing traditional
Hawaiian healing including, but not limited to, la'au lapa'au, la'au
kahea, lomilomi and ho'oponopono and who have attained a high level of
proficiency as determined by their respective Hawaiian teacher(s) are
exempt from state licensure for practicing medicine. It further
directed Papa Ola Lokahi to convene a panel of traditional native
Hawaiian healers to address issues and recommend legislation relating
to the permanent implementation of the purpose of this Act,
specifically to discuss the question of ``recognition'' and
``certification'' of practitioners.
As culturally appropriate, seven respected master kahuna and their
kako'o (assistants) were invited to discuss this issue at the King
Kamehameha Hotel from October 29-31, 1998. I was elected chairman of
this Council and after several kukakuka sessions, we agreed that the
Almighty, known as Akua, 'Io or God is the source of our healing gifts
and that while we are grateful that the Legislature has passed this
Bill, the blood quantum, licensure and certification issues raised in
the legislation are inappropriate and culturally unacceptable for
government to ascertain. These are the kuleana of the Hawaiian
community itself through kupuna who are perpetuating these practices.
It is important that we, as master practitioners, continue to protect
and control our own traditional healing practices.
Mahalo for this opportunity to testify.
Senator Inouye. Dr. Nissanka, you've had 92 recipients of
the scholarship grants. Are you satisfied with the quality of
recipients?
Dr. Nissanka. Yes, we are. We have to work really hard with
some of the students who come from dysfunctional families and
also disadvantaged backgrounds.
We work, we monitor them very closely and we have a ranking
committee who rank the students once when they apply, and see
that we take the appropriate students who are really committed
to the profession as well as serving the Native Hawaiians.
So far we haven't had, we have had only one student who was
asked to leave the medical school. One student passed away. One
student through religious beliefs and family perhaps had to
give up his studies after one summer. We haven't had any
dropouts from the program.
We do counselling, extensive counselling as well as we give
in-service training and seminars and workshops with students
after school, in the evenings. And we bring the community
leaders and health professionals and from the Department of
Health, and from the university to speak to the students so
that they get additional information to prepare them to go to
areas that really needs their services.
We have four students with Papa Henry. This is their second
year of training on herbal medicine, and none of them have
dropped out. They have been diligently following his classes.
Most of the students that have been placed are doing and
have developed very innovative programs in Hau'ula and in
Kahuku. Also we have students in Hana and Lana'i and Moloka'i,
all the islands at the moment.
Senator Inouye. Are there sufficient numbers of the
students to justify an increase in funding for scholarship
grants?
Dr. Nissanka. We are, we hope we could give more
scholarships to students this year. We only got eight students
with this current year 1999-year 2000 scholarship grantees. We
had over 30 and they selected eight students because, of
course, the limitation of funding is concerned.
But I would very much like to add, other than primarily
health care services fields, maybe some occupational therapist,
physical therapists. We have an aging population, an aging
Hawaiian, aging population needs to be taken care of. Those who
will major in gerontology and also some speech therapists
because we heard a number of students, school children who have
otitis media tend to drop out of school.
We need to take care of the younger generation. So we wish
we could have a few more health professionals added to the list
that we have now. These are the ones that I mentioned most
important.
Now there is a new program in Hawaii. It's accredited and
licensed. It's a master's degree in family therapy. It's from
the Professional School of Psychology. We hope to take some
students if the Federal Government accept that field of study.
Senator Inouye. Thank you. Dr. Suber, about 28 years ago a
national study indicated that Americans were spending on a per
capita basis about $1,500 per person man, woman and child for
curative medicine, and at the same time 50 cents per capita for
preventive medicine.
Are we spending enough for prevention here in Hawaii?
Dr. Suber. Well, I think that prevention is the most, one
of the most important areas that we can spend more. I don't
have the figures with me right now but I can research those for
you and present them to your committee on exactly how much
Hawaii is spending on preventive care.
I believe that our priorities really should be funneled
into preventive care because what you'll be able to--well,
there are some studies that suggest that preventive care will
save a great deal of money in the long run. More studies need
to be done to determine that that indeed is so.
Then that would be in my opinion our first step to really
take a good look at what is really working. Then put all that
we can, not only into prevention but into what it will take for
individuals to be vital, to take the next step beyond just the
absence of illness and to take the next step what will it take
to have vitality and total wellness that involves the physical
body the spiritual body the mental and emotional body as well.
Senator Inouye. Thank you, very much. Mr. Auwae, you have
given credibility to our effort in adding native doctors and
native healers to the Native Hawaiian health bill. As you know
you've made history by becoming the first participant in the
native healing process.
We're extremely proud of the work you're doing. How many
Native Hawaiian men and women are participating in your program
at this time?
Mr. Auwae. Right now I have 100 students. I have patients
that I see from O'ahu here, 300, and 100 from the outer
islands, Moloka'i and Hawaii. I have also all the kupunas in
the State of Hawaii, that's in the group that I have with less,
about 10 of them died from 1989 to this year. Ten of the top
healers.
But as of today we have about 30 of them. The ages run from
70 to 90 years old. They are, they come from Ni'ihau, Kaua'i,
Moloka'i, Lana'i, Maui, and Hawaii. Scattered all over.
As I said we need to train people now, people that want to
learn, but the training is going to take at least 5 years so
you can make sure that the person is qualified to work with
people and not take their life.
People that can learn and study hard and make sure that the
methods they use for a person is the right medicine. Because
right now I'm treating a lot of cancer patients, a lot of
heart, a lot of diabetic people. A lot of diabetic people in
Moloka'i. A lot of people that are under alcohol, a lot of
people that have bad habits of drugs. People that are matured
very matured. What I mean very matured people 70 years old on
drugs and the young children about 6 or 7 years.
This is the kind of thing that we'd like to, I like to work
with and treat the young people with herbs that can prevent
them from taking any more drugs. But a lot of time I like to do
the prevention work with a child but the parent don't want
their children to go through that kind of involvement to detox
them from drugs.
In Hawaii we have medicine to do that and they never want
to take no more drugs anymore. We know how to do it. But,
again, I don't have the authority to do it.
I have used certain herbs to make people stop smoking. One
day from the first day they start smoking they don't want to
smell no cigarette again. But it's something that we have to
take care and watch what you're doing.
People that I can train and people that is willing to take
a responsibility. Same with any other medicine, any other
problem, cancer, treating cancer, heart problem. Diabetic.
Diabetic is hard to take care, very hard.
But other type of problem, broken bones. I worked with a
lot of people with broken bones. I work with people, thousands
of people not only from Hawaii but from all over the world.
People from Germany, the South Pacific. I have traveled. I
traveled to Japan several times. I helped the elders that came
here, medicine people. We exchange our views of different
medicines.
They invited me to Japan. I went to Japan. I like their
way. They have their medicines the way they believe, a lot of
spiritual. This is the kind of people I wan't to work with.
Spiritual.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Mr. Auwae. Senator
Akaka.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Dr.
Nissanka, I was particularly interested in the obligated
service that has to be rendered by the recipients of the
scholarships.
I see where they may spend 1 year, even up to 2 years doing
this. One thing in this obligation service are they
compensated?
Dr. Nissanka. Yes. They get paid salaries like any other
health care professional. Many in some areas, doctors in the
community health clinics may not get as much as you'd get in
Straub Clinic or Queen's Hospital.
The purpose of the program is to encourage students to work
for less salaries if they can possibly do it because some of
the clinics don't have that much money to pay.
But they do. They get paid substantially going rate most of
the areas. Except maybe some of the doctors who have to go into
remote clinics, their funding is not as good as in most
hospitals where they do a lot of research. But so far they have
been paid.
Senator Akaka. Dr. Suber, you point out that prevention is
of the highest priority for chronic diseases and in particular
in areas of nutrition, disease, health style, lifestyles.
Is there any other area besides those that you deal with?
Dr. Suber. Yes. The other modalities the naturopathic
physicians are trained in are botanical medicine, homeopathy,
hydrotherapy, clinical nutrition, as I mentioned, lifestyle
counseling and natural childbirth.
Senator Akaka. Have you done any studies or completed any
studies dealing with Native Hawaiians and naturopathic
medicine?
Dr. Suber. Well, this particular year that I'm doing in
residency with the four medical doctors that I work with serves
as quite a pilot program for just that.
So we are keeping detailed records at this point of all of
the patients that I see. We're gathering as much data as we can
about really what makes the difference and what level of
integrated care really makes a difference in the areas that
count. We're working on that right now. But no studies are
complete at this time.
Senator Akaka. Po'okela Auwae or Papa Auwae, we're
certainly happy to have you here to testify before this
committee. You are a giant, in my opinion, in Hawaiian health.
You've helped thousands of people as you pointed out not only
in Hawaii but elsewhere.
I just wish that, you know, more Hawaiians or young
Hawaiians can also attain your kind of stature in healing.
As you point out it's very deep. It's very spiritual. You
draw on the gods as well as nature in prescribing your kind of
medicine to help people.
We heard from Dr. Andrade on the positive effect of culture
on the health of Native Hawaiians. Have you had any opportunity
to work with young Native Hawaiians in traditional practices?
Do you have any suggestions as a kupuna to incorporate
culture into health care?
Mr. Auwae. Yes. That's my main objective is to train young
people. Right now, as I said, I have 100 students that we
already assigning patients to them. You name it, what kind
Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiians, Haoles I have those. Men, woman,
we have all those. Young people up to older people.
They train. They use protocol. They use all the learning
that they have from me. When I started the classes 5 years ago
I wanted to make sure that this class is ready for the year
2000. So if anything happen during that time we have people
that can help whatever disaster or whatever help can be brought
forward to anyone that need help. That you don't have to spend
your kala because these people will work and will do what they
have trained to do.
Your heart and your pu'uwai have to be pono. If not, I
won't allow these people to touch any patients. No. They're
here to save life, not to destroy life. This is what we
believe. This is what we practice. Not to destroy but to save,
save life, pule, spiritually. This is very, very important.
Eighty percent of healing I believe is spiritually, 20
percent la'au, herbs. This is the way I train the people that
it's also by direction. That's why I say we need people that
can learn.
There's a lot of people that walking the streets they tell
you they la'au lapa'au people, they make medicine. By God if
you use those medicines you're gonna die. They don't know the
difference from internal medicine and external medicines.
Hawaiians they have that. Hard to kahi you know where you
eha. When you get hurt over here above the elbow you don't kahi
where the hurt is. You kahi below the, below the place that
hurts you.
When a person have broken bones you can feel where the
bone's cracked or broken. You put the la'au on top. But pule.
Kapa practice the same thing. You put the la'au on top, you
give chance. Five days the person can walk.
When I made compound fracture this is the kind thing we
believe in. This is the kind of thing I teach.
Senator Akaka. My last question, Mr. Auwae. Do you depend a
lot of pule and also upon the natural resources and probably
much on plants?
Mr. Auwae. Yes.
Senator Akaka. Trees?
Mr. Auwae. Barks.
Senator Akaka. How prevalent is that? Are we having
trouble?
Mr. Auwae. Yes, we having a lot of trouble in acquiring a
lot of the medicines in our forests, in the areas that we like
to get. Very scarce. Some of the medicine we have I go up Mauna
Loa get. They grow around the Silver Sword Tree. That's the
kind ihi kuahiwi. It's dark, got a dark purple. No leaves. No
nothing. Just wiry. That kind of medicine that we use for
cancer, certain cancer. It's sure cure.
Well, that, some other medicines in the ocean too you know,
you have to dive. You have to go get it. Dive in the ocean, go
in the caves. It's all over the place. But you have to go.
This kind things I like to teach by young people. You be
surprised the kind of people we have. They are people that have
a lot of faith, a lot aloha for humanity, not because they
haole on Kepani or Filipino you're going to put them on the
side and say no, no.
They one of the best students because they want to learn
and they learn from the heart and they give you all the help.
They go out of their way to have a lot of love.
Senator Akaka. Mahalo nui loa. Thank you very much.
Mr. Auwae. Mahalo kakou.
Senator Inouye. Thank you, sir. Representative Mink.
Mrs. Mink. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Papa Auwae, you certainly
have a remarkable power and you serve as the inspiration to
many people for whom you're not only legendary but have a
phenomenal reputation.
I know that your belief in faith and spirituality and
culture and healing is the reason for your phenomenal power.
Now, how many others in Hawaii today have that same belief
and capacity and are able to take on the training and
inspiration of other people as you have or as you are doing
today?
Mr. Auwae. Right offhand I can tell you only one.
Mrs. Mink. Only one other?
Mr. Auwae. Only one other? He come from Ni'ihau.
Mrs. Mink. He's on Ni'ihau now? How old is he?
Mr. Auwae. In the eighties.
Mrs. Mink. Eighties?
Mr. Auwae. Late eighties.
Mrs. Mink. My goodness. How many young people have you been
able to successfully inspire in continuing on in your
methodology?
Mr. Auwae. I have, right now I have a 100 of them that I
can pick for any island and assign anyone to them.
Mrs. Mink. Before the 100 did you have any before this 100?
Mr. Auwae. I only had one. That's the one from Ni'ihau. The
rest of them have died. They keep on dying because the
medicines that they took to help themself for prevention killed
them, medicines that they shouldn't have taken, medicines I
told them not to take.
They say, ``No problem, Papa Auwae. I know how to do it.''
But it didn't take more than 3 years after they took that kind
of medicine they died. One island. Ten of them died.
From the other islands two died but they died of old age.
But 10 from one island they, the others that did not learn to
listen, they died. For those people, the younger people they
learn, they get afraid.
But we have people that after so many years working with me
they like to try the other medicines that I don't want anyone
to try. No. You only try it once and that's enough.
That type of herbs that you take will stay in your body. It
makes your body calm. You can take, you can feel very calm,
nothing happening. But it's eating up your body inside. It eats
up your liver, it eats up your lungs and the heart. The heart
is the last thing it starts eating. By the time you know, too
late.
Every one of them when they died, they called me and told
me, ``Papa Auwae, I seek you can come pule for me?'' I said,
``Yes, I can come pule for you but I cannot help you.''
But it's a waste when you have that kind. It broke my
heart. My heart cry inside because you teach them, you share
with them all these things, but they don't take heed, you know.
This is what I like to get the young people to train.
Mrs. Mink. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Appreciate
it.
Senator Inouye. Thank you. Thank you, doctors. Thank you,
Henry.
Mr. Auwae. Mahalo.
Senator Inouye. Now we'll begin with another panel. The
chair of the Native Hawaiian Education Council, Mr. Stanley
Kiope Raymond; director, University of Hawaii Community
College, Mr. Thomas Kamuela Chun; director of the Native
Hawaiian Higher Education Program, Ms. Nani Espinda; and
director of the Na Pua Noeau Center for Gifted and Talented
Hawaiian Children, University of Hawaii Hilo, Dr. David Sing.
Before I call upon Mr. Raymond, I thought you'd like to
know what led me to sponsoring legislation on Hawaiian
education.
About 30 years ago I was invited to address the student
council of the Nanakuli High School. While there I learned that
there wasn't a single Native Hawaiian teacher on the faculty.
The closest was a basketball coach who was half Samoan.
There was no special education course in Native Hawaiian
history. However, there was a class after school conducted by a
very inspiring teacher, but of Filipino ancestry, who used as
her textbook James Mitchner's ``Hawaii'' because no textbooks
were available.
The only Native Hawaiians employed at the school were
janitors and those who worked in the kitchen. I just hope that
the situation has changed. Mr. Raymond.
STATEMENT OF STANLEY KIOPE RAYMOND, CHAIR, NATIVE
HAWAIIAN EDUCATION COUNCIL
Mr. Raymond. Mahalo. Aloha mai, Senator Inouye, Senator
Akaka, Representative Mink. I am pleased and honored to testify
before you today in my capacity as Chair of the Native Hawaiian
education council.
By way of introduction, the Native Hawaiian education
council is a community-inspired, federally-established entity
comprised of Native Hawaiian educators, administrators and
community members.
The council was created by the U.S. Congress under the
Native Hawaiian Education Act amendments of 1994 to: Coordinate
the educational and related services and programs available to
Native Hawaiians.
Assess the extent to which such services and programs meet
the needs of Native Hawaiians.
Provide direction and guidance through the issuance of
reports and recommendations to appropriate Federal, State, and
local agencies in order to focus and improve the use of
resources funding of Hawaiian education.
The act requires the council to be made up of not more than
25 members of Federal, State, and private educational
organizations serving Native Hawaiians including Pihana Na
Mano; Na Pua No`eau, `Aha Pumana Leo; Queen Liliu'okalani
Childrens Center, Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate, the Office
of Hawaiian Affairs, Alu Like and the State Department of
Education.
In addition in order to ensure adequate island and
community input, the law authorized the creation of island
councils on Hawaii, Maui and Lana'i, Moloka'i, Kaua'i and
Ni'ihau and O'ahu, guaranteeing each island council a seat on
the council.
Over the course of the last 2 years the council has met on
a bi-monthly basis and has held two annual retreats resulting,
in part, in the development of three goals.
The first to empower and support communities in the
development of successful Hawaiian educational programs.
Second, to improve the experiences of Native Hawaiians
especially those within the public school system through
institutional change.
Third, to establish a Native Hawaiian educational system.
Native Hawaiian children and youth represent the largest single
ethnic group in Hawaii's schools and their numbers are growing.
Although Native Hawaiians comprise 19.3 percent of the
population of the State of Hawaii they comprise over 25 percent
of the public school population.
Unfortunately, statistics have also repeatedly shown that
Native Hawaiians do not fare well under the current public
educational system. In achievement tests of basic skill, Native
Hawaiians students perform below national norms than other
groups in Hawaii.
For example, in 1991, on SAT scores for math, Hawaiian
sixth graders scored at the 47th percentile, compared to
Filipinos at the 57th percentile, Caucasians at the 71st
percentile and Japanese students as the 85th percentile.
Native Hawaiian students rank highest in terms of alcohol
and drug abuse in the State, and Native Hawaiians experience
higher than normal dropout rates. Native Hawaiians represent 35
percent of students with needs in special education, with
representation in one district reaching 48 percent.
Low self-esteem is a major contributor to these statistics
as we've heard from Dr. Naleen Andrade. How the educational
system, their teachers, counselors and administrators view
Native Hawaiian students, how other children view them, and
ultimately how they view themselves.
However, programs funded under the Native Hawaiian
Education Act have shown that when Hawaiian language, culture,
and values are infused into the system, when programs are
culturally relevant and community-based, then Native Hawaiians
students can and do excel.
Unfortunately, while programs funded under the Native
Hawaiian Education Act have had a substantial meaningful impact
on the lives of thousands of Native Hawaiian children and
families, much work needs still to be done.
Early education and care and beginning reading and literacy
are two areas identified as needing more resources.
Once upon a time, Native Hawaiians were among the most
literate people in the world, a reflection of the high value
traditional Hawaiian society placed on education and learning.
In 1840, our ali'i Kamehameha III, had the foresight to
establish a public school system which was taught entirely in
Hawaiian.
Two weeks ago thousands of indigenous peoples from all
across the globe converged in Hilo, HI for the 5th tri-annual
World Indigenous Peoples' Conference on Education. The
conference theme was ``Aia Na Ha'ina i Loko o Kakou--the
Answers Lie Within Us.''
We know where we have been, what our kupuna have taught us.
We have borne witness to what has not worked and what has
inhibited the growth and success of our children.
Aia na Ha'ina i Loko o Kakou. We know what works and what
we must do to effectuate change and create meaningful
educational environments.
prepared statement
With your support we look forward to continuing this
partnership with the Federal Government to improve and enrich
the lives of our Hawaiian children.
Mahalo no for your commitment to the Hawaiiana community
and especially to Native Hawaiian education.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Mr. Raymond.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Stanley Kiope Raymond
Aloha mai, Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka, Representative Mink, and
Representative Abercrombie. I am pleased and honored to testify before
you today in my capacity as Chair of the Native Hawaiian Education
Council.
By way of introduction, the Native Hawaiian Education Council is a
community-inspired federally-established entity comprised of Native
Hawaiian educators, administrators, and community members. The Council
was created by the U. S. Congress under the Native Hawaiian Education
Act Amendments of 1994 to:
--coordinate the educational and related services and programs
available to Native Hawaiians,
--assess the extent to which such services and programs meet the
needs of Native Hawaiians, and
--provide direction and guidance, through the issuance of reports and
recommendations, to appropriate Federal, State and local
agencies in order to focus and improve the use of resources on
Native Hawaiian education.
The Act requires the Council to be made up of not more than 25
members of federal, state, and private educational organizations
serving Native Hawaiians, including Pihana Na Mamo; Na Pua No'eau; `Aha
Punana Leo; Queen Liliu'okalani Childrens Center; Kamehameha Schools/
Bishop Estate; the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Alu Like; and the State
Dept. of Education (DOE). In addition, in order to ensure adequate
island and community input, the law authorized the creation of island
councils on Hawaii, Maui/Lana'i, Moloka'i, Kaua'i/Ni'ihau, and O'ahu,
guaranteeing each island council a seat on the Council.
Over the course of the last 2 years, the Council has met on a bi-
monthly basis and held two annual retreats, resulting, in part, in the
development of three goals: (1) to empower and support communities in
the development of successful Hawaiian educational programs; (2) to
improve the experiences of Native Hawaiians, especially those within
the public school systems, through institutional change; and (3) to
establish a Native Hawaiian Educational system.
Native Hawaiian children and youth represent the largest single
ethnic group in Hawaii's schools and their numbers are growing.
Although Native Hawaiians comprise 19.3 percent of the population of
the State of Hawaii, they comprise at least 24 percent of the public
school population.
Unfortunately, statistics have also repeatedly shown that Native
Hawaiians do not fare well under the current public educational system.
In achievement tests of basic skill, Native Hawaiian students perform
below national norms and other groups in Hawaii. For example, in 1991,
on, SAT scores for math, Hawaiian sixth graders scored at the 47th
percentile, compared with Filipinos at the 57th percentile, Caucasians
at the 71st percentile, and Japanese students at the 85th percentile.
Native Hawaiian students rank highest in terms of alcohol and drug
abuse in the state, and Native Hawaiians experience higher than normal
drop out rates. Native Hawaiian are also over-represented in special
education, with representation in some districts exceeding 36 percent.
Low self-esteem is a major contributor to these statistics--how the
educational system, their teachers, counselors, and administrators view
Native Hawaiian students, how other children view them, and ultimately,
how they view themselves. However, programs funded under the Native
Hawaiian Education Act have shown that when Hawaiian language, culture
and values are infused into the system--when programs are culturally-
relevant, and community-based, then Native Hawaiian students can and do
excel.
Unfortunately, while programs funded under the Native Hawaiian
Education Act have had a substantial meaningful impact on the lives of
thousands of Native Hawaiian children and families, much work still
needs to be done. Early education and care and beginning reading and
literacy are two areas identified as needing more resources.
Once upon a time, Native Hawaiians were among the most literate
people in the world--a reflection of the high value traditional
Hawaiian society placed on education and learning. In 1840, our ali'i,
Kamehameha III, had the foresight to establish a public school system
which was taught in Hawaiian. Two weeks ago, thousands of indigenous
peoples from all across the globe converged in Hilo, Hawaii for the
fifth tri-annual World Indigenous Peoples' Conference on Education. The
conference theme was ``Aia Na Ha'ina i Loko--Kakou--the Answers Lie
Within Us.''
We know where we have been, what our kupuna have taught us. We have
born witness to what has not worked, and what has inhibited the growth
and success of our children. Aia na Ha'ina i Loko o Kakou--we know what
works, and what we must do to effectuate change and create meaningful
educational environments. With your support, we look forward to
continuing this partnership with the federal government to improve and
enrich the lives of our Hawaiian children. Mahalo no for your
commitment to the Hawaiian community and especially to Native Hawaiian
Education.
STATEMENT OF THOMAS KAMUELA CHUN, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY
OF HAWAII COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Senator Inouye. Mr. Chun.
Mr. Chun. Aloha, Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka,
Representative Mink, and to your staff, aloha no kakou.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today in support
of the Native Hawaiian Community Based Educational Learning
Centers. I'm here on behalf of Joyce S. Tsunoda, Sr. Vice
President for the University of Hawaii and Chancellor for the
Community Colleges.
My role in this is as the director. I'm the statewide
director within the community colleges for the Native Hawaiian
Community Based Education Learning Centers.
With funds provided we have established centers at Hawaii,
Kaua'i, Leeward, and Maui Community Colleges. These centers
have the responsibility to coordinate and deliver islandwide
services and activities. Administration is coordinated through
the Office of the Chancellor for Community Colleges.
The need for community-based programs was identified and
called for at both the 1993 and the 1997 Native Hawaiian
Education Summits. As you've just heard, additionally in 1997
the statewide Native Hawaiian Education Council set forth those
three goals that Kiope Raymond just mentioned.
They are to empower and support communities in the
development of successful Hawaiian educational programs. To
improve the experiences of Native Hawaiians especially those
within the public school systems through institutional change.
And to establish a Native Hawaiian educational system.
As the council itself is not charged with nor funded for
direct implementation of programs and services, the Native
Hawaiian Community Based Centers' goals, activities and
services are designed to complement and support these goals of
the Native Hawaiian Education Council.
Meeting these goals and the success of activities and
services offered are in a large part due to the collaborations
and partnerships developed by each center in their respective
community and private organizations.
Each center solicits input from members of an islandwide
community advisory group in the development of activities and
services. And in this manner we see Native Hawaiian communities
are becoming more active in controlling their educational
destiny.
Additionally, with the centers housed within the community
colleges, these centers have become an open door welcoming
Native Hawaiians into higher education.
Significant progress has been made at each of the centers
in the delivery of a wide variety of activities and services
that increase the educational opportunities for Native
Hawaiians.
This year alone over 4,500 Native Hawaiian participants
engaged in activities and services provided through the four
centers around the State of Hawaii. Participants vary in age,
from youth to kupuna, at-risk youth, incarcerated Native
Hawaiians, native speakers, non-native speakers and rural and
urban Hawaiians.
Given the parameters of the program and the intent of the
grant, a wide variety of educational activities and services
are offered much of which are culturally-driven, community-
based and family oriented.
These activities provide the foundation upon which Native
Hawaiians can build upon in the movement towards self-
determination.
Some of the activities and services include things like:
computer literacy courses delivered in various communities.
Language courses delivered out in the communities. Financial
assistance to overcoming barriers to higher education.
Summer bridge programs bringing students into higher
education and continuing education. There are things like
construction management programs.
The Native Hawaiian Community Based Educational Learning
Centers was also involved in coordinating the Native Hawaiian
Education Summit. We have activities for the recruitment of
teachers especially on the island of Maui. Teacher training.
There's a wide variety of activities, as I mentioned, that we
have been involved in. And those activities, some of those
activities--those activities are listed in an annual
performance report that I've submitted as part of our
testimony.
As I said most of these activities are conducted out in the
community. And these activities have been well received. In
fact there are a waiting list for some of these activities, in
particular the language courses. That continues to be a great
interest in the Hawaiian language learning Hawaiian.
The Native Hawaiian Community Based Educational Learning
Centers have and will continue to have a great impact on Native
Hawaiian community. The Centers' educational activities and
services provide a broad foundation upon which Native Hawaiians
are able to build, strengthen, and elevate their academic,
spiritual, social, political and economic skills.
From activities that include the revival of ancient arts
like canoe culture, holua sledding, to participation in cutting
edge technology, computer training, graphic designs, Native
Hawaiian participants are acquiring skills and knowledge
applicable in today's society.
With the integration of culture, there is also a renewed
pride and esteem, not just in one's self but in one's
community.
Participants continue to express their appreciation for
what is offered through the Native Hawaiian Community Based
Education Learning Centers. As I mentioned, I share with you
the portion of our annual narrative report we submitted to the
U.S. Department of Education. The report provides detailed
progress made over this past year.
On behalf of Dr. Tsunoda, we ask for your continued support
and approval of funds to continue the work of the Centers as we
seek to increase the educational opportunities for Native
Hawaiians to engage, develop, and enhance their economic and
social status in the State of Hawaii.
I anticipate Native Hawaiians' participation in Center's
activities will increase. Thank you very much. Aloha.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much.
Ms. Espinda.
STATEMENT OF S. NANI ESPINDA, DIRECTOR, NATIVE HAWAIIAN
HIGHER EDUCATION PROGRAM KSBE
Ms. Espinda. Good morning, Senator Inouye, and
distinguished members. My name is Nani Espinda. I am the
director of the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate Native
Hawaiian Education Program.
I am honored to be provided this opportunity to testify
this morning.
Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate has administered this
program from its inception in July 1989 until the present. The
program continues to be successful in increasing the numbers of
Hawaiian students enrolling in and completing college,
developing innovative, proactive strategies which help
fellowship recipients identify barriers to academic success and
formulate solutions.
Developing culturally appropriate support strategies such
as including the student's family and significant others in the
decision making and problem solving process.
Incorporating culturally appropriate support strategies
such as referring students attending mainland post-secondary
institutions to a Kamehameha Schools college support member and
Native Hawaiian organization such as the Hawaii Civic Clubs on
the mainland.
Establishing and maintaining partnership with the various
post-secondary institutions in the State of Hawaii and on the
mainland.
Establishing and maintaining partnerships with the various
Hawaiian communities and organizations in Hawaii and on the
mainland.
The goals of the Native Hawaiian Higher Education Program
are:
(1) To further the attainment of educational success among
Native Hawaiians by providing fellowships and related services
to post-secondary students at undergraduate and graduate
levels.
(2) To provide assistance and support to recipients to
develop a sense of commitment to the Native Hawaiian community
as they complete their service project responsibilities in
Native Hawaiian communities in Hawaii and/or on the mainland.
(3) To provide direction and guidance to secondary level
Native Hawaiian students to focus on higher educational
resources including access to post-secondary educational
institutions, family and institutional support and financial
aid resources.
Throughout the four grant periods the higher education
program has provided fellowship assistance and counseling
support services to 194 Native Hawaiians enrolled at two-or
four-year degree granting institutions of higher education in
Hawaii and on the mainland with awards based on academic
excellence and financial need.
The program staff maintained a monthly contact with program
recipients throughout the grant years focusing on retention and
completion.
Our programs use a counselling technique known as intrusive
or proactive counseling as opposed to reactive counseling. This
technique, as applied to the special needs of Native Hawaiian
students is a critical component in retention counseling.
The constant close monthly contacts with the program staff
provide the students with support needed for success. The
Native Hawaiian Higher Education Program has established and
maintained a network of support services at post-secondary
institutions and Hawaiian organizations in Hawaii and on the
mainland.
The need to expand a network of support and identify Native
Hawaiian organizations, programs and communities in States,
districts, and counties where program recipients were enrolled
outside the State of Hawaii were program goals.
To help program participants adjust at the mainland
institutions, the Native Hawaiian Higher Education Program
enlisted the assistance of the Kamehameha Schools Alumni
Association during the 1995-1998 grant periods.
The alumni college support volunteers served as host
families for program students enrolled at nearby institutions.
This positive connection enhanced monitoring of the students'
progress on an academic and personal level.
Introduction between the student and alumni member evolved
in an 'ohana relationship. This relationship created a sense of
belonging on the part of the student, facilitated associations
with other Hawaiians living in the area, and helped the student
adjust to his or her new living environment.
In regards to retention rates the program attributes much
of its success to pre-enrollment interviews utilizing the use
of proactive counseling. Reaching out early to assess the
recipients' strengths, assets and liabilities and plan their
academic, community service, and career goals have proven to be
beneficial.
Rapport between student and program staff is extremely
important to the success of each student. Reaching out early
and providing continuous counseling support to program
recipients on a monthly basis was a contributing factor to
higher graduation rates, graduation and retention rates.
As the table that you see in front of you we are proud to
say that our retention rates for each year was 90 percent and
above.
Our fellowship recipients had given their services to a
variety of organizations, institutions and Hawaiian communities
within the State of Hawaii and/or on the mainland.
Some of the professional services performed by the program
recipients include clerical assistance, tutorial, legal
assistance, peer counseling, kumu' olelo Hawaii, kumu kokua,
data processing, reforestation of indigenous Hawaiian plants,
archival assistance, maintaining archeological sites, clinical
health assistance, nursing curriculum development, technology
consultant, project coordination and facilitation,
congressional staff assistance, national/state park
interpreter, preservation of Hawaiian habitat or ecosystems,
and navigation assistance.
An important outcome of these professional services is that
the Native Hawaiian Higher Education Program students and the
Native Hawaiian communities have formed long-term partnerships
and commitments with each other.
It is important to note the link in placement in Native
Hawaiian communities, the needs of the community and the areas
of interest and project site locations chosen by the students
entail college retention, degree completion, community service
awareness and involvement, development of professional
community networks, personal growth, student persistence and
success.
Programs which address the unique educational needs of
Native Hawaiians, such as the Native Hawaiian Higher Education
Programs, are beginning to have an impact on the educational
needs identified in studies such as the Native Hawaiian
Educational Assessment.
The Native Hawaiian Higher Education program has been
successful in assisting a total of 194 college recipients
throughout the four grant year periods.
Outcomes indicated that these students were focused
academically and that they completed or continued to pursue
their degree-seeking programs successfully and in a timely
manner.
Tracking and monitoring of former Native Hawaiian Higher
Education recipients indicated that these students gained a
sense of value and importance of education for themselves,
continued their community involvement within their communities,
and increased awareness and appreciation for Hawaiian culture,
values, language and traditional practices.
In contrast to this, the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate
Financial Aide Department has conducted a determination of
financial need and an assessment of academic need for all
financial aid applicants.
For the academic year 1998-1999, the number of awards for
the Native Hawaiian Higher Education Program was 99.
Unfortunately, totals of 369 potential fellowship recipients
were eligible for financial aid consideration but did not
receive any fellowship award.
To add to that a total of 3,024 students were awarded for
the Kamehameha Schools Post-high need-based aid; 459 for the
State government and community/private-funded programs.
Unfortunately a total of 2,260 potential scholarship
recipients were eligible for financial aid consideration but
did not receive a KSBE scholarship award. The reason for this
is that Federal and KSBE funds were depleted.
The Native Hawaiian Higher Education Program is committed
to assisting current and potential Native Hawaiian Higher
Education Program fellowship recipients. We at Kamehameha
Schools Bishop Estate would like to see Native Hawaiians given
the opportunity to enroll in and complete their educational
goals in concert with their peers nationally.
We believe that continuing need still exist and much work
remains to be done to accomplish the program's goal of
educational parity for Native Hawaiians.
The community, State, Federal, and private institutions
must join together once again to invest for the benefit,
betterment and increasingly important, promising and successful
future of Native Hawaiians in higher education.
prepared statement
Senator Inouye, mahalo to you and your committee for the
support of Native Hawaiians in Hawaii and on the mainland and
for investing, nurturing and caring so much about their
educational aspirations and success. Mahalo.
Senator Inouye. Thank you, Ms. Espinda.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of S. Nani Espinda
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and distinguished committee members. My
name is Nani Espinda, Director of the Native Hawaiian Higher Education
(NHHEP) Program at Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate (KSBE). I am
honored to be provided this opportunity to testify on behalf of
reauthorizing the Native Hawaiian Education Act.
In 1994, the Native Hawaiian Higher Education Program was
reauthorized by Title IX of Public Law 103-382, Native Hawaiian
Education Act. The applicant, KSBE has administered this Program, from
its inception in July 1989 until the present. The Program continues to
be successful in:
1. increasing the numbers of Hawaiian students enrolling in and
completing college;
2. developing innovative proactive strategies which help fellowship
recipients identify barriers to academic success and formulate
solutions;
3. developing culturally-appropriate support strategies, such as
including the student's family and significant others in the decision-
making and problem-solving process;
4. incorporating culturally-appropriate support strategies, such as
referring students attending mainland post-secondary institutions to a
Kamehameha Schools college support member and Hawaiian organization
(i.e. Hawaiian Civic Club);
5. establishing and maintaining partnerships with the various post-
secondary institutions in the State of Hawaii and on the mainland; and
6. establishing and maintaining partnerships with the various
Hawaiian communities and organizations in Hawaii and on the mainland.
The goals of the Native Hawaiian Higher Education are: (1) to
further the attainment of educational success among Native Hawaiians by
providing fellowships and related services to post-secondary students
at undergraduate and graduate levels; (2) to provide assistance and
support to the recipients to develop a sense of commitment to the
Native Hawaiian communities as they complete their service project
responsibilities in Native Hawaiian communities in Hawaii and/or on the
mainland; and (3) to provide direction and guidance to secondary-level
Native Hawaiian students to focus on higher educational resources,
including access to post-secondary educational institutions, family and
institutional support, and financial aid resources.
program accomplishment
Throughout the four grant periods, NHHEP has provided fellowship
assistance and counseling support services to 194 Native Hawaiians
enrolled at two- or four-year degree granting institutions of higher
education in Hawaii and on the mainland with awards based on academic
excellence and financial need.
TABLE 1.--NUMBER OF PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS SERVED GRANT--YEARS 1995-1998
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hawaii Mainland
Grant year ---------------------------------------------- Total
Undergrads Graduates Undergrads Graduates awards
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1995-1996.............................................. 20 11 29 4 64
1996-1997.............................................. 13 7 29 7 56
1997-1998.............................................. 44 12 48 15 119
1998-1999.............................................. 14 11 63 11 99
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note.--The number of participants served for the second, third and fourth grant years include a mix of carry-
over and new participants. Thus, these figures do not represent an unduplicated count of the number of
participants served.
counseling support services
The Program staff maintained a monthly contact with Program
recipients throughout the grant years, focusing on retention and
completion. NHHEP uses a counseling technique known as ``intrusive'' or
proactive counseling (as opposed to reactive counseling). This
technique, as applied to the special needs of Native Hawaiian students,
is a critical component in retention counseling. The constant close
monthly contacts with the Program staff provide the students with
support needed for success.
The NHHEP has established and maintained a network of support
services at post-secondary institutions and Hawaiian organizations in
Hawaii and on the mainland. The need to expand a network of support and
identify Native Hawaiian organizations, programs and communities in
states, districts, and counties where Program recipients were enrolled
outside the State of Hawaii were Program goals.
To help Program participants adjust at mainland institutions, NHHEP
enlisted the assistance of the Kamehameha Schools Alumni Association
during the 1995-1998 grant periods. The alumni college support
volunteers served as host families for Program students enrolled at
nearby institutions. This positive connection enhanced monitoring of
the students' progress on an academic and personal level. Introduction
between the student and alumni member evolved into an `ohana (family)
relationship. This relationship created a sense of belonging on the
part of the student, facilitated associations with other Hawaiians
living in the area, and helped the student adjust to his or her new
living environment.
program impact/outcomes: student achievement
In regards to retention rates, the Program attributes much of its
success to pre-enrollment interviews utilizing the use of proactive
counseling. Reaching out early to assess the recipients' strengths,
assets and liabilities and plan their academic, community service, and
career goals have proven to be beneficial. Rapport between student and
NHHEP staff is extremely important to the success of each student.
Reaching out early and providing continuous counseling support to
Program recipients on a monthly basis was a contributing factor to
higher graduation and retention rates.
TABLE 2.--GRADUATION AND RETENTION RATES--GRANT YEARS 1995-1998
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1995-1996 1996-1997 1997-1998 1998-1999
Grant year ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hawaii Mainland Hawaii Mainland Hawaii Mainland Hawaii Mainland
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Undergrad........................... 20 29 13 29 43 47 14 63
Graduates........................... 11 4 7 7 13 16 11 11
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total......................... 31 33 20 36 56 63 25 74
===========================================================================
A.S./A.A............................ 4 ........ 2 ........ 1 ........ 2
B.A./B.S............................ 1 5 2 6 5 3 1 11
M.A./M.S............................ 2 2 2 1 3 4 ....... 2
Ph.D................................ ....... ........ ....... ........ ....... ........ ....... 1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total......................... 7 7 6 7 9 7 1 16
===========================================================================
Grad (percent)...................... 22.6 21.2 30.0 19.4 16.1 11.1 4.0 21.6
Non-Graduates....................... 24 26 14 29 47 56 24 60
Continuing Graduates................ 6 2 2 3 6 1 1 3
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total......................... 30 28 16 32 53 57 25 63
===========================================================================
Fall Non-Enrollment................. ....... 1 ....... ........ 1 3 ....... ........
Fall Enrollment..................... 30 27 16 32 5 54 \1\ 25 \1\ 63
Retention Rates (per- cent)........ 100.0 96.4 100.0 100.0 98.1 94.7 100.0 100.0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Projected Fall 1999 enrollment.
community service
In accordance with the 1994 enabling legislation, fellowship
recipients have given their services to a variety of organizations,
institutions and Hawaiian communities within the State of Hawaii and/or
on the mainland. Some of the professional services performed by Program
recipients include clerical assistance, tutoring, legal assistance,
peer counseling, kumu `olelo Hawaii (Hawaiian language teaching), kumu
kokua (teaching assistance), data processing, reforestation of
indigenous Hawaiian plants, archival assistance, maintaining
archaeological sites, clinical health assistance, nursing curriculum
development, technology consultant, project coordination and
facilitation, congressional staff assistance, national/state park
interpreter, preservation of Hawaiian habitat or ecosystems, and
navigation assistance. An important outcome of these professional
services is that the NHHEP students and the Native Hawaiian communities
have formed long-term partnerships and commitments with each other.
TABLE 3.--COMMUNITY SERVICE PLACEMENT AND COMPLETION RATES--GRANT YEARS
1995-1998
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grant year
Community Service Status -------------------------------------------
1995-1996 1996-1997 1997-1998 1998-1999
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Service Completion.......... 62 37 97 9
Percentage.............. 96.9 66.1 81.5 9.1
Service Completion Pending ......... 13 11 56
Document(s)................
Percentage.............. ......... 23.2 9.2 56.6
-------------------------------------------
Sub-total............. 62 50 108 65
Service Performance at ......... 2 6 24
Project Site...............
-------------------------------------------
Total project 62 52 114 89
placement............
Percentage.............. 96.9 92.9 95.8 89.9
Service Performance Upon ......... ......... 1 .........
Graduation.................
Non-Placement at Project 2 4 4 4
Site.......................
-------------------------------------------
Total Program 64 56 119 99
Participants.........
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Linking placements in Native Hawaiian communities, the needs of the
communities, and the areas of interest and project site location chosen
by the fellowship recipients entail college retention, degree
completion, community service awareness and involvement, development of
professional community networks, personal growth, student persistence
and success.
conclusion
Programs which address the unique educational needs of Native
Hawaiians, such as the Native Hawaiian Higher Education Program, are
beginning to have an impact on the educational needs identified in
studies such as the Native Hawaiian Educational Assessment, 1993
(Kamehameha Schools Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, Office of Program
Evaluation and Planning, 1993), a ten-year update of the Native
Hawaiian Education Assessment Project (NHEAP).
The Native Hawaiian Higher Education Program has been successful in
assisting a total of 194 fellowship recipients throughout the four
grant years. Outcomes indicated that these students were focused
academically and that they completed or continued to pursue their
degree-seeking programs successfully and in a timely manner. Tracking
and monitoring of former NHHEP fellowship recipients indicated these
students gained a sense of value and importance of education for
themselves, continued their community involvement within their
communities, and increased awareness and appreciation for Hawaiian
culture, values, language and traditional practices.
In contrast to this, a determination of financial need and an
assessment of academic need has been conducted for all financial aid
applicants, by the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate Financial Aid
Department. For the academic year 1998-1999, the number of awards for
NHHEP was 99. Unfortunately, a total of 369 potential fellowship
recipients were eligible for financial aid consideration but did not
receive any fellowship award. To add to that, a total of 3,024 students
were awarded for the KSBE Post-High need-based aid; 459 for the state
government and community/private-funded programs. Unfortunately, a
total of 2,260 potential scholarship recipients were eligible for
financial aid consideration but did not receive a KSBE scholarship
award. The reason for this is that federal and KSBE funds were depleted
(KSBE Financial Aid Department, 1999).
The Native Hawaiian Higher Education Program is committed to
assisting current and potential NHHEP fellowship recipients. We at
Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate would like to see Native Hawaiians
given the opportunity to enroll in and complete their educational goals
in concert with their peers nationally. We believe that continuing
needs still exist, and that much work remains to be done to accomplish
the Program's goal of educational parity for Native Hawaiians. The
community, state, federal and private institutions must join together
once again to invest for the benefit, betterment, and, increasingly
important, promising and successful future of Native Hawaiians in
higher education.
Senator Inouye, mahalo nui to you and your committee for the
support of Native Hawaiians in Hawaii and on the mainland, and for
investing, nurturing and caring so much about their educational
aspirations and success.
STATEMENT OF DR. DAVID K. SING, DIRECTOR NA PUA NO'EAU
Senator Inouye. Dr. Sing.
Dr. Sing. Aloha Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka and
Representative Mink. My name is David Sing and I'm Director of
Na Pua No'eau, Center for Gifted and Talented Native Hawaiian
Children at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
I'm pleased this afternoon I guess, to testify on behalf of
the Gifted and Talented Program for Native Hawaiian Children.
Mahalo for your leadership and your support to raise the
educational status of Hawaiian students through legislative
action. In the past 10 years I have seen more impact in the
education of Native Hawaiians than in any other time in my 25
years with the University of Hawaii and in education. Your
leadership is much valued and appreciated.
Within the allotted time I'll briefly offer you responses
to three questions.
(1) What are the needs of Hawaiian students in gifted and
talented education?
(2) What work has our center done and what impact has been
made?
(3) What work still needs to be continued in the area of
gifted and talented education for Native Hawaiian students?
Question (1). What are the needs of Hawaiian students in
gifted and talented education? When we first opened Na Pua
No'eau 10 years ago, among others, we found the following
specific needs: As a group Hawaiian students did not have the
same amount and kinds of educational enrichment opportunities
as other student groups.
The opportunities and levels of student aspirations and
achievements were below parity. There was underrepresentation
of Hawaiian students in state-sponsored, gifted and talented
programs and an overrepresentation of Hawaiian students in
remedial and special education programs.
Many Hawaiian students and their families couldn't even
begin to believe that they had the potential to become a
doctor, engineer or teacher. Most had neither visualized these
paths nor had any personal contact with Hawaiian role models in
those professions.
Today through our work and other programs we have found
that conventional models and measures still do not provide
sufficient information or opportunities for Native Hawaiian
students to demonstrate their potential.
While much educational initiatives at the local level
continue to incorporate instructional and learning strategies
to meet our diverse student population needs, the initiatives
have yet to be felt system wide.
The answer to question one, then, is that the needs remain
the same. The attitudes and perceptions Hawaiian students have
about their abilities and potential are often blurred by the
societal challenges Hawaiians as a people have faced.
The needs of Hawaiian students in gifted education continue
to revolve around how their gifts and talents are defined,
recognized and nurtured.
They need to know that they have potential for outstanding
performance and are capable of doing so. Students themselves,
educators, parents and communities need to be more aware of and
know of the expanding theoretical and operational definitions
of giftedness; additional and different ways to recognize
potential; delineate and use qualities of program curriculum
and inspection that produce optimum learning.
Question (2). What has our center done and what impact have
we made? Within the last 10 years some of the crucial works
conducted include the following: Development of a program
continuum for students that range from enrichment to intense
specialization.
Development of a program model that weaves conditions which
optimize learning for Hawaiian students and best practices
found in gifted education.
Establishment of Center Outreach sites on Maui, Moloka'i,
O'ahu and Kaua'i. Direct programming for approximately 2500
students per year statewide, inclusive of Hawaiian students
from various mainland communities.
Qualitative research study on the giftedness construct as
perceived by the Hawaiian community. Development of more
culturally sensitive assessment practices for various center
programs.
Qualitative research study delineating promising qualities
for effective curriculum design. Establishment of school and
community endeavors in providing educational enrichment to more
Hawaiian students.
Develop and maintain a network with other national and
international educators in native and gifted education.
Our known impact to date revolves mostly around our
students. Parents, educators, and communities are soon to be
systematically involved in our impact assessment. As we spoke
with the students who have anticipated in Na Pua No'eau
programs, they tell us that:
(1) The more they participate, the greater the positive
influence in what they do.
(2) Having participated in Na Pua No'eau programs, they
seek other educational enrichment opportunities they had not
thought of before.
(3) They gain a greater awareness of and appreciation of
the Hawaiian culture and values.
(4) They have a better sense of themselves that permeates
into other situations.
Additionally, for the students who reparticipate and
progress through the various programs, they tell us that the
many experiences of the wide variety of programs and resources
have allowed them to, to name a few, venture over volcano
flows, navigate ocean voyaging canoes, develop web sites and
create original art pieces.
These experiential learning opportunities have motivated
them to learn for learning sake and expanded their areas of
education and career interest. They say that these
opportunities have allowed them to sit shoulder to shoulder
with geophysicists, navigators, medical doctors, accomplished
artists, teachers as they steer their course towards
educational and career goals far beyond what their parents may
have dreamt.
Through the expansion of the center sites and community
developments and endeavors at this time we can guess that
center impact has begun to influence a broader arena.
Question (3). What important work still needs to continue?
We have found that the program activities that nurture them as
individuals in the talents and interests that they are still
discovering, best enhance the gifts and talents of our Hawaiian
children.
We have found that it is clearly not a case that some
children are gifted and some aren't. Rather that there are so
many of our Hawaiian children who have great potential, but for
many reasons are not provided challenging educational
opportunities.
We do know that our Hawaiian children have great abilities
and talents, are capable of outstanding performance and will
become contributors to our society through many positive ways
unlike what traditional education has told us.
In looking around at what we do we find that we are the
only ones addressing Hawaiian education and gifted education
issues in a comprehensive way.
The center needs to continue its work in refining the best
conditions for students to nurture their talents, to develop
additional and different ways to recognize potential, continue
with community endeavors to develop resources and maintain
partnerships particularly with the university for the use of
their faculty resources and facilities.
In the coming years we will focus on the design and
development of products for dissemination, collaborate with
more local schools to help improve school climate and learning
activities by attempting to replicate successful practices at
Na Pua No'eau.
Provide training to teachers who are interested in
developing more effective instructional skills and attitudes
and designing curriculum.
Respond to community requests in developing their
educational enrichment activities, modeling Na Pua No'eau
programs and developing infrastructure utilizing their own
resources to sustain their projects.
Continue our partnerships with schools and organizations
statewide, nationally and internationally.
At a time when the many needs of a very diverse student
population outrun our systems preparedness and resources, Na
Pua No'eau can become an important part in the education for
Hawaiian students as we continue our work with the students,
their families and their communities.
We know that in the effort to meet the educational needs of
all students mainstreaming gifted or culturally diverse
students at the school levels often finds educators face-to-
face with issues ranging from staff development needs to the
consolidation of special program funding.
Our future endeavors will be to provide special
opportunities for students in supplemental programs outside of
their regular school systems as well as developing partnerships
with schools, teachers, and community to provide training in
those aspects of Hawaiian and gifted education not available to
them.
prepared statement
If there is any additional information we can provide you
in the way of program descriptions, performance reports, impact
reports, I would be happy to send those to you. Mahalo for your
time.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Dr. Sing.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Dr. David K. Sing
Good Morning Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka, Representative
Abercrombie, and Representative Mink: Mahalo for your leadership and
your support to raise the educational status of Hawaiian students
through legislative action. In the past ten years, I have seen more
impact in the education of native Hawaiians than in any other time in
my 25 years with the University of Hawaii and in education. Your
leadership is much valued and appreciated.
With me today are some students, parents, and staff who you may
want to hear from if time permits.
Within the allotted time, I will briefly offer you responses to
three questions:
1. What are the needs of Hawaiian students in gifted and talented
education?
2. What Center work has been done and what impact has been made?
3. What important work needs to continue?
Question 1. What are the needs of Hawaiians students in gifted and
talented education?
When we first opened our Center 10 years ago, among others, we
found the following specific needs:
--As a group, Hawaiian students did not have the same amount and
kinds of educational enrichment opportunities as other student
groups. The opportunities and levels of student aspirations and
achievements were below parity.
--There was underrepresentation of Hawaiian students in state-
sponsored, gifted and talented programs and an
overrepresentation of Hawaiian students in remedial and special
education programs.
--Many Hawaiian students and their families couldn't even begin to
believe that they had the potential to become a doctor,
engineer, or teacher. Most had neither visualized these paths
nor had any personal contact with Hawaiian role models in those
professions.
Today, through our work, we have found that conventional models and
measures still do not provide sufficient information or opportunities
for native Hawaiian students to demonstrate their potential. While much
educational initiatives at the local level continue to incorporate
instructional and learning strategies to meet our diverse student
population needs, the initiatives have yet to be felt system wide.
The answer to question one then is that the needs remain the same.
The attitudes and perceptions Hawaiian students have about their
abilities and potential are often blurred by the societal challenges
Hawaiians as a people have faced. The needs of Hawaiian students in
gifted education continue to revolve around how their gifts and talents
are defined, recognized, and nurtured. They need to know that they have
potential for outstanding performance and are capable of doing so.
Students themselves, educators, parents, and communities need to be
more aware of and know of the expanding theoretical and operational
definitions of giftedness; additional and different ways to recognize
potential; delineate and use qualities of programming, curriculum, and
instruction that produce optimum learning.
Question 2. What Center work has been done and what impact has been
made?
Within the past 10 years, some of the crucial works conducted
include the following:
--Development of a program continuum for students that range from
enrichment to intense specialization.
--Development of a program model that weaves conditions which
optimize learning for Hawaiian students and best practices
found in gifted education.
--Establishment of Center Outreach Sites on Maui, Moloka`i, O`ahu,
and Kaua`i.
--Direct programming for approximately 2,500 students per year
statewide, inclusive of Hawaiian students from various mainland
communities.
--Qualitative research study on the giftedness construct as perceived
by the Hawaiian community.
--Development of more culturally sensitive assessment practices for
various Center programs.
--Qualitative research study delineating promising qualities for
effective curriculum design.
--Establishment of school and community endeavors in providing
educational enrichment to more Hawaiian students.
--Developed and maintain a network with other national and
international educators in native and gifted education.
--Supported the adoption of Center programs in Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan, Canada.
Our known impact to date revolve mostly around our students.
Parents, educators, and communities are soon to be systematically
involved in our impact assessment. As we spoke with the students who
have participated in Na Pua No`eau programs, they tell us that:
--the more they participate, the greater the positive influence in
what they do (i.e. speak up more in class, become more
responsible at home and in school, etc.)
--having participated in Na Pua No`eau programs, they seek other
educational enrichment opportunities not thought of before
(e.g. apply to Kamehameha Schools, get involved in other Center
programs, pursue extracurricular activities)
--gain a greater awareness of and appreciation of the Hawaiian
culture and values
--have a better sense of themselves that permeates into other
situations.
Additionally, for the students who reparticipate and progress
through the various programs, they tell us that the many experiences of
the wide variety of programs and resources have allowed them to, to
name a few, venture over volcano flows, navigate ocean voyaging canoes,
develop web sites and create original art pieces. These experiential
learning opportunities have motivated them to learn for learning sake
and expanded their areas of education and career interests. They say
that these opportunities have allowed them to sit shoulder to shoulder
with geophysicists, navigators, medical doctors, accomplished artists,
teachers as they steer their course toward educational and career goals
far beyond what their parents may have dreamt.
Through the expansion of Center sites and community development
endeavors, at this time we can guess that Center impact has begun to
influence a broader arena.
Question 3. What important work needs to continue?
We have found that the program activities that nurture them as
individuals in the talents and interest that they are still discovering
best enhance the gifts and talents of our Hawaiian children. We have
found that it is clearly not a case that some children are gifted and
some aren't, rather that there are so many of our Hawaiian children who
have great potential but for many reasons are not provided challenging,
educational opportunities. We do know that our Hawaiian children have
great abilities and talents, are capable of outstanding performance,
and will become contributors to our society in many positive ways,
unlike what traditional education has told us.
In looking around at what we do, we find that we are the only ones
addressing Hawaiian education and gifted education issues in a
comprehensive way. The Center needs to continue it's work in refining
the best conditions for students to nurture their talents, to develop
additional and different ways to recognize potential, continue with
community endeavors to develop resources and maintain partnerships
particularly with the university for the use of their faculty resources
and facilities.
In the coming years, we will focus on:
--The design and development of products for dissemination.
--Collaborate with more local schools to help improve school climate
and learning activities by attempting to replicate successful
practices at Na Pua No`eau.
--Provide training to teachers who are interested in developing more
effective instructional skills and attitudes, and in designing
curriculum.
--Respond to community requests in developing their educational
enrichment activities modeling Na Pua No`eau programs and
developing infrastructure utilizing their own resources to
sustain their projects.
--Continue our partnerships with schools and organizations statewide,
nationally, and internationally.
At a time when the many needs of a very diverse student population
outrun our systems' preparedness and resources, Na Pua No`eau can
become a more important part in the education for Hawaiian students as
we continue our work with the students, their families, and their
communities. We know that in the effort to meet the education needs of
all students, mainstreaming gifted or culturally diverse students at
the school levels often finds educators face-to-face with issues
ranging from staff development needs to the consolidation of special
program funding. Our future endeavors will be to provide special
opportunities for students in supplemental programs outside of their
regular school systems as well as developing partnerships with schools,
teachers, and community to provide training in those aspects of
Hawaiian and gifted education not available to them.
If there is any additional information we can provide you in the
way of Program Descriptions, Performance reports, Impact Reports, I
would be happy to send those to you.
Finally I'd like to share our theme for this coming year. ``Liko ka
liko I ka ua.'' The liko buds in the rain. This is the mana`o we
received from Sig Zane in the production of our new logo. The newest
shoots of the `ohi`a tree are liko. They appear in many different
colors depending on the district, the forest, the type of `ohi`a. The
liko is a symbol of new growth and appears plentiful in the forest
following a period of rainfall. The liko is likened to our children,
the newest sprouts with varying characteristics, needing nurturing and
care to grow and be strong.
Mahalo for your time.
Senator Inouye. Before proceeding with questions, since I
gather that there is a debate ongoing at this time as to who
should be running the Hawaiian education council, I'd like to
point out that at the time we established this council 5 years
ago, it was established to assure the coordination of programs
and services among federally funded educational initiatives to
prevent unnecessary redundancy and unnecessary duplication, and
also to assure the involvement of parents, teachers and
students in the planning and design and focus of these
programs.
The council is made up of men and women who are either
participants or who represent the five major initiatives such
as gifted and talented, Dr. Sing, special education, family-
based educational centers, community-based learning centers,
and higher education.
In addition we have involvement of the State of Hawaii and
OHA on the council.
Now, it should be noted that at the time we developed this
council it was not certain as to the position of the U.S.
Government.
On July 28 the U.S. Government announced that the Native
Hawaiians enjoyed the same status as all native peoples of the
United States, and that there exists a special trust
relationship between the Government of the United States and
the native peoples of Hawaii.
In order to maintain this relationship of trust it was felt
that these federally funded programs should have some
involvement by the Federal Government.
The involvement of the Federal Government in these programs
here, one is funding, and second the selection of council
members. But the council members are usually designated by
themselves.
I would hope that this type of arrangement can continue
because I would hate to have the Federal Government divorce
themselves from their trust relationship. I think it's
important that we maintain this relationship.
It may interest all of you that last year we appropriated
$23 million for the activities of the council. The year before
was $20 million. The year before that was $18 million. So it's
been going up and up and up. We hope that in the coming cycle
it will be an improvement.
Ms. Espinda, on your case where the funds were depleted,
was that because we couldn't get matching funds from here?
Ms. Espinda. I'm sorry? Matching funds?
Senator Inouye. Yes. Wasn't that a matching program?
Ms. Espinda. No.
Senator Inouye. No.
Ms. Espinda. The Financial Aid Department is like a
clearinghouse that would process all incoming applications and
would apply such applications accordingly to various
scholarship programs.
One of the scholarship programs is the Native Hawaiian
higher education program. So he has various budgets that he
works with, which is Robert Burlington. He's the Director of
the Kamehameha Schools Financial Aid Department.
But our funds were depleted. So they couldn't, whatever
application crew that they had they could not continue to
consider students. The same thing applies.
What I wanted to demonstrate here there is a need, a
financial need for more Native Hawaiians even though 3,000 were
funded by Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate funded and 459 from
the private ones that the financial aid office did process that
plus ours, there still is a need for Native Hawaiians needing
funding for higher education.
Senator Inouye. I'd like to ask a question that would be
applicable to all of you. Soon after my meeting with the
student council at Nanakuli High School--and it should be noted
that the school population at that time indicated that over 80
percent of the student body was made up of children from the
homesteads. In other words, they were Native Hawaiians.
When I learned of the grotesque arrangement, no Native
Hawaiian teachers, no Native Hawaiian history programs, et
cetera, I suggested to the legislature and the Governor and to
the Department of Education that like some of our sister States
in the Union we should have mandatory programs.
For example, in Texas there was a mandatory program at the
elementary level and the secondary level on Texas history, so
every child would know something about the battle of the Alamo
or great heroes of that period.
I suggested that it might be well if we had something at
the third grade level, another the ninth grade level so that
Native Hawaiians would have something to be proud of, to learn
something about themselves. And equally important to have the
non-Native Hawaiians realize what a great group of people
Native Hawaiians are.
At that meeting when I realized that there were no classes
on Hawaiian history I asked a simple question which I thought
everyone could answer. ``Could anyone identify Ka'ahumanu?''
Not a single student recognized Ka'ahumanu.
When I told them that as a member of the board of visitors
of the military academy at West Point, I came across a textbook
on the great military leaders of the world, Caesar, Alexander,
Hannibal, and Kamehameha.
They were stunned to learn that the so called flanking
movement that is used by all military organizations was
perfected and established by Kamehameha.
I think most environmentalists now, if they study, would
know that aquaculture did not start in America. It started
here. Long before Columbus discovered by mistake the Western
hemisphere, Native Hawaiians were sailing back and forth from
Polynesia.
Do you think it makes sense if we had a mandatory course in
public school system?
Mr. Raymond. I'd like to field that question with the
response that says I was very honored in 1981 to work with a
gentleman named Robert Lokomaikahilokelani Snakenburg who was
with the Department of Education as he started the kupuna
program which is now, I believe, a kupuna component of the
Hawaiian studies program in the Department of Education.
In 1981 we believed that, yes, if we could plant the seed
we would see things grow. Direct answer to your question: Yes,
a particular course. But in another sense I would hope that the
kupuna component of the Hawaiian studies program, the kupuna/
makua because we have fewer and fewer kupuna and more and more
makua who are dedicating themselves to this.
I believe that that entire program should be given the
resources to grow and to provide for students throughout the
State of Hawaii, all public education, with this understanding
to which you speak, yes. Rather than one course I think bigger.
Senator Inouye. But we have nothing now.
Mr. Raymond. Yes.
Senator Inouye. Dr. Sing, so you're convinced we're
spending money wisely in your program?
Dr. Sing. I think if you ask the children and the families
they would you say yes. That's who we look for to affirm that.
I think there is work ahead. The first 10 years we have been
very happy in developing program models and identifying the
issues and addressing those issues and providing services
directly to students.
We are getting requests constantly from different
communities to have programs in different areas way beyond the
extent to which we can build.
Right now we will be, we are on five islands and a large
staff and trying to reach as many Hawaiian students as we can.
And we can't.
So with that we will be trying to look at the next ten
years in providing training for schools and communities that
want to adapt some of the aspects of our model that they're
interested in.
Senator Inouye. As I indicated we will be conducting
hearings in Hawaii, hopefully in November, after we adjourn.
And at that time we will be taking up education which is part
of the Elementary School Secondary Education Program.
I would hope that by then you would have discussed and
maybe resolved the matter of the Native Hawaiian education
council and the makeup of that council itself or should we
disband that council, et cetera. So with that I shall be seeing
you sometime in November. Thank you very much.
Senator Akaka.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Kiope,
I'm very interested in what you folks are doing. And what
particularly at the present since you have been in existence in
the composition of requirements for the council and the concern
is--and let me admit I don't know who they are--but my concern
of whether these folks represent the interests of the Native
Hawaiian community. Can you make a statement on that?
Mr. Raymond. I'd be honored to. I thank you very much.
Besides those that are named in the act, the most important
access of the Native Hawaiian education council are those five
island council representatives. They, therefore, have a
constituency.
The five island council members at present are very hard
working people. If we start from the island of Hawaii we Mr.
Josh Akana. On the island for Maui and Lana'i David Keala.
For the island of O'ahu, Kalani Akana. For the island of
Moloka'i Anita Arsi. For the island of Kaua'i Kaiopua Phife.
Now, these five island chairpersons have worked diligently
to assure that people in their communities are informed. I
don't know that they could have done a 100 percent perfect job.
We do hear that there are people who have not been
informed. And as is our charge with coordinating these kinds of
things, and given our, the short life of the council itself I
think they've done a great job.
I believe that in the future if we can keep this structure
in place it can only get better. If we can increase the profile
of the Native Hawaiian education council, people will come to
look at the Native Hawaiian education council and say: We can
turn to them. We can tell them what our needs and concerns are.
They will be heard.
I would also like to share with you the knowledge and the
foresight, hopefully, that we have in that this is all
windfall. If for some unfortunate reason Federal monies do not
continue, many people have come together to begin to form the
Native Hawaiian education association.
I want to thank you Dr. Kekaulike Sing for helping to
spearhead that effort in saying, you know we've got to do this
ourselves. So an association is forming.
I would hope that those people who feel that they have not
been represented on the Native Hawaiian education council will
continue to communicate with us.
Maybe better said we will want to go out into the
communities to try and solicit any input that we can. We don't
want to sit in a vacuum.
Senator Akaka. Mahalo for that. Dr. Chun, I know you're
representing your boss here, Community College. You mentioned
about the wide variety of educational activities and services.
The particular one I was interested in that you mentioned was
the family oriented activity and services. I'd like for you to
expound a little bit more about that part.
Dr. Chun. Sure. It's not so much it's a service or
activity. But what happens is in a number of our activities
we've been encouraging family participation. I think you had an
opportunity to visit one of our project sites last year or the
year before out at Leeward Community College that was set up by
our coordinator for O'ahu, William Souza.
As an example you had an opportunity to visit the ukulele
class last year where we invited--what we tried to do was to
bring--when students were interested in participating in a
class, if it was a young student they needed to be there with
their, either their parent or their grandparent but someone
within their family.
That's one of the examples of how we are trying to make
more of our activities family oriented. That's one example.
At Hawaii Community College we have been doing some things
with recruitment into college. And we have had family days
bringing students, potential students, inviting them to an
activity.
But it's not just the student, it's the whole family.
Inviting them to this activity, and sitting down and talking
about what it means to go to college. Not just with the student
but with the family. What would be some of the expectations
that not just the student but the family might have and trying
to work through some of those.
So in a wide variety, as much as possible a number of
activities that we are delivering we try to include the family.
Senator Akaka. Mahalo. Kamuela, another question to you.
You mentioned that your program had 4,500 participants this
year.
Mr. Chun. Yes.
Senator Akaka. Are any of those statistics broken down by
island, activity or center? What indicators are you using to
forecast increased participation?
Mr. Chun. Yes. We have that information broken down by
activities and by island. As an example, the community language
programs, Hawaiian language programs on this island have been
very popular.
When we first started the program about two, three years
ago we had over 900 people, Native Hawaiians registered in
those classes with another waiting list of another 300. The
classes have now stabilized at about 600 participants on this
island.
But there, again, continues to be a waiting list as we are
now trying to look for additional instructors. We have lost a
few of the instructors.
So as far as projecting what, the number of participants in
the coming years, a lot of that is going to be determined by
what the coordinators at each of the centers see as their needs
as they go out and talk to their community representatives, the
advisory boards as far as what kind of activities are going to
be developed in the future and what kind of activities are
going to be offered.
One of the important things that, what helps to make these
programs successful, as I stated earlier, is the collaboration
that these centers have with other agencies and organizations.
We know that there's a wide, there are a number of
community-based programs that don't necessarily receive Federal
funds. I can think of, offhand, on the island of Hawaii there's
a community program called Kukulu Kumu Hana.
It's just a group of people who, from various communities
who have wanted to set up an enrichment program, summer program
for the kids. They got together. They had basically no
resources outside of their own. And these are families putting
monies, these are people putting monies towards a worthy cause.
So a lot of--when I say the participation or the increasing
numbers in the coming years will be determined by the type of
activities that the centers are, will be involved in. But
certainly we know that there are a few more that we can touch
upon.
Senator Akaka. Mahalo, Kamuela.
Mr. Chun. Mahalo.
Senator Akaka. Ms. Espinda, looking over and listening to
your testimony I look at the 1998 numbers on those students who
are in an undergraduate program in Hawaii and those that
graduate and also the undergraduates of those in the mainland
and those who graduate.
There has been over the years since 1995 gradual
improvement, I would say, in percentage such as in 1998-1999,
14 undergrads you've graduated 11. And on the mainland 63 and
11 grads.
I look at the mainland figures 63 to 11 and wondered
whether you had any ideas about improving those numbers.
When I asked Kamuela about family oriented programs, I
wondered about when students go to mainland colleges whether
there are family oriented kinds of programs that can help more
to stay there to graduate.
Do you have any comment about that, about the figures?
Ms. Espinda. As you see this figure is based upon the grant
year. So the amount of students that have been awarded for that
particular year this is the numbers of students graduating.
Now, I have a different chart that I go by. Cohorts for the
first year would be cohort one. Second year with new students
with our continuing student would be cohort two and three and
four.
There's a lot more of cohort one that graduated just this
particular year. So if you want me to send you that graduation
rates based on cohorts I can do that.
But there is increasing numbers of students graduating on
the mainland as well as here in Hawaii. I believe it has a lot
to do with the outreach services that they receive from our
program as well as the assistance that we get from the Hawaii
communities on the mainland.
Senator Akaka. Mahalo. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Inouye. Thank you. Representative Mink.
Mrs. Mink. Yes. Mrs. Espinda on that very chart, which was
a bit confusing to follow, I think I probably fell into that
same category.
You have two items listed, undergraduate and graduate, and
you have 63 and 11. That means that there were 63
undergraduates from the mainland and 11 graduate students.
Is that how you read it rather than out of 63 only 11
graduate.
Ms. Espinda. OK. There are 14 undergraduates in Hawaii
whereas there's 63 undergraduates on the mainland.
Mrs. Mink. I was looking at the mainland column.
Ms. Espinda. Right. So this would indicate there would be a
total of 25 Hawaii graduates, including graduate students, you
see those figures and 74. Out of that 25----
Mrs. Mink. I'm looking at the first two figures which say
63 and 11 which is what Senator Akaka mentioned.
Ms. Espinda. Right.
Mrs. Mink. That means there is 63 undergraduate students--
--
Ms. Espinda. Yes.
Mrs. Mink [continuing]. You help and 11 graduate students.
Is that correct?
Ms. Espinda. Yes.
Mrs. Mink. It doesn't mean only 11 graduated out of 63?
Ms. Espinda. Hmm-mmm.
Mrs. Mink. Because on the very bottom of your column you
show a 100 percent retention rate which means that in all of
your programs whatever you've done, all of the students that
you put into your programs stayed in at whatever college level
they were in at the time of their being included.
Ms. Espinda. Out of the 63 undergraduate the total of 13 of
the 63 that had graduated.
Mrs. Mink. But that doesn't mean that the rest flunked.
Ms. Espinda. Right.
Mrs. Mink. It means only that portion completed their
college, the rest continued on with their education.
Ms. Espinda. Yes.
Mrs. Mink. Which accounts for your 100 percent retention.
Ms. Espinda. Right.
Mrs. Mink. Correct? Which I think is spectacular that you
had that many staying in.
Ms. Espinda. Those that continued on at the graduate level
we are proud as well as pleased to have our first student
graduate with his Ph.D. He's here in the audience Kimo
Alameida.
Mrs. Mink. I want to, Senator Inouye, say on the House side
the situation with reference to the Native Hawaiian Education
Act is very tenuous.
We are in the middle of the reauthorization of the
Elementary, Secondary Education Act one of the components is
the Native Hawaiian Education.
Our only view into what the Republicans have in mind
regarding this program is a discussion that we've had with the
staff, not with the members. They haven't quite decided what
they're going to do.
As you know twice they attempted to eliminate the program
in 2 recent years. I think that they're not going to attempt
the elimination this year. But what they are trying to do is
what they have been practicing for the last several years and
that is going into block grant concepts like Ed Flex, like
Dollars to the Classroom.
Dollars to the Classroom, they eliminated 33 programs, took
all of the money and gave it generalized instructions to the
school systems to spend whatever way they wished regardless of
what the previous earmarks and designations were.
In Ed Flex they have done pretty much the same thing. Taken
blocks of money and stated that they prefer to give the money
directly to the local community or the State or whatever and
allow these entities to make the decisions.
So with reference to the Native Hawaiian Education Program,
what they have suggested is a complete redesignation,
reorganization of the council exactly as Senator Inouye warned
against.
That seems to be the only big hang-up. We have not had any
discussions that go to funding and all of that. So I think
those are okay. But they're concentrating their irritation on
this council, how it's made up, who sits on it and so forth.
So I do concur with the Senator that this is something that
you have to pay particular attention to. I notice that in OHA's
testimony they're also talking about not having council
membership with people who are grantees of any other programs.
So it suggests that in the case of the House you may not
have time to get it all together before we meet in September.
But as I understand from the Senator, actions on the Senate
side may be postponed to next year.
I don't know what's going to happen to our side. They
haven't told us. They've taken one piece called Teacher
Development, taken that out of ESEA and passed it already, sent
it over to the Senate. They appear to be trying to piecemeal
the ESEA.
They want to take title I, for instance, and just pass that
separately over to the Senate. They haven't indicated to us
what they're going to do.
But the attention focuses on this council, how it is to be
made up, who sits on it and removal of this special five or six
designations that are in the current law and say to the
council: You got this money. It's block granted, it's flexible.
The council decides how to spend it.
So I think that those patential revisions have to be taken
very seriously as far as the House is concerned. Whatever the
House does I have every confidence can be remedied in the
Senate. But I thought that I needed to reflect to you what's
going on on our side which creates some very, very big
questions in my mind. Thank you very much.
Senator Inouye. Thank you. I consider this we are very
fortunate we have a professional gatekeeper for Native Hawaiian
Education in the House. That's Patsy Mink. I'm certain she'll
do her best in protecting us.
But if we somehow succumb to this block grant business,
then you people are out of business. Because I can see all of
you fighting among yourselves as to who gets what. I hope that
that will never happen. We will do our best. So far our best
has been pretty good.
Mr. Raymond. Mahalo.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much. I'd like to point out
that it is now 10 after 1:00.
Mrs. Mink. Mr. Chair, I'm going to have to take leave. I
appreciate very, very much your invitation for me to sit in.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much for joining us. I will
have to be adjourning this because somebody else has to come
into this room. And I have to be at Tripler at 2:15. So at 2:00
I will have to be vacating this place.
Our next panel is made up of the director of the Family-
Based Education Centers, Aha Punana Leo, Ms. Namaka Rawlins;
and Ms. Jean Evans of Pulama I Na Keiki, Alu Like; Ms. Iwalani
Else on behalf of Dr. Benjamin Young director of the Native
Hawaiian Center of Excellence at the John A. Burns School of
Medicine, University of Hawaii. Ladies, welcome.
May I call upon Ms. Rawlins first.
STATEMENT OF NAMAKA RAWLINS, DIRECTOR, FAMILY-BASED AHA
PUNANA LEO
Ms. Rawlins. Aloha mai kakou e na' elele i Wakinekona,
Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka, and Representative Mink and
staff that have come here today.
I am Namaka Rawlins, executive director of the 'Aha Punana
Leo, Inc., a Native Hawaiian educational organization that
functions entirely through our indigenous Hawaiian language and
culture.
All services of the 'Aha Punana Leo are provided through
Hawaiian in accordance with the Native American Languages Act
establishing it as Federal policy to protect and promote the
endangered indigenous languages of the United States.
We provide services at 11 preschools, a 7-12 education and
a prekindergarten through grade 8 in two model public/private
partnerships.
Curriculum both in the form of books and videos,
technological services including an extensive computer system,
teacher training and a post-secondary scholarship program.
Little known outside of Hawaii is the fact that the first
high school west of the Mississippi was a Hawaiian language
high school. And prior to annexation to the United States
Native Hawaiians educated in Hawaiian language schools had a
higher literacy rate than that of the United States.
Our ancestors also spoke a formal standard of British
influenced English as a second language. When Hawaii was
annexed, use of Hawaiian in schools, even on the playground was
banned. Our language was nearly exterminated.
Changing attitudes towards race and native peoples in the
United States and resulting legislation are helping us to
rebuild the fine educational statistics and authentic cultural
foundation that our people had when we were first annexed into
the United States.
I am most proud to report our progress to you in this area.
Our family-based education centers, the Punana Leo preschools,
have been the foundation in their communities.
Our teachers and families have worked together over these
years to enhance and support their local public schools where
the Punana Leo graduates enter.
These dedicated parents have become the teachers in the
Punana Leo as well as the follow-up Kaipuni Hawaii public
school program. Our kupuna also teach in our preschools.
This past year the first 11 seniors to be educated totally
in Hawaiian graduate from high school. We note the achievements
of the five in our model school Nawahiokalani'opu'u, run as a
laboratory program in consortium with the University of Hawaii
at Hilo's College of Hawaiian language and the Department of
Hawaiian Education.
The five seniors at Nawahiokalani'opu'u completed all but
two courses of a college preparatory program by their junior
year. For their senior year they were admitted as concurrent
students at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Only one other high school senior in the public high school
that would otherwise serve was admitted to the university in
this way. These students all took at least three university
courses each as well as completing their high school courses.
Their university courses included political science,
mathematics, agriculture, biology and Japanese language.
These students graduated from Nawahiokalani'opu'u with nine
to 11 university credits. These students have taken all their
high school courses through Hawaiian with English taught as a
course subject, yet they had no trouble with the English used
in the university.
Furthermore, all passed the qualifying examination for
English composition an examination that many of our Native
Hawaiian students have difficulty in passing.
Our curriculum videos have won national and international
awards and we have produced short pieces that will be aired on
PBS television.
Our computer program in Hawaiian is not only the most
developed for any indigenous language in the world, but we have
also outpaced a number of the European languages in our
development of technology through our own language.
Our students and teachers are not the only ones who are
succeeding through our programs. Because we require parents to
learn the language along with their children, many began to
take university courses in Hawaiian.
Because there were essentially no Hawaiian speaking program
directors, accountants, curriculum developers, teachers and
other professionals needed by our program, parents and family
members took it upon themselves to learn these skills to serve
our program.
Our programs have also had far reaching impact to the
betterment of business in Hawaii. Many entrepreneurs have had
their start in our programs with our training. Many government
offices currently employ those schooled in language
proficiency, professional ability and cultural protocol.
Throughout the State, education institutions on all levels
from preschools to universities also employ those who are
qualified due to the opportunities we have provided them.
Our programs provide excellent skill development and
contribute to the betterment of the Hawaiian community as a
whole. Our program has become nationally known. You may have
read a recent article in the Washington Post about our success
and the importance it has for Native American languages and
Native American education throughout the United States.
Several Indian tribes including the Blackfeet, Arapaho,
Washoe, and Tlingit, among others with considerable success
have simulated our model.
We are most thankful to Congress for your support of the
Native Hawaiian Education Act and ask that you continue to work
with us as well as all the other innovative programs being
administered by various organizations to assure that the
distinctive Hawaiian language and culture and other Native
American languages do not become extinct.
It is a credit to this body that the Native Hawaiian
language schools and their record of academic achievement, once
forcibly closed by the U.S. Government, have again been
reestablished with support from Congress.
In order to see why we work so hard to revitalize the
'Olelo, the language, one must realize how vital it used to be.
It was the language of commerce, trade, education, government,
church, and society of this land, and everyone, regardless of
ethnic background spoke the language up until the ban in 1896.
A quote from an old newspaper written back in 1917, 20
years after the banning of the 'Olelo and 2 years before my
father was born:
I 'ike 'ia no ke kanaka no kekahi lahui ma kana 'olelo. Ina
e nalowale ana ka 'Olelo Makuahine o kekahi lahui, e nalohia
aku ana no ia lahui. I keia la, ua nalohia aku ko kakou
ku'oko'a, a i ka pau 'ana o ka kakou 'Olelo Makuahine, 'o ka
pau 'ana no ia o ka lahui Hawaii. He mana'olana ko'u, e ho'ea
mai ana ka la e ku ai he mau kula 'Olelo Hawaii, ma ko kakou
nei 'aina. Ina kakou e ho'omaka ana ma keia ke'ehina, 'a'ole no
e hala he mau makahiki e ola hou ana ka 'Olelo Hawaii.
A people are known by their language. If the mother tongue
is lost to a people so will the people become lost. In these
times our people's independence is being lost. And when our
mother tongue dies, then is the death of the Hawaiian people. I
have an expectation that there will come a day when Hawaiian
Language schools will exist again. if we start now, it will not
take long for our Hawaiian Language to live again.--Ka
Pu'uhonua, January 26, 1917.
prepared statement
Considering that it took another three generations to
revive our Kula 'Olelo Hawaii, our Hawaiian language schools,
the above excerpt is just one affirmation for us in doing what
we do. Mahalo nui i ka lohe 'ana mai i ko'u mana'o.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Namaka Rawlins
native hawaiian health, education and employment
Aloha mai kakou e na `elele Hawaii i Wakinekona, e na Kenekoa `o
Inouye laua `o Akaka, me na Lunamaka`ainana `o Abercrombie laua `o Mink
a me ka po`e `e a`e i hele mai i keia la.
I am Namaka Rawlins, Executive Director of the `Aha Punana Leo,
Inc., a Native Hawaiian educational organization that functions
entirely through our indigenous Hawaiian language and culture. The `Aha
Punana Leo is a recipient of federal funding under the native Hawaiian
Education Act.
All services of the `Aha Punana Leo are provided through the
Hawaiian language in accordance with the Native American Languages Act
establishing it as federal policy to protect and promote the endangered
indigenous languages of the United States for the community and for
education. We provide services at 11 preschools serving over 200
children and adult language classes for their families, a 7-12
education and a prekindergarten through grade 8 in two model public/
private partnership schools, with the intention of developing them into
a full pre-12 system, curriculum both in the form of books and videos,
technological services including an extensive computer system, teacher
training and a post-secondary scholarship program serving over 150
undergraduates and graduates. We also work informally with native
Hawaiians in prison who are interested in bettering themselves through
combining Hawaiian culture and education.
The story of the `Aha Punana Leo, Inc. began five years before
federal funding became available to us. We developed from a grassroots
group of parents who were determined that their children would be
educated through their own language and culture, as had their
ancestors. These families held fundraisers, paid tuition and lobbied
our state government to eliminate legal barriers prior to the receipt
of our first federal funding in 1989.
Little known outside Hawaii is the fact that the first high school
west of the Mississippi was a Hawaiian language high school and that
prior to annexation to the United States, native Hawaiians educated in
Hawaiian language schools had a higher literacy rate than that of the
United States. Our ancestors also spoke a formal standard of British
influenced English as a second language. When Hawaii was annexed, use
of Hawaiian in schools, even on the playground was banned. Our language
was nearly exterminated; pidgin English took the place of both Hawaiian
and standard English, and in Hawaii, non-Hawaiians and native Hawaiians
alike came to see native Hawaiians and education as incompatible.
Changing attitudes towards race and native peoples in the United States
and resulting legislation are helping us to rebuild the fine
educational statistics and authentic cultural foundation that our
people had when we were first annexed into the United States.
I am most proud to report our progress to you in this area.
First, the dream that our initial parent groups had of
reestablishing the Hawaiian language and education through Hawaiian, is
making considerable progress. In 1984, when the first Punana Leo
preschool opened, there were only 35 children under 18 in the world who
were fluent in our language. Today, we have over 2,000 students in
Hawaii attending schools taught entirely through Hawaiian from
preschool through grade 12. These students are either our students from
the Punana Leo or others who have entered into public school programs
established in response to the demand from our Punana Leo families.
While there still remain barriers to Hawaiian speaking children
reaching their full potential, we continue to break down these barriers
through demonstration of effective methods and curriculum in our model
schools and through serving all Hawaiian language schools through our
curriculum and teacher training programs.
Our level of success has been quite good. Many in the education
establishment believed that it was impossible to provide high quality
modern education through Hawaiian. We have proved them wrong. Our
family based education centers, the Punana Leo preschools, have been
the foundation in their communities. Our teachers and families have
worked together over these years to enhance and support their local
public schools, where the Punana Leo graduates enter. These dedicated
parents have become the teachers in the Punana Leo as well as the
follow-up Kaiapuni Hawaii public school program. Our kupuna also teach
in our preschools. This past year the first eleven seniors to be
educated totally in Hawaiian graduated from high school. We note the
achievements of the five in our model school, Nawahiokalani`opu`u, run
as a laboratory program in consortium with the University of Hawaii at
Hilo's College of Hawaiian Language.
The five seniors at Nawahiokalani`opu`u completed all but two
courses of a college preparatory program by their junior year. For
their senior year they were admitted as concurrent students at the
University of Hawaii at Hilo. Only one other high school senior in the
1736 student public high school that would otherwise serve them was
admitted to the university in this way. These students all took at
least three university courses each as well as completing their high
school courses in anthropology and English language arts. Their
university courses included political science, mathematics,
agriculture, biology, and Japanese language. These students graduated
from Nawahiokalani`opu`u with 9 to 11 university credits. These
students had taken all their high school courses through Hawaiian with
English taught as a course subject, yet they had no trouble with the
English used in the university. Furthermore, all passed the qualifying
examination for English composition, an examination that many of our
native Hawaiian students have difficulty in passing.
In spite of the fact that our Hawaiian language schools are taught
through a language and culture very different from the standard English
public schools in Hawaii, our student SAT scores have been on par or
better than those of native Hawaiian children from similar backgrounds.
Our students have been outstanding in the performing arts and sports as
well.
Our curriculum videos have won national and international awards
and we have also produced short pieces that will be aired on PBS
television. Our computer program in Hawaiian is not only the most
developed for any indigenous language in the world, but we have also
out paced a number of the European languages in our development of
technology through our own language.
Our students and teachers are not the only ones who are succeeding
through our programs. Because we require parents to learn the language
along with their children, many began to take university courses in
Hawaiian. This leads to increased confidence and expansion of their
education into ocher areas. Because there were essentially no Hawaiian
speaking program directors, accountants, curriculum developers,
teachers and other professionals needed by our program, parents and
family members took it upon themselves to learn these skills to serve
our program.
I am a good example of the effect of the program on adults. I grew
up on Hawaiian homestead land, 1 of 12 children. After graduation from
high school, I married and with my husband managed our guava farm on
our homestead land. I worked part time and then went back to the
university to increase my knowledge of my own language and culture. My
own sons were too old to enroll in the Punana Leo when it started but I
used as much Hawaiian as I could with them and volunteered at the
Punana Leo Hilo preschool from 1985 through 1989. I eventually
graduated and my volunteer job developed into the directorship of the
statewide system of programs. My office staff consists entirely of
mothers of children in our programs, none of which had graduated from
college when they enrolled their children in the program. At the
encouragement of the Punana Leo, the staff continues to pursue degrees
and some have already completed their undergraduate work.
The benevolence of our programs has also had a far-reaching impact
to the betterment of business in Hawaii. Many entrepreneurs have had
their start in our programs with our training. Many government offices,
including the county Police Department, and the state's DHHL and OHA
currently emply those we have schooled in language proficiency,
professional ability, and cultural protocol. Several fellow nonprofit
organizations have looked to us and received extensive expertise.
Throughout the state, education institutions on all levels from
preschools to universities also employ those who are qualified due to
the opportunities we have provided them. Our programs are visionary and
demanding; they provide excellent skill-development and have proven to
contribute to the betterment of the Hawaiian community as a whole.
Our projects under the Native Hawaiian Education Act have faced
many obstacles. It was actually illegal to use Hawaiian in either
private or public schools when our organization was started and parents
still have great difficulty in dealing with policies in the public
schools that work against our program, including union rules that work
against hiring the most qualified Hawaiian speaking teachers.
Another barrier is internalized racist attitudes. Until this day,
there are many, even in our own native Hawaiian communities, who insist
that using Hawaiian in education can only harm our children
academically and hinder their mastery of English. These people have
turned a blind eye to the successes that we have already demonstrated
in a short time under difficult circumstances. Such people are
verification that many in our society have internalized a false belief
that the native Hawaiian is inferior. They simply cannot believe that
our successes are fact.
There is nothing mysterious about our success. Small countries like
Denmark and the Netherlands use their own languages in their schools
and are some of the most successful academically in the world.
Furthermore, they often learn a higher standard of English in their
schools than the pidgin spoken by most native Hawaiian and local
children in the English public schools. Our model schools strive to be
like schools in these countries with languages, which are minimally
used outside their own countries.
Our program has become nationally known. You may have read a recent
article in the Washington Post about our successes and the importance
it has for Native American languages and Native American education
throughout the United States. We are the national leaders in combining
Native American language and cultural revitalization with academics.
This is very important for the United States as all 200 Native American
languages are severely endangered and academic failure is widespread in
Native American communities. Several Indian tribes including the
Blackfeet, Arapaho, Washoe, and Tlingit, among others with considerable
success have simulated our model.
We are most thankful to Congress for your support of the Native
Hawaiian Education Act and ask that you continue to work with us as
well as all the other innovative programs being administered by various
organizations to assure that the distinctive Hawaiian language and
culture and other Native American languages do not become extinct. It
is a credit to this body that the native Hawaiian language schools and
their record of academic achievement, once forcibly closed by the
United States government, have again been reestablished with support
from Congress.
Within these last 15+ years, we have been motivated and our lives
changed by our never-ending goal--E Ola Ka `Olelo Hawaii. For us this
is visionary work; it transcends politics and personalities. In order
to see why we work so hard to revitalize the `Olelo, one must realize
how vital it used to be: it was the language of commerce, trade,
education, government, church, and society of this land--and everyone,
regardless of ethnic background spoke the language--up until the ban in
1896. I would like to share a quote from an old newspaper, written back
in 1917, 21 years after the banning of the `Olelo, and two years before
my father was born:
``I `ike `ia no ke kanaka no kekahi lahui ma kana `olelo. Ina e
nalowale ana ka `Olelo Maknahine kekahi lahui, e nalohia aku ana no ia
lahui. I keia la, ua nalohia aku ko kakou ku`oko`a, a i ka pau `ana ka
kakou `Olelo Makuahine, `o ka pau `ana no ia ka lahui Hawaii . . . He
mana`olana ko`u, e ho`ea mai ana ka la e ku ai he mau kula `Olelo
Hawaii, ma ko kakou nei `aina . . . Ina kakou e ho`omaka ana ma keia
ke`ehina, `a`ole no e hala he mau makahiki e ola hou ana ka `Olelo
Hawaii.''
``A people are known by their language. If the mother tongue is
lost to a people, so will the people become lost. In these times, our
people's independence is being lost, and when our mother tongue dies,
then is the death of the Hawaiian people . . . I have an expectation
that there will come a day when Hawaiian Language schools will exist
again . . . if we start now, it will not take long for our Hawaiian
Language to live again. (Ka Pu`uhonua, Januari 26, M.H.1917)
Considering that it took another three generations to revive our
Kula `Olelo Hawaii, our Hawaiian language schools, the above excerpt is
just one affirmation for us in doing what we do--living in the `Olelo
Hawaii. Please continue to support our good work.
Mahalo nui i ka lohe `ana mai i ko`u mana`o.
STATEMENT OF JEAN EVANS, M.P.H., PROJECT ADMINISTRATOR,
PULAMA I NA KEIKI
Senator Inouye. Ms. Evans.
Ms. Evans. Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka, I'm Jean Evans,
the administrator of the Pulama I Na Keiki or ``Cherish the
Children'' project with Alu Like. This is one of the projects
funded by the Family-Based Education Centers section of the
Native Hawaiian Education Act.
Our annual funding is approximately $3 million. The first 5
years last forever. A child's chance of success begins even
before he or she is born. This is the first window of
opportunity for a child's learning begins in the prenatal
period. This is the time in parenthood when there is the most
chance to have a direct and formative effect on the child's
developing brain.
A mother's emotions, general habits, and her environment
affect the fetus. What happens to an infant in the early weeks
of life actually changes the physical structure of the brain.
Early brain activity results in an explosion of learning that
occurs after birth.
Deprived of a stimulating environment a child's brain
suffers. The research underscores the importance of hands-on
parenting. Parents who read and talk to their children each day
create a strong foundation for future academic success.
A positive and stimulating environment provided by the
parents, the child's first teachers, has been shown to reduce
child abuse and neglect, reduce reliance on welfare assistance,
reduce the need for special education services, and prevent the
child from committing later crimes.
With the assistance of 14 partnership agencies the prenatal
to age 5 family-based education project was successfully
transferred from Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate to Alu Like
on October 1, 1997.
The current project services families on five islands from
11 sites. These services are provided in a culturally relevant
manner by community-based parent educators and include home
visits, workshops and parent/toddler group activities. The
primary means of program delivery, however, is the one-to-one
home visits.
A more detailed description is included in my written
comments. Investment in prevention. The Rand Corp. has recently
published an economic evaluation of early childhood
intervention programs.
The study includes an economic evaluation of a prenatal/
early childhood program that extrapolates the results of a 15-
year follow-up study to estimate cost savings generated by the
program.
Governmental costs and revenue increases as well as non-
governmental benefits associated with the intervention were
identified.
This study showed a four to one savings in governmental
funds for families with single mothers as well as a substantial
non-governmental savings.
By applying the Rand findings to the Pulama I Na Keiki
program in which nearly 70 percent of our families are headed
by single mothers, a substantial savings can be seen.
With an approximate $3 million program cost, a net savings
of $9,300,000 is realized.
Future directions. The U.S. Department of Education
recently announced a new grant award to Alu Like to operate a
Pulama I Na Keiki site in the urban Honolulu area and to
develop a Native Hawaiian family-based education system.
While expansion of existing services is one way to assist
more Native Hawaiian families, it is clear that expanding
services alone cannot meet the needs of each community.
The overall needs of families with young children must be
better identified. To this end Alu Like and 'Aha Punana Leo are
participating in a statewide early education and care
consortium which sprang out of the family-based subcommittee of
the Native Hawaiian Education Council.
The new funding will help the consortium and Native
Hawaiian communities to develop a plan for a seamless continuum
of services which include the following components:
Identification and agreement on outcomes for Native
Hawaiian children. Program performance analyses and development
of a coordinated system.
In conclusion, investing in early childhood education for
Native Hawaiian children is an investment in Hawaii's future
and the future of the United States. As more children and
families participate in early intervention programs, fewer
resources will be needed down the line.
prepared statement
Providing the youngest members of society and their
families opportunities to succeed in the future and become
productive and self-reliant is a goal we all share. Thank you
for inviting me to present testimony.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Ms. Evans.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jean Evans
I am Jean Evans, the Administrator of the Pulama I Na Keiki or
``Cherish The Children'' family-based project with ALU LIKE, Inc.
(ALI). This is one of the projects funded by the Family-Based Education
Centers section of the Native Hawaiian Education Act. (Improving
America's Schools Act of 1994, Public Law 103-382.)
Funding
1997-1998.....................................................$3,041,724
1998-1999..................................................... 2,941,724
1999-2000..................................................... ( \1\ )
1999-2000....................................................\2\ 990,449
\1\ Final year continuation grant award pending.
\2\ New expansion grant award.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
needs
Population
The highest percentage of Native Americans reside in the State of
Hawaii compared to any other state in the nation.\1\ Native Hawaiians
make up the vast majority of the Native American population in Hawaii.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate Native Hawaiian Education
Survey, 1993.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Native Hawaiians are the fastest growing ethnic group in Hawaii.
They represent approximately 19 percent of the total state population;
\2\ however, this ethnic group makes up 33 percent of the total births
in the State.\3\ This growth trend results in a young population, with
the majority of native Hawaiians being 18 years of age or younger.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Native Hawaiian Data Book, 1996--page 14.
\3\ ibid, p. 64.
\4\ ibid, p. 71.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
An average of 6,272 Native Hawaiian births per year occurred
between 1993 and 1997.\5\ These births have resulted in approximately
31,358 Native Hawaiian children who are currently ages 0-5. This figure
represents about one-third of all the children in the State in that age
group.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ State of Hawaii Department of Health, February, 1998.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perinatal Health Risk Factors
Native Hawaiians have higher rates of health risk factors during
pregnancy than do other ethnic groups in Hawaii.
Fewer Native Hawaiian women (73.8 percent) begin prenatal care
during the first trimester than do women in the general population in
Hawaii.\6\ Of those pregnant women not receiving prenatal care until
the third trimester, almost one-third are Native Hawaiian.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ Native Hawaiian Data Book, 1996, page 329.
\7\ ibid, p. 352.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The issue of ``children having children'' and the harmful effect of
substance and tobacco use on the unborn fetus are also major concerns.
Over 20 percent of all births to teenage mothers in Hawaii are to
Native Hawaiians.\8\ This is twice as high as the State average of 10.1
percent.\9\ Native Hawaiian mothers use tobacco and alcohol at higher
rates than do other ethnic groups in the State.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ ibid, p. 353.
\9\ ibid, p. 353.
TABLE 1.--RATE PER 1000 MOTHERS USING ALCOHOL & TOBACCO BY RACE OF MOTHER, TOP 5 ETHNIC GROUPS--ONLY 1993 \10\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All
Caucasian Hawaiian Chinese Filipino Japanese other State
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobacco Rate........................ 8.6 17.2 2.2 5.5 7.7 6.9 9.6
Alcohol Rate........................ 1.6 2.4 0.4 1.2 1.2 0.6 1.4
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ Native Hawaiian Data Book, 1996, p. 343
Economic Risk Factors
In Hawaii, 23 percent of Native Hawaiian families with children
under the age of 5 have median incomes below the poverty level. This
compares to the overall of 11 percent for the State and 18 percent for
the nation.\11\ The 1996 medial household income in Hawaii was
$41,772.\12\ Incomes of Native Hawaiian families with children under 6
years of age average 80.85 percent of the State medial income, or
$33,773. Of those Native Hawaiian families with both parents present in
the home, the medial income is 98.56 percent of the State, or $41,170,
while incomes of Native Hawaiian families with no husband present
average 68.55 percent of the State medial income,\13\ or $28,635.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate Report, 1994.
\12\ State of Hawai`i Department of Business & Economic Development
Information, 1996.
\13\ Native Hawaiian Data Book, 1996, page 492.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The percentage in Hawaii for all families with children under 6 and
no father present is 10.5 percent, while the percentage for Native
Hawaiian families is 12.7 percent.\14\ In only 31.2 percent of the
families served by the Pulama I Na Keiki Project in fiscal year 1997-
1998 were the parents married.\15\ Native Hawaiian families are also
larger than others in the State, with an average of 4.07 persons
compared to an average of 3.48 persons for other families in the
State.\16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ ibid, p. 58.
\15\ALU LIKE, Inc. Pulama I Na Keiki, Annual Evaluation Report,
1997-1998, page 6.
\16\ Native Hawaiian Data Book, 1996, page 58.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In summary, Native Hawaiian families with children are larger, the
parents are less often married, and they have lower incomes than do
families in the general population.
Educational Risk Factors
A large percentage of young Native Hawaiian children are
educationally at risk and are not receiving services.
Based on analyses of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test,
approximately 50 percent of Native Hawaiian children measured at entry
to kindergarten are educationally at risk.\17\ Approximately 52 percent
of at-risk Native Hawaiian preschool aged children are not receiving
services.\18\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\17\ Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate Report, 1994.
\18\ ibid.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Consequently, a higher percentage of both female and male Native
Hawaiians aged 25-34 have less than a high school degree compared to
the general population.
TABLE 2.--PERCENT ADULTS WITH LESS THAN HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE \19\--AGES 25-
34
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Native State of
Hawaiians Hawaii
(Percent) (Percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Male.................................... 14.4 8.6
Female.................................. 13.4 8.5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\19\ Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate Report, 1994.
The First Five Years Last Forever
A child's chance of success begins even before he/she is born.
``The first window of opportunity for a child's learning begins in the
womb.'' \20\ This is the time in parenthood when there is the most
chance to have a direct and formative effect on the child's developing
brain. A mother's emotions, general habits, and her environment affect
the fetus.\21\ This is why it is so important to work with families as
early in pregnancy as possible.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ Lisa A. Foster, Education For The 21st Century: The Human
Brain & Learning Presentation, 1999, page 5.
\21\ Marian Diamond, The Magic Trees of the Mind, 1998.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recent research in brain development confirms the significance of a
child's first five years. What happens to an infant in the early weeks
of life actually changes the physical structure of the brain. Early
brain activity results in an explosion of learning that occurs after
birth. Deprived of a stimulating environment, a child's brain suffers.
Touch and play develop both cognitive and emotional systems in the
infant's brain.\22\ These data underscore the importance of hands-on
parenting, talking to the infant, finding time to cuddle, and providing
the infant with stimulating experiences. Research shows that parents
who read and talk to their children each day create a strong foundation
for future academic success.\23\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\22\ State of Hawaii Department of Health, Maternal & Child Health
Branch, Achieving Good Results For Young Children and Families Report,
1998, page 3.
\23\ ibid.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In summary, a positive and stimulating interactive environment
provided by parents (the child's first teachers) has been shown to
reduce child abuse and neglect, reduce reliance on welfare assistance,
reduce the need for special education services, and prevent the child
from committing later crimes.
education goals
The importance of servicing the 0-5 population is recognized by The
U.S. Department of Education in its Goal 1, which states that all
children will enter school ready to learn. Additionally, the Native
Hawaiian Education Program (fiscal year 2000) Goal 1 states that Native
Hawaiian students served by this program will enter school ready to
learn. This proposal is directly in line with both of these goals.
program description
In 1996 a Partnership of 14 agencies came together to develop a
concept design and plan for the continuation of family-based services
which were then being provided by Kamehameha Schools, Bishop Estate
(KSBE). On October 1, 1997, the Native Hawaiian Family-Based Education
Centers Project was successfully transferred from KSBE to ALI under the
title, Native Hawaiian Family-Based Education Service Partnership
Project. This project is now known by its Hawaiian name, Pulama I Na
Keiki. Partner members and their local counterparts continue to work
closely with the P--lama I N--Keiki administrative and site staff on
coordinating services to maximize resources and provide appropriate
services to as many families as possible.
The current Pulama I Na Keiki Project is a family-based education
project for families with children (ages 0 to 5) of Hawaiian ancestry.
By September 30, 1998 the Pulama I Na Keiki project had increased the
number of families served from 228 to 496. It is predicted that by the
end of this grant (September 30, 2000) over 800 families will have been
served.
The current ALI Pulama I Na Keiki project services families on five
islands from 11 sites as listed below.
current pulama i na keiki sites
O`ahu
Windward District: Ko`olauloa Office and Ko`olaupoko Office.
Leeward District: Wai`anae Office and Ewa/Waipahu Office.
Maui
Central Maui Office and Hana Office.
Molokai
Kaunakakai Office.
Kauai
Lihu`e Office.
Hawaii
Kona Office, Waimea Office, and Hilo Office.
The philosophy is to begin as early as possible, so we are
targeting prenatal entry. We will also take families with children up
to 6 months of age. The project's mission is to enable parents to
provide their children with the best possible opportunities to support
school success. Parents play the most important role in how well their
children perform in school. This is true even before birth. The program
provides families with support, guidance, and assistance in developing
knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that foster children's development
and desire to learn.
The program is designed to help families make a child's early
learning as successful as possible in order to provide a foundation for
his/her future success in school. To achieve this, the program offers a
wide range of educational services to families. Services are provided
by paraprofessionals, called Parent Educators, who receive extensive
training in utilizing the program's curriculum and tools.
Services provided to families by community-based Parent Educators
include home visits, workshops, and parent/toddler group activities.
The primary means of program delivery, however, is one-to-one home
visits, which prove to be an effective way of individualizing the
curriculum to better serve the family. The major focus of the Pulama I
Na Keiki program is given to the 0-3 age group.
One of the most important aspects of being ``ready'' for success in
school is the ability to get along with others. The Parent Educators
provide this opportunity in Parent/Toddler groups. These groups give
both the child and caregiver a chance to interact with other children
and families while building relationships. The group environment offers
diverse experiences and assists in socialization skills, communication
skills, and self-help for children and parents.
Parent Educators play an active role in assisting families to
enroll their children in preschools, especially those of partner
organizations such as KSBE and `Aha P--nana Leo. Preschool
opportunities are rather limited in many areas, so staff assist
children not enrolled in a center-based preschool in finding other
types of preschool-aged activities. Project staff conduct limited
parent/child group sessions for this age group.
Curriculum
The Pulama I Na Keiki curriculum currently has two parts: (1)
prenatal/perinatal and (2) infant/toddler. Both phases emphasize the
application of knowledge and skills that result in healthy mothers,
babies, and children; on-target child development; and overall school
readiness. Whenever possible, Hawaiian culture and values are reflected
in, and integrated into, the practices, environment, and activities of
the curriculum. Such curriculum materials include a Hawaiian style
quilt, or ``kapa,'' which is made by the family during the prenatal
period to prepare for the baby's arrival. In the process of making the
kapa, the families have an opportunity to discuss their beliefs, their
hopes, and their worries with the Parent Educator, and the Educator, in
turn, can share information about the important role of the family.
investment in prevention
The RAND Corporation has recently published an economic evaluation
of early childhood intervention programs. The study sites programs that
have shown IQ differences between some early intervention program
participants and controls to be 10 points or more.\24\ In addition,
RAND has conducted an economic evaluation of a prenatal/early childhood
program that extrapolates the results of the 15-year follow-up study to
estimate cost savings generated by the program. This study identified
governmental costs and governmental revenue increases associated with
the intervention. Non-governmental benefits were also identified. These
are itemized below: \25\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\24\ Lynn A. Karoly, Peter W. Greenwood, Susan, S. Everingham, Jill
Hoube, M. Rebecca Kilburn, C. Peter Rydell, Matthew Sanders, James
Chiesa, Investing In Our Children: What We Know and Don't Know About
the costs and Benefits of Early Childhood Interventions. The RAND
Corporation, 1998, page xvi.
\25\ ibid, pp. 123-129, 97.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Annual governmental costs
Cost of ER visits
Welfare costs (ages 0-5)
Jail (Mother)
Jail Child (ages12-15)
Criminal Justice system (ages 19-44)
Loss to crime victims
Governmental revenue increases
Increased Taxes paid by employed family
Increase taxes paid by working child--adult
Non-governmental benefits
Tangible costs of crimes that would have been committed
Extra income by families (not just taxes)
The RAND study showed a 4 to 1 savings in governmental funds for
families with single mothers. The non-governmental savings to families
with single mothers is estimated to be $6,000, and $3,000 for married
families.\26\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\26\ ibid, p. xvi.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following savings for the Pulama I Na Keiki program are based
on the RAND estimates:
Annual Project Funding.................................. \1\ $3,000,000
Total Families.......................................... \2\ 800
Cost per Family......................................... $3,750
Number of Non-married Families.......................... 550
Number of Married Families.............................. \3\ 250
\1\ Estimate fiscal year 2000.
\2\ By 9/2000.
\3\ 68.8 percent of project families by 9/30/98.
ESTIMATED ANNUAL PROGRAM COST BENEFIT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Program cost Gross savings Net savings
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Governmental Funds.............................................. $3,000,000 \1\ $8,250,000 \2\ $5,250,000
Non-governmental Funds.......................................... .............. \3\ 4,050,000 4,050,000
-----------------------------------------------
Total..................................................... 3,000,000 12,300,000 9,300,000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ $3,750 cost per family x 4 (estimated savings) = $15,000; $15,000 x 550 single mother families = $8,250,000.
\2\ $8,250,000-$3,000,000 (yearly cost) = $5,250,000.
\3\ $6,000 non-governmental savings x 550 single mother families = $3,300,000; $3,000 non-governmental savings x
250 married families = $750,000. $3,300,000 + $750,000 = $4,050,000.
future direction
The U.S. Department of Education recently announced a new grant
award to ALU LIKE Inc. for the expansion of the family-based education
centers programs. This new grant, which begins October 1, 1999,
provides funding to operate a Pulama I Na Keiki site in the densely
populated urban Honolulu area. In addition funding has also been made
available for the development of a Native Hawaiian Family-Based
Education System.
While expansion of existing services is one way to service more
Native Hawaiian families, it is clear that expanding these alone will
not meet the needs of each community. The urban Honolulu area and
others are in need of additional services; however, ALI cannot proceed
with expansion beyond this additional Pulama I Na Keiki site until the
extent of overall needs of families with 0 to 5 years olds is better
defined. To this end, ALI and `Aha Punana Leo are participating in a
state-wide early childhood education and care consortium, which sprang
out of the Family-Based sub-committee of the Native Hawaiian Education
Council. The consortium, made up of primarily Native Hawaiian early
childhood education and health agencies and community representatives
from the major islands, met initially in January 1999 to come up with a
vision for meeting the needs of this age group. With this new funding,
The Native Hawaiian Early Childhood Education and Care Consortium,
which is comprised of over 20 representatives from Native Hawaiian
organizations and communities, and experts in early childhood, will be
formalized for the purposes of developing a seamless continuum of early
care and education services throughout communities in the State with
high concentrations of Native Hawaiian children in the prenatal through
five age group. The consortium's development plan for a seamless
continuum of services includes the following components:
A. Identification and Agreement on Outcomes for Native Hawaiian
Children
B. Program Performance Analysis
C. Development of a Coordinated System
Community-Based Approach
At present, similar to most other communities and states, the
Native Hawaiian early childhood education and care infrastructure is
rather fragmented overall and, in some communities, nearly non-
existent. The group agreed at the January 1999 meeting that it was
desirable to ensure that Native Hawaiian communities determine the
basis and content for a seamless continuum of early childhood services.
This means that Native Hawaiian communities, as they deem appropriate,
will assess the quality of early education and care, take account of
their existing resources, and determine how resources beyond the
community might best meet their needs for developing their own sub-
infrastructure. Their efforts will be unique but, in general, will
encompass the strengths and resources of any larger, already developed
portions of a statewide infrastructure. As appropriate, each community
will be provided with support for facilitation, communication,
leadership development, relevant resources, and models in the staff
position of Community Facilitator.
Smaller groups within the consortium will also assist the
communities, ensuring that there is continued communication and sharing
of progress among the various community groups. There is already the
basis for these smaller groups. The Native Hawaiian Education Council
has five island councils, although additional councils for the islands
of O`ahu and Lanai would better represent existing district needs.
Further, many participating Native Hawaiian agencies, e.g., ALU LIKE,
Inc., Queen Lili`uokalani Children's Center, and Papa Ola Lokahi have
community and/or island offices.
The input and plans developed in each community will be the bases
for strengthening the current statewide system. Paramount to each
community's efforts is the need for a seamless, coordinated system of
early childhood services. Also critical is to have services accessible,
affordable, culturally compatible, and high in quality, insuring the
strengths of each community are recognized and utilized to their
fullest capacity.
The entire early childhood education and care community is excited
to begin development of such a system to benefit the future of Hawai`i.
conclusion
Investing in early childhood education for Native Hawaiian children
is an investment in Hawai`i's future and the future of the United
States. As more children and families participate in early intervention
programs, fewer resources will be needed down the line. Providing the
youngest members of society and their families opportunities to succeed
in the future and become productive and self reliant is a goal we all
share. Thank you for inviting me to present testimony today.
STATEMENT OF IWALANI ELSE, ASSISTANT PROGRAM DIRECTOR,
NATIVE HAWAIIAN CENTER OF EXCELLENCE
Senator Inouye. Ms. Iwalani Else.
Ms. Else. Good afternoon, Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka. My
name's Iwalani Else. I'm assistant program director of the
Native Hawaiian Center for Excellence. I'm here on behalf of
Dr. Benjamin Young, our director.
I would briefly like to share some of the goals and
objectives of the Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence. As you
know there has been an increase in the public attention given
to the poor health status of Native Hawaiians who continue to
have the worst health indicators of the five primary ethnic
groups in Hawaii.
These indicators include shortest life expectancy, and
highest mortality rate. Unfortunately these figures show no
immediate signs of improvement. Among the health indicators
which have worsened are life expectancy, death rates from heart
disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and risk factors such as
obesity, hypertension and alcohol use.
The Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence seeks to address
the dismal health status of Native Hawaiians through a variety
of activities.
The Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence's mission is to
improve the health of indigenous Hawaiians. This will be
accomplished through research, education, service and training
of Native Hawaiians in various health professions.
The Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence is housed at the
John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii,
is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services.
The center has been in existence since 1991. It is part of
a nationwide effort called the Centers of Excellence. There are
also Centers of Excellence for historically black colleges,
Hispanic, American Indians. We are the only Native Hawaiian
Center of Excellence.
Our center of excellence has five primary objectives and
components. The first is recruitment, recruiting Native
Hawaiians into health professions.
The second retention. Retaining Native Hawaiian students
once they're in a health profession program.
Three, faculty development. Training Native Hawaiian
physicians to become medical school faculty.
Four, curriculum development. Introducing Native Hawaiian
health issues into the John A. Burns School of Medicine
Problem-Based Learning curriculum.
Fifth, research. Encouraging Native Hawaiians to develop
research skills and conduct research on Native Hawaiian health
issues.
prepared statement
It's just a brief summary. But in the written testimony
I've provided a brief synopsis of each. So refer to that.
With these goals the Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence
truly hopes to improve the health status of Native Hawaiians
through research, education, service and training of Native
Hawaiians in health care professions.
On behalf of the State director of the Native Hawaiian
Center of Excellence thank you for providing this opportunity
to testify.
Senator Inouye. Ms. Else, I thank you very much on behalf
of the committee.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Iwalani Else
Since the 1980s there has been an increase in public attention
given to the poor health status and high mortality rates of Native
Hawaiians who reportedly continue to have the worst health indicators
of the five primary ethnic groups in Hawaii (Blaisdell, 1996; Braun K.,
Look M., & Tsark, J., 1995). These indicators include shortest life
expectancy (8 years shorter than the ethnic group with the longest life
expectancy) and highest overall mortality rate. Specifically, infant
mortality, heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and accident
mortality rank among the highest in Native Hawaiians compared with
other Asian and Pacific Islanders. Among Asian and Pacific Islanders
between the period of 1982 to 1995, Native Hawaiians also had the
greatest prevalence for AIDS (Blaisdell, 1996). In 1992, engagement in
several risk factors was the highest among Native Hawaiians. These poor
health indicators are in sharp contrast to the vigorous health that
their Native Hawaiian ancestors possessed just 221 years ago before the
first Westerners arrived with foreign diseases. Unfortunately, these
figures show no immediate signs of improvement. Since the 1980s, the
trend of poor health indicators among Native Hawaiians has actually, in
some incidents, gotten worse. Among the health indicators which have
worsened are life expectancy, death rates from heart disease, stroke,
cancer, diabetes, and risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, and
alcohol use.
The Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence (NHCOE) seeks to address
the dismal health status of Native Hawaiians through a variety of
activities. NHCOE's mission is: to improve the health of indigenous
Hawaiians which will be accomplished through research, education,
service, and training of Native Hawaiians in various health
professions. The NHCOE which is housed at the John A. Burns School of
Medicine at the University of Hawaii, is funded by a grant from the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and has been in existence
since 1991. There are five objectives/components of the NHCOE: (1)
Recruitment--recruiting Native Hawaiians into the health professions;
(2) Retention--retaining Native Hawaiian students once they are in a
health profession program; (3) Faculty Development--training Native
Hawaiian physicians to become medical school faculty; (4) Curriculum
Development--introducing Native Hawaiian health issues into the John A.
Burns Medical School Problem Based Learning curriculum; and (5)
Research--encouraging Native Hawaiians to develop research skills and
conduct research on Native Hawaiian health issues. The following
discussion provides further detail on each of the NHCOE's components.
recruitment
The emphasis of this component is to develop a competitive
applicant pool of Native Hawaiian Students for careers in the health
professions. The John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) faced a
formidable task in the early years because there was no viable or
competitive pool of applicants among Native Hawaiians. A systematic
effort was put together under the NHCOE and projected for anticipated
high yields in the 1990s. The increase in the numbers of applicants to
health professional schools is due in no small part to the steady and
dogged labors of the recruitment team. Recruitment component staff of
the NHCOE have successfully created partnerships with schools,
colleges, and community entities in the state of Hawaii in order to
stimulate interest in the health field among Native Hawaiian students
early in their educational experiences. The NHCOE recruitment staff has
also developed a network of educational professionals to identify,
counsel, and encourage Native Hawaiian students pursuing the medical
pathway.
retention
The thrust of this component is to enhance the academic performance
of Native Hawaiian students and insure their success through medical
school. Since its inception, the NHCOE retention staff has improved
Native Hawaiian medical student test performance and graduation rates.
The NHCOE retention staff has also provided Native Hawaiian students
with services such as early diagnosis of academic problems and
remediation; a comprehensive academic advising system that involves
outreach counseling and advising of Native Hawaiian students;
assistance with speaking, reading, writing, and interviewing skills;
and diagnosis of learning disabilities.
faculty development
The NHCOE has focused on the expansion of Native Hawaiians in the
JABSOM faculty. This has not been easily accomplished because of
serious financial set backs which have faced the entire State of
Hawaii. JABSOM faced cut backs in funding which was reflected in a
significant decrease in faculty positions. Nonetheless, the NHCOE
sought out individuals who would still be interested in pursuing
academic careers and has been successful in attracting several Native
Hawaiians to become NHCOE fellows. Under the faculty development
component, the NHCOE also seeks to develop the skills and Native
Hawaiian cultural competence/awareness of Native Hawaiian physicians,
residents, fellows, and senior level medical students.
curriculum development
This component of the NHCOE strives to incorporate and introduce
Native Hawaiian health issues into the JABSOM curriculum. This will be
done through a review of the current JABSOM curriculum, a revision of
health care problems to focus on major health risks among Native
Hawaiians, an improvement in Native Hawaiian information materials, and
the development of Native Hawaiian simulated patients for use in
tutorials.
research
The goal of this component is to encourage Native Hawaiians to
develop research skills and conduct research on Native Hawaiian health
issues. The research component accomplishes this by facilitating
medical student and junior faculty research on Native Hawaiian health
issues through placement in ongoing Native Hawaiian research projects
and/or through technical assistance on original projects pertaining to
Native Hawaiian health. Also under the research component is the
development of a clearinghouse devoted to Native Hawaiian health issues
that will aid researchers in conducting literature searches and
identifying resources pertaining to Native Hawaiian health. Yet another
activity under the research component is the development of research
workshops/seminars that incorporate Native Hawaiian health issues into
the curriculum. These workshops/seminars will provide medical students
with an introduction to Native Hawaiian health issues and basic
training in research methodology, design, epidemiology, and
biostatistics. In an effort to disseminate research on Native Hawaiian
health issues, symposiums are also in the planning stage.
It has been estimated that at the time of contact with Captain
James Cook in 1778 there were approximately 300,000 Native Hawaiians
present. In 1880, the population had dwindled to 30,000 Natives. On an
annual basis, Native Hawaiians began to disappear by the thousands.
Many died from no discernible medical causes. It was evident that many
of the cultural elements that give meaning to life had been lost. A
common lamentation heard during the 1880's was: ``Na kanaka okuu wale
aku no ikau uhane,'' that is, ``The people freely dismissed their
spirits and died.'' The slow process of immune development prompted the
gradual resurgence of the Hawaiian race. Still, indices attributable to
neglect, poor nutrition, alcohol and drug abuse, and devastating
lifestyles account for the continuing dismal statistics of disease
among Hawaiians. The NHCOE truly hopes to mobilize forces that will
make drastic changes in order to improve the lot of a gracious people
who have given the world the meaning of the word Aloha.
Senator Inouye. Listening to the testimony of the three
ladies it made me a bit worried to think that there's a
possibility that we may have a block grant program and the
elimination of the council.
I hope it never happens. Because I believe that all of your
programs have great merit and should continue. So I can assure
you we are going to do our best.
Ms. Rawlins, how many students have gone through your
program now?
Ms. Rawlins. From Aha Punana Leo all the way up through?
Senator Inouye. Yes. From the time you began the program
how many have gone through?
Ms. Rawlins. Gosh, I think we've taken, off the top of my
head I can say something like maybe over the past, 'cause we
started prior to Federal funding, we started in 1985--I want to
say something like over a thousand, thousand students.
Senator Inouye. Today how many do you have?
Ms. Rawlins. Today we have, well, from our pre-schools all
the way up to the high school according to Dr. Hewett pointed
out today, he didn't include our pre-school so I think we are
close to 2,000 in Hawaiian medium schools.
That's not including the effect it has on something like
what Kamuela was saying earlier about within the communities
you start having people that are interested in the language in
college. I'm not too sure how many, what the effect it is on
the courses at the university level. But I'm sure it also
affects the course scheduling too; that they would need to
provide more Hawaiian language classes as teachers are needed
and interest is there.
Senator Inouye. Well, if you keep it up the dream of 1917
may become a reality.
Ms. Rawlins. With your support. Mahalo nui.
Senator Inouye. How many young children have gone through
your program, Ms. Evans?
Ms. Evans. Well, we have been in existence with Alu Like
for not quite 2 years. We transferred over 225 families. Now I
would say we have serviced about 700. We anticipate a full case
load by the end of the next fiscal year. When we get all our
staff in place and trained, 800. That's about our capacity.
Senator Inouye. This is statewide?
Ms. Evans. Yes, it is. We have 11 offices.
Senator Inouye. On all the islands?
Ms. Evans. We don't have one on Lanai. We do have one on
Hana, Central O'ahu.
Senator Inouye. What was the budget, Ms. Else, for this
past fiscal year?
Ms. Else. I think this past fiscal year was about a half a
million dollars.
Senator Inouye. Was that enough to carry out your mission?
It's never enough, I know.
Ms. Else. Well, what just happened is we had applied and
were granted funding for the next 3 years at a rate of a little
bit more than $600,000 a year.
So with that we have some new programs especially in the
faculty and research components planned. But we have been doing
pretty well.
Senator Inouye. It should be noted that all of the
participants in these programs, health and education programs,
have done so well that in the appropriation process when
everything else was being cut Native Hawaiian programs went up.
So I want to thank all of you and congratulate all of you
for the good work. Keep it up. We will go up further. Thank
you. Senator Akaka.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. I will just ask one question to
Namaka. This has to do with Nawahiokalani'opu'u Program. That's
a program, a high school program. I know you started small but
right now since the graduation of the first five how many do
you have in that program?
Ms. Rawlins. In the junior classes this year, well, it's
now the senior class we have 11, the 11th graders. It gets
bigger and bigger. The interesting thing, I was just talking to
the principal, Carol, she was telling me the interesting thing
this year the 7th grade class that's coming up they have now
taken new students, new families that have not had any prior
experience.
This will be the first, like a pilot run project where
families that are now seeing that they would like to, perhaps,
participate and are committed and have gone through summer,
this summertime that are now, it's like a late entrance to the
program.
But we're confident that in meeting with the families and
the 7th graders that are coming in from other schools besides
the feeder school, Keakauha, that their commitment and
understanding as to what it's going to take to be educated and
continue through graduation at Nawahiokalani'opu'u we're
confident they're going to be successful.
Senator Akaka. Mahalo. Thank you.
Ms. Rawlins. Mahalo.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, ladies. Now may I call
upon the project coordinator of Pihana Na Mano, Ms. Maggie
Hanohano; the Principal of Haleiwa School, Ms. Jan Yokota, and
a teacher at Ka'u High School, Ms. Kathy Arnold; and a parent
of one of the students at Hana High School and Elementary
School Ms. Maryann Nakama. Welcome, ladies.
Ms. Hanohano.
STATEMENT OF MAGGIE HANOHANO, PROJECT COORDINATOR,
PIHANA NA MAMO
Ms. Hanohano. Aloha, Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka, members
and staff of the subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services Education and Related Agencies, fellow educators and
colleagues.
I am Maggie Hanohano, the project coordinator of Pihana Na
Mano, which means the special children, the gathering of
special children which is also the Native Hawaiian Special
Education Project.
The primary mission of Pihana Na Mamo is to deliver
educational services to children and youth of Hawaiian ancestry
with special needs that result in improved outcomes.
The vision of Pihana Na Mamo is to affirm and promote
numerous positive, varied and mutually supportive opportunities
and experiences and partnerships with the school, family and
community so that students are rooted in their culture, are
contributing members of society, and empowered to set and
pursue their goals.
The funds provided through the Native Hawaiian Education
Act have allowed us to implement the intensive instructional
programs and supports necessary for our Hawaiian students with
special needs to be successful members of their families and
community.
We have submitted written testimony including student
demographic data and project evaluations. We have also included
a summary of our project activities.
prepared statement
At this time I would like to introduce Ms. Jan Yoneda, the
principal at Haleiwa Elementary School, followed by Katherine
Arnold, a Title I teacher as well as our reading teacher and
trainer at Pahala Elementary and Ka'u High School, then Maryann
Nakama, parent involver from Hana High and Elementary.
Senator Inouye. Thank you.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Maryann Nakama
Aloha Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka, memberas and staff of the
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related
Agencies, educators and fellow colleagues. My name is Maryann Nakama
and I reside on the island of Maui in the remote Hawaiian Community
called Hana. I am a parent involver for Pihana Na Mamo: The Native
Hawaiian Special Education Project at Hana High and Elementary.
My goal is to improve awareness of community service and also to
improve relationships between parents, students and the school.
I help parents to understand the special education process, by
empowering them to get ``active'' in school for involvement is very
special to their child's education. The parent support group has grown
from 3 to 35. They have monthly meetings to help one another out and
give support in planning for the Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
Our school is thankful to Pihana Na Mamo for the support and
training in the Literacy Program called Direct Instruction Reading,
Project Heluhelu. This year will be the second year of the program and
we look forward to showing great progress.
More parents are getting involved in the workshops at Keanae and
Hana, especially in grades K-3. They have pride in seeing their child
succeed, but our keiki's success comes in achievement and seeing goals
being met. This is just so heart warming. We've instilled in our
parents that ``if your child can read your child will succeed in
life.''
I also had a few parents approach me about doing a community
service project to rebuild our leaky bus stop. It rains every day in
Hana and the children would get wet waiting for the bus. The bus stop
resembled a chicken coop. I wrote a letter to the Mayor of Maui County
requesting materials to rebuild the bus stop. With the help of kupuna,
parents and keiki, the bus stop was rebuilt. All this was done with
safety and security in mind as the children worked along side the
elders. As a result of working as an 'ohana, the community has bonded
together. We have pride in what we have built.
While the project was going on Hawaiian values such as malama,
``take care,'' and aloha were being instilled in our keiki. Till today,
the bus stop is graffiti free and the parent and children maintain the
grounds around the bus stop.
It is an honor and pleasure to work for Pihana Na Mamo because I
know that I am helping people in my community and enjoying the success
of watching our children grow in love and respect for one another.
Mahalo Senator for your continued support of Pihana Na Mamo.
STATEMENT OF JANICE G.K. YONEDA, PRINCIPAL, HALEIWA
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Senator Inouye. I think we have a mistake on our schedule
here. May I now call upon the principal, Ms. Janice G.K.
Yoneda.
Ms. Yoneda. Yes, it is.
Senator Inouye. That's correct.
Ms. Yoneda. Yes. Thank you, Senator Inouye and Senator
Akaka for this opportunity to speak on matters relating to the
special education needs of Native Hawaiians. I'm Jan Yoneda a
part-Hawaiian and the Principal of Haleiwa Elementary School.
Our school has been a community fixture for the last 129
years. It first began as a Hawaiian speaking school to service
Hawaiian children. It serviced the northshore communities from
Mokuleia to Waimea. Today, however, the school's community has
shrunk to the Haleiwa-Waialua boundaries. Our community is
close-knit but economically depressed.
The mainstay of our local economy was the Waialua Sugar
Mill. In 1996, its 14,234 acres of sugar cultivation was shut
down permanently. Many of its employees were forced into
retirement, moved away to acquire other forms of income or have
remained unemployed and unproductive.
The unemployment rate in our Haleiwa-Waialua area is over 6
percent, a relatively high indicator as compared to the rest of
O'ahu's communities.
Rising percentages of families on welfare assistance,
victims of violent crimes and growing numbers of single-parent
families are indicators of the negative changes our community
is currently experiencing.
Our school's culture, population and current services and
programs have also been directly impacted by these external
factors.
For instance, the 5 years that I have been at Haleiwa
Elementary the population has dropped from 520 to approximately
344 students today. Three major reasons why families have left
the school in the community:
First, to seek better opportunities for jobs.
Second, to escape the overcrowded conditions of the core
family household.
Third, to get closer to the education health and welfare
programs and services in the urban areas.
Haleiwa Elementary is one of three schools in the Waialua
complex. Our total population of 344 represent 32 percent of
Hawaiian, part-Hawaiian ancestry students.
Of the total Special Ed population of 64 students we have
40 percent of Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian ancestry. Significant
numbers of our students are being identified earlier as having
special needs.
We anticipate that the pre-school, the newly entering
kindergarten children, along with the influx of transient
populations will push our numbers even higher in the next few
years.
Pihana Na Mamo, a Native Hawaiian Special Education Project
for children of Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian ancestry at our
school and other schools in the State of Hawaii has continued
to provide valuable support.
The project is child-centered, service oriented and an
integral part of our school's Comprehensive School Support
System. Direct instruction to these disadvantaged students of
Hawaiian, part-Hawaiian ancestry in the schoolwide focused
areas of reading, writing, and math occur daily through
tutorial services that are financed by Pihana Na Mamo.
Staff development training in curriculum and instructional
strategies prepare all students to meet statewide standards an
invaluable effort to address Dr. LeMahieu's emphasis on
standards-based education.
Consultative services and resources to parents, guardians
by the project's trained parent involver have helped
tremendously our community, our school and our parents.
The primary indicator of education and social inequalities
of a school system can be found in the disproportionate number
of minority students within the special education programs.
prepared statement
We have those kinds of numbers. However, it's imperative
that school-based programs and programs such as Pihana Na Mamo
provide disproportionate populations of Hawaiian, part-Hawaiian
students enrolled in special needs service programs with a
balanced array of opportunities for educational success. Pihana
Na Mamo currently provides our school with the means to break
patterns of intergenerational dependency and failure.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Ms. Yoneda.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Janice G.K. Yoneda
Thank you for this opportunity to speak on matters relating to the
special education needs of Native Hawaiians. My name is Janice GK
Yoneda, a part Hawaiian and the Principal of Haleiwa Elementary. Our
school has been a community fixture for the last 129 years, servicing
the north shore communities, from Mokulela to Walmea. Today, our
school's community has shrunk to the Haleiwa-Walalua boundaries. The
Haleiwa-Walalua community is close-knit but economically depressed. The
mainstay of our local economy was the Walalua Sugar Mill. In 1996, it's
14,234 acres of sugar cultivation was shut down permanently. Many of
it's employees were forced into retirement, moved away to acquire other
forms of income or have remained unemployed and unproductive. The
unemployment rate in the area is over 6 percent, a relatively high
indicator as compared to the rest of O'ahu's communities. Rising
percentages of families on welfare assistance, victims of violent
crimes and growing numbers of single parent-families are indicators of
the negative changes our community is currently experiencing. Our
school's culture, population and current services and programs have
been directly impacted by these external factors.
Since coming to Haleiwa Elementary in 1995-96 school year, I've
seen the population drop from 520 to today's student population of 344.
Informal inquiries reflect three major reasons why families have left
the school and community: (1) to seek better jobs; (2) to escape
overcrowded conditions in the core family household; and/or (3) to get
closer to educational, health and welfare programs and services.
Haleiwa Elementary is one of three schools in the Walalua Complex.
The Walalua-Hale'lwa schools have the distinction of having the second
largest population of Hawaiian/part Hawaiian students, besides Alea and
Wahlawa schools in Central District. Walalua Elementary and the Walalua
High and intermediate schools reflect similar population patterns as we
do. Out of our total population of 344 at Hale'lwa Elementary, 32
percent or 110 students are of Hawaiian, part-Hawaiian ancestry. Of our
total Special Education population of 64 students, the Hawaiian/part
Hawaiian students represent 40 percent. Significant numbers of students
with Hawaiian/part Hawaiian ancestry are being identified earlier as
having special needs which is the reason why our numbers in Grades K
through three have steadily increased. We anticipate that pre-school,
newly entering kindergarten children along with the influx of transient
populations will push our numbers even higher in the next few years.
Plhana Ma Mamo, a Native Hawaiian Special Education Project for
children of Hawaiian, part Hawaiian ancestry at Haleiwa Elementary and
many other schools in the State of Hawaii has continued to provide
valuable support. The project is child-centered, service oriented and
an integral part of our school's Comprehensive School Support System.
Direct instruction to disadvantaged students of Hawaiian, part Hawaiian
ancestry in the school-wide focused areas of READING, WRITING, MATH
occur daily through tutorial services. Staff development training in
curriculum and instructional strategies that prepare all children to
meet statewide standards, is invaluable to our efforts to address Dr.
Le Mahleu's emphasis on Standards-based Education for the Department of
Education, State of Hawaii; consultative services and resources to
parents/guardians by the Project's trained Parent involver helps to
improve communications and strengthens the partnerships among school,
home and community agencies, Educational programs, workshops and
training on topics which directly affect achievement for all
generations have increased family awareness of community services,
support of school and home work, SPED processes and rights and has even
provided some with motivation to seek additional learnings.
The primary indicator of educational and social inequalities of a
school system can be found in the disproportionate number of minority
students within the special education programs (Dunn, 1978). Cursory
review of existing data available reflect certain patterns of over-
representation of students of Hawaiian and part Hawaiian ancestry in
the mild disabilities categories a similarity to those of other
minority groups. Additionally, there is strong evidence that the
mismatch between the Hawaiian, part Hawaiian and school-majority
cultures (e.g., middle-class norms) has led to feelings of alienation,
disenchantment and frustration with schools.
Negative stereotypes, poor self-images and lack of educational
achievements have often prevailed among students of Hawaiian, part
Hawaiian ancestry. These patterns of failure are recurring themes for
several generations of Hawaiians and part Hawaiians. It's imperative
that school based programs and programs such as Plhana Na Mamo, provide
disproportionate populations of Hawaiian, part Hawaiian students
enrolled in special needs service programs with a balanced array of
opportunities for educational success. Plhana Na Mamo currently
provides Haleiwa Elementary with the means to break patterns of
intergenerational dependency and failure.
STATEMENT OF CATHY LILIAOKALANI KASPAROVITCH ARNOLD
Senator Inouye. May I now call upon Mrs. Arnold.
Ms. Arnold. Aloha mai kakou. My name is Cathy Liliaokalani
Kasparovitch Arnold. I am a part-Hawaiian teacher from the
island of Hawaii and Title I coordinator at Ka'u High and
Pahala Elementary, a K-12 school in the rural district of Ka'u.
Our student body is approximately 40 percent Hawaiian and
part-Hawaiian, 40 percent Filipino and 20 percent other
ethnicity.
The school has been a chronically low achieving school in
reading, math and has experienced a fairly high rate of teacher
turnover especially within the last 5 years.
This school year will mark the second year of our Direct
Instruction Reading Project, Heluhelu Pono. Pihana Na Mamo has
provided on site training and implementation assistance for our
teachers in grades K-11.
As a teacher who also sits on the Hawaii Island Native
Hawaiian Education Island Council our participation, our
school's participation in this reading project is the result of
connections connecting with Pihana Na Mamo through the Native
Hawaiian Education Council.
At the end of our first year of implementation results of
criterion referenced assessment and standardized achievement
tests are very encouraging as scores on these measures showed
improvement.
Throughout this past school year our teachers began to
notice a difference in the way our students viewed themselves
as readers, especially those students in grade one to three who
were not reading at all.
In addition we had two seniors who tested out as beginning
readers. They were in special ed. They began to read for the
first time in their careers. And they will be coming back next
year for an additional year of schooling. This was a decision
that was made by the students and their families to return to
school for another year.
For this second year Pihana Na Mamo is providing more in
depth training and will assist school site coordinators with
teacher observations, assessment measures and peer coaching.
The design and delivery of this Direct Instruction Reading
approach seems to work well within the context of our students,
our school and our place. We are excited and look forward to
our continued association with Pihana Na Mamo. Mahalo.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much. Our next witness will
very likely give the best assessment of the good or bad of your
program. May I call upon Ms. Maryann Nakama.
STATEMENT OF MARYANN NAKAMA
Ms. Nakama. Aloha.
Senator Inouye. Aloha.
Ms. Nakama. Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka. My name's
Maryann Nakama and I reside on the island of Maui in the remote
Hawaiian community called Hana. I'm a parent involver for the
Native Hawaiian Special Education Project called Pihana Na Mamo
at Hana High and Elementary School.
My goal is to improve awareness of community service and
also to improve relationships between parents, students and
their school. I help parents understand the special education
process by empowering them to get active in school, for
involvement is very special to their child's education.
The parent support group has grown from 3 to 35. They have
monthly meetings to help one another out and give support in
the Individualized Education Plan called IEP.
Our school is thankful to Pihana Na Mamo for the support
and training in the literacy program called Direct
Instructional Reading. The Heluhelu Project that is in our
school is in the second year. We've shown great progress.
More parents are getting involved in the workshops at
Keanae and Hana, for grades K-3. They have pride in seeing
their child succeed. But our keiki's overall success comes in
achievement and seeing goals being met. This is just so heart
warming. We've instilled in our parents that, ``If your child
can read your child will succeed in life.''
I also had a few parents approach me about doing a
community service project to rebuild a bus stop which was
greatly needed. It rains every day in this community and their
bus stop resembled a chicken coop.
I wrote a letter to the mayor of Maui County requesting for
the material to build a new bus stop. With the help of our
senior citizens, our kupuna, our parents and our children the
bus stop was built.
All this was done with the safety and the security of the
keikis in mind who often got wet while waiting for their bus.
The community has gotten much closer, the parents, the
children, and they have pride in what they have built.
While this project was going on Hawaiian values such as
malama, to take care, was instilled on the children. Till today
there is no graffiti and the parents and the keikis take care
of the grounds around the bus stop.
It is an honor and a pleasure to work with Pihana Na Mamo
because I know that I am helping the people in my community.
Thank you.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much. Ms. Hanohano, with
that assessment I think your program will continue. [Laughter.]
Well, I want to thank all of you ladies. But I was sad in
listening to Ms. Yoneda, the principal of Haleiwa. Is Haleiwa
becoming a ghost town? I go there and I see a lot of activity
but your numbers seem to indicate that people are leaving there
in droves.
Ms. Yoneda. I think for the Haleiwa section of the Haleiwa-
Waialua community we have been experiencing a lot of change in
the community. And so different kinds of reasons why people are
exiting.
There are also people who are returning. But they're of
different age groups. So the statistics that I showed you or
shared with you is about my student population at the school.
At one time the school had over 2,000 students in the
1900s. Today it is a very small school. But the Department of
Education assures me that the population projections will even
out.
Senator Inouye. Well, if they begin cutting down your funds
you let me know.
Ms. Yoneda. I sure will.
Senator Inouye. Well, Ms. Arnold, I'm optimistic as a
result of your testimony that things are perking up there. The
teachers are happy and the students are happy.
Ms. Arnold. Thank you. I remember when you came to speak at
our graduation. We too have suffered the closure of our
plantation and high unemployment.
This reading program has been very beneficial. We have only
done it for a year but the results are exciting and we want to
continue with this program.
Senator Inouye. About 20 years ago I gave the commencement
address.
Ms. Arnold. I remember. I was there. You gave a good one.
Senator Inouye. I gave a good one?
Ms. Arnold. Yes, very.
Senator Inouye. Thank you. Well, Ms. Hanohano, do you have
anything else to add? You should say you're going to keep it
up. Aren't you?
Ms. Hanohano. Well, thank you very much for all of your
support. It really is our teachers and staff that help to keep
the project going because is an ownership by the community.
Senator Inouye. Well, if it weren't for the testimony of
Ms. Nakama your future may have been in question. [Laughter.]
Thank you very much, ladies. Senator Akaka, I'm sorry. Now
we come to the final panel. The President and Chief Executive
Officer, Alu Like, Ms. Tara Lualani McKenzie; the Executive
Vice President of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Mr. Patrick
Duarte.
Good to see you, Ms. McKenzie.
Ms. McKenzie. It's very good to see you, Senator Inouye and
Senator Akaka.
Senator Inouye. Please proceed.
STATEMENT OF TARA LUALANI MC KENZIE, PRESIDENT AND
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ALU LIKE, INC.
Ms. McKenzie. OK. You have my testimony before you. I'm
going to summarize it because we have such a short amount of
time. I'm sure you folks will appreciate that.
I do have to make one comment. I am amazed that you folks
can sit here this long and listen to all this testimony. I'm
sure your stomachs are growling by now. I just really, really
appreciate it. Very, very grateful for that.
So again, aloha, Senators of the subcommittee in the Hawaii
congressional delegation and staff. Again, my name is Tara
Lulani McKenzie, president and CEO of Alu Like, Inc.
I would like to preface my testimony, which is concentrated
on unemployment and training, with the brief overview of Alu
Like. As you know Alu Like was established in 1975 in order to
assist Native Hawaiians to improve their social and economic
conditions.
They're currently 14 programs which fall under one of the
following categories: Social development, educational
development, career development and business economic
development.
Alu Like's programs are specifically designed to assist all
age levels of Native Hawaiians and address the many challenges
encountered from infancy to the aged.
For every Native Hawaiian who learns a new work skill,
seeks higher education, learns how to provide proper care and
nutrition for a baby, learns to cope with life without
narcotics, or learns to stay healthy and alert at an advanced
age, the benefits of these life skills create feelings of self-
worth, responsibility and pride. These individuals are daily
becoming more productive members of their families and
communities.
In fiscal year 1998 Alu Like provided 13,553 services to
9,023 Native Hawaiians and touched the lives of over 50,000
other Native Hawaiians through library services, workshops,
community events.
Alu Like's mission is to kokua Native Hawaiians who are
committed to reaching their potential for themselves, their
families and their communities.
We see enormous areas of opportunity that will help Native
Hawaiians reach their potential through the development of 21st
century skills in combination with the indigenous culture of
aloha that gives strength and a unity to our Native Hawaiian
communities.
I'd like to emphasize two very important points. That as I
sat here and listened to the testimony of all the different
organizations that serve Native Hawaiians in every different
sector, I think there's two very important focuses that Alu
Like is going to be involved in and I believe that all of the
Native Hawaiian organizations should focus on.
That is creating solid links, bridges, between Native
Hawaiian culture and traditions and living in modern
contemporary society today. This is one of the most important
needs I believe in our institutions here in Hawaii, that
ability to create those linkages and build those bridges.
The second thing is collaborating and working together
productively with other Hawaiian agencies, institutions and
organizations. We must as Native Hawaiian organizations work
together if we're really going to accomplish the kind of
outcomes in our Native Hawaiian communities. So these will be
the focus of Alu Like's efforts as we're moving into the new
millennium.
One of our largest and most important programs is Alu
Like's employment and training program which is funded by the
U.S. Department of Labor, Division of Indian & Native American
Programs, the Job Training Partnership Act, titles II-B and IV-
A.
In this particular program the target population is Native
Hawaiians, American Indians, and Alaskan Natives with Alu Like
primarily serving Native Hawaiians.
There's essential need and training to provide employment
and training services to Native Hawaiians who are the most
underemployed, unemployed, economically disadvantaged ethnic
group in the State of Hawaii, according to the 1990 United
States census.
Native Hawaiians are unemployed, underemployed and
economically disadvantaged through lack of job opportunities,
lack of training, education and layoffs. There are Native
Hawaiians who need assistance with basic skill training, either
obtaining their GEDs or increasing their reading and math
levels.
Before being considered for job placement our clients also
need assistance with preemployment training such as producing a
resume, preparing for an interview, filling out job
applications, et cetera.
So between 1990 and 1995 the unemployment rates in Hawaii
rose from 3.5 percent to 5.9 percent. For Native Hawaiians
unemployment in 1995 reached 10 percent. With unemployment
rates on the neighboring islands reaching as high as 21.4
percent on the island of Kaua'i.
More I'm hoping that the Department of Labor here, the
State local department can get you more recent figures which I
think will pretty much match this as we are still in fairly
difficult economic times here.
Also according to the 1990 census data 14.1 percent of
Native Hawaiian families have income below the Federal poverty
level compared to the statewide average of 6 percent.
In fiscal year 7/1/98 to 6/30/99 the Alu Like employment
and training program worked with over 1,800 adults and 2,000
youth in job training, skills development, classroom study and
employment placement. The program had a 73 percent job
placement rate or 760 placements with an average cost per job
placement of $1,499.
We use a formula called return on investment in our
research and evaluation unit which helps figure what kind of
benefit accrues to the state when they support and/or Federal
Government when they support these kinds of programs.
In these calculations there was a 1,062-percent return on
investment with a 12,989,000 total net gain to the public
through our employment training and program in the last fiscal
year.
Our follow up report shows that of the 911 clients that we
tracked in the last fiscal year over 50 percent are still
employed, we are happy to report.
In summary, the continued funding for our adult and youth
programs will enable Alu Like to continue assisting our Native
Hawaiians in job development, skill training and employment.
Furthermore, Native Hawaiians will be provided the services
in a culturally sensitive environment that has proven to be
more successful than environments that lack the culture and
holistic we are able to provide at Alu Like.
I have my testimony in several different sheets. So,
Senators, your support for the Indian and Native American
programs under the Workforce Investment Act in fiscal 2000
appropriation bill for the U.S. Department of Labor is
encouraged and greatly appreciated.
Section 174(a)(2)(A) reserves not less than $55 million for
the Indian and Native American Comprehensive Workforce Services
Program under section 166. However, the U.S. Department of
Labor administration failed to request funding at the level the
law requires.
prepared statement
So we humbly ask your support of not less than 55 million
for the Indian and Native American programs as provided in the
Workforce Investment Law.
Again, mahalo nui loa for the opportunity to provide
testimony.
Senator Inouye. Thank you very much, Ms. McKenzie.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Tara Lulani McKenzie
Aloha Senators of the Subcommittee and the Hawaii Congressional
Delegation. My name is Tara Lulani McKenzie, President and CEO of ALU
LIKE, Inc. I appreciate this opportunity to present testimony to the
Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and
Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. I would like to preface
the focus of my testimony, which is employment and training, with a
brief overview of ALU LIKE, Inc. and our goals for the 21st century.
ALU LIKE, Inc. was established in 1975 in order to assist Native
Hawaiians to improve their social and economic conditions. There are
currently fourteen programs which fall under one of the following
categories: Social Development, Educational Development, Career
Development, and Business/Economic Development. ALU LIKE's programs are
specifically designed to assist all age levels of Native Hawaiians and
address the many challenges encountered from infancy to the aged. For
every Native Hawaiian who learns a new work skill, seeks higher
education, learns how to provide proper care and nutrition for a baby,
learns to cope with life without narcotics, or learns to stay healthy
and alert at an advanced age--the benefits of these ``life skills''
create feelings of self-worth, responsibility, and pride. These
individuals are daily becoming more productive members of their
families and communities.
In fiscal year 1998, ALU LIKE provided 13,553 services to 9,023
Native Hawaiians and touched the lives of over 50,000 other Native
Hawaiians through library services, workshops, community events, etc.
(ALU LIKE, Inc. 1998 Annual Report). In order to have greater impact in
the community and a higher instance of long-term quality outcomes for
those we serve, ALU LIKE is in the process of reorganizing itself into
family multi-service centers on each island that focus on educational
services, family services, and business & employment services. The goal
is to provide the client and his/her family with a more holistic
approach to services in addition to operating more effectively and
productively.
ALU LIKE's mission is ``to kokua Native Hawaiians who are committed
to reaching their potential for themselves, their families and
communities.'' We see enormous areas of opportunity that will help
Native Hawaiians reach their potential through the development of 21st
century skills in combination with the indigenous culture of aloha that
gives strength and unity to our Native Hawaiian communities.
Two important initiatives will accompany our efforts and be
emphasized as we move into the new millenium: (1) creating solid links
between Native Hawaiian culture and traditions and the contemporary
society we live in today; and (2) collaborating and working together
productively with other Hawaiian agencies, institutions, and programs.
ALU LIKE's future goals are to expand into an organization that is
innovative and self-reliant, while keeping our mission at the forefront
of everything we do. ALU LIKE has several new initiatives which are
designed to take us into the 21st century. The Hawaii Technology
Institute, one of ALU LIKE's subsidiary non-profits, is in the process
of becoming accredited. It will be the first accredited ``native
school'' in Hawaii developed, operated, and staffed by Native
Hawaiians. Two subsidiary for-profits also have been formed for the
purpose of providing greater economic self-sustainability for the
organization. Through these for-profits and partnerships with mainland
companies, ALU LIKE has the potential to bring light manufacturing to
Hawaii with two initial products. The organization has upgraded its
entire information network system and will continue to adopt more
effective uses of technology for both our employees and the broader
Native Hawaiian community through processes like video-conferencing,
internet enabled technologies, and distance learning. Finally, ALU LIKE
is developing the Hawaii Leadership Center, a world-class leadership
center, committed to preparing people for leadership roles in all
sectors of society.
While ALU LIKE and other Hawaiian organizations have certainly made
progress over the years, there is still work to be done to facilitate
Native Hawaiian self-sufficiency. Native Hawaiian communities still
remain disenfranchised and in need of continued assistance. While ALU
LIKE plans for the future and prepares itself for greater self-
sufficiency, it currently relies on federal assistance to support the
majority of its programs. One of the greatest needs in the Native
Hawaiian community, and often the core of many other problems, is
becoming trained and employed in meaningful work. One of our largest
and most important programs is ALU LIKE's Employment & Training program
funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, Division of Indian & Native
American Programs, Job Training Partnership Act, Titles II-B and IV-A.
Your support for the Indian and Native American Programs under the
Workforce Investment Act (WIA) in the Fiscal 2000 appropriations bill
for the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) is encouraged and
greatly appreciated. Section 174(a)(2)(A) reserves not less than $55
million for the Indian and Native American comprehensive workforce
services program under Section 166. However, the USDOL Administration
failed to request funding at the level the law requires. We humbly ask
your support of not less than $55 million for the Indian and Native
American Programs as provided in the WIA law.
Again, mahalo nui loa for the opportunity to provide comment.
STATEMENT OF PATRICK DUARTE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT,
BERNICE PAUAHI BISHOP MUSEUM
Senator Inouye. Mr. Patrick Duarte.
Mr. Duarte. Aloha, Senator Inouye, Senator Akaka, we
appreciate the opportunity to testify. My name is Pat Duarte.
I'm the executive vice president for Bishop Museum. I'm
testifying on behalf of Dr. Donald Duckworth, president of the
museum who is currently on the mainland.
My testimony will focus on the need to provide training
opportunities for Native Hawaiians in archaeology and cultural
specialist positions.
Since its founding in 1889 Bishop Museum has been dedicated
to the preservation and interpretation of the natural and
cultural history of Hawaii and the Pacific. Over the years
we've acquired nearly 24 million items for our collections,
enabling us to tell the full story of Hawaii and the Pacific.
The Native Hawaiian cultural collections include 2.6
million objects, archaeological specimens and variety of
materials in the archives and library collections.
The collections of Bishop Museum are recognized
internationally as the finest, most comprehensive record of
life in Hawaii and the Pacific. Very simply stated Bishop
Museum's role is to collect stories and to tell stories.
Behind every artifact and specimen there is a story. The
Museum's exhibits and educational programs provide a venue for
us to share those stories linking our past to the present and
future.
In continuing to record the stories of the Native Hawaiian
culture it is important to have individuals who are
educationally prepared to conduct studies using state-of-the-
art methods.
Archaeology is founded on the principles of accurate
observation, recording, interpretation and presentation of
information.
Courses in the history and theory or archaeology provide
training crucial to the interpretation of the archaeological
record, as does knowledge about traditional history.
Unfortunately, there are relatively few Native Hawaiians
currently trained as archaeologists. As a result, the cultural
expertise and cultural sensitivity of Native Hawaiians are
often unintentionally missing in local archaeological studies.
Based on a recent informal survey, only five practicing
Native Hawaiians, archaeologists with master's degree
credentials could be identified. It is important for Native
Hawaiians to not only be involved in the archaeological
research taking place in Hawaii but also to lead the research
efforts.
The accumulation of knowledge and collections at Bishop
Museum and other organizations are meaningless if they are not
shared with the community. Therefore, we need people to tell
the stories of Hawaii in order to perpetuate the values,
traditions and achievements of Native Hawaiians.
Over 60,000 school children visit Bernice Pauahi Bishop
Museum each year. They experience first-hand the stories of a
culture with a tradition of exploration, an amazing
understanding of the natural environment and an excellence in
music and dance. This legacy is the source of great cultural
pride so important to the future of young Hawaiians.
These stories are most meaningful when told by Native
Hawaiians trained as cultural specialists speaking about their
own heritage.
In addition to the local resident population, the stories
of Hawaii are important to our number one industry--tourism.
The industry needs trained specialists who can best tell the
stories to our visitors so they can fully appreciate our
beautiful State, its host culture and its people.
Bishop Museum's goal is to staff our collections, education
and research programs with Native Hawaiians in leadership
positions. Kamehameha's golden feather cloak, the sacred sash
of Liloa, the coronation gown of Lili'uokalani and many other
items of importance should be cared for and made accessible by
Native Hawaiian museum professionals.
The great voyages of exploration taken by Hawaiians in the
past and present, the wisdom of the kupuna in land management
and conservation should be told by Native Hawaiians.
The Museum's anticipated new Science Learning Center should
include Native Hawaiians telling us how this traditional
knowledge base will prepare us for our future on earth and in
space.
In order to achieve this we need trained individuals with
credentials that will meet both the requirements of State and
Federal historic preservation laws and traditional cultural
standards.
The University of Hawaii system is already providing the
academic training required for both archaeologists and cultural
specialists. Bishop Museum proposes to develop in cooperation
with the University an internship program that offers students
the opportunity to receive practical experience working with
anthropologists and cultural specialists. The program would
also expose students to the Museum's collections and stories
associated with the collections.
Bishop Museum would also seek opportunities to develop
exchange programs where interns could train at other informal
education centers such as the Native Alaskan Heritage Center in
Anchorage and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.
Programs such as these will broaden the educational
experience of all those involved. These internships will ensure
that Bishop Museum and the State of Hawaii will have
academically trained specialists and archaeologists who also
have the cultural expertise and sensitivity needed for this
field of work.
prepared statement
Thank you, Mr. Chairman for allowing us to testify in
support of the committee's efforts to develop initiatives that
will provide the State of Hawaii with important educational and
training opportunities for Native Hawaiians. Mahalo.
Senator Inouye. I thank you very much.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Patrick Duarte
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Committee,
for providing us the opportunity to testify on matters relating to
Native Hawaiian education, employment and training. My name is Patrick
J. Duarte, Executive Vice President of Bishop Museum, and I am
testifying on behalf of Dr. Donald W. Duckworth, President of Bishop
Museum, who is on the mainland. My testimony will focus on the need to
provide training opportunities for Native Hawaiians in archaeology and
cultural specialist positions.
Since its founding in 1889, Bishop Museum has been dedicated to the
preservation and interpretation of the natural and cultural history of
Hawaii and the Pacific. Over the years we have acquired nearly 24
million items for our collections enabling us to tell the full story of
Hawaii and the Pacific. The Native Hawaiian cultural collections
include 2.6 million objects, archaeological specimens, and a variety of
materials in the archives and library collections. The collections of
Bishop Museum are recognized internationally as the finest, most
comprehensive record of life in Hawaii and the Pacific.
Very simply stated, Bishop Museum's role is to collect stories and
to tell stories. Behind every artifact and specimen is a story. The
Museum's exhibits and educational programs provide a venue for us to
share those stories--linking our past to the present and future.
In continuing to record the stories of the Native Hawaiian culture,
it is important to have individuals who are educationally prepared to
conduct studies using state-of-the-art methods. Archaeology is founded
on the principles of accurate observation, recording, interpretation,
and presentation of information. Courses in the history and theory of
archaeology provide training crucial to interpretation of the
archaeological record, as does knowledge about traditional history.
Courses in fieldwork, analyses of cultural materials, use of equipment
such as laser theodolites and Global Positioning Systems, and the
design of websites provide hands-on experience useful in observing,
recording, and presenting the story of the past. In a fast-paced,
technological world, archaeologists increasingly use sophisticated
software and equipment to accomplish their research.
Few areas of the world have living links to those who created the
archaeological record. The State of Hawaii is one region which is
fortunate to have living descendants and a rich traditional history.
However, there are relatively few Native Hawaiians currently trained as
archaeologists. As a result, the cultural expertise and cultural
sensitivity of Native Hawaiians is often unintentionally missing. Based
on a recent informal survey, only five practicing Native Hawaiian
archaeologists with master's degree credentials could be identified. It
is important for Native Hawaiians to not only be involved in the
archaeological research in Hawaii, but also to lead the efforts. Issues
arising out of past archaeological projects, demonstrate a need to have
individuals who are academically prepared and culturally knowledgeable.
The best candidates for earning that credibility and respect from the
community are those who are personally connected to the culture.
The accumulation of knowledge and collections at Bishop Museum and
other organizations is meaningless if they are not shared with the
community. We need people to tell these stories of Hawaii. The values,
traditions and achievements of Native Hawaiians brought to life by
stories are vital to sustaining life here in Hawaii. Over 60,000 school
children visit the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum each year. They
experience first-hand the stories of a culture with rich traditions of
exploration, an amazing understanding of the natural environment, and
an excellence in music and dance. This legacy is the source of great
cultural pride so important to the future of young Hawaiians. These
stories will best be told by Native Hawaiians trained as cultural
specialists speaking about their own heritage.
In addition to the local resident population, the stories of Hawaii
are important to our number one industry--tourism. The industry needs
trained specialists who can best tell the stories to our visitors. It
is important that our visitors fully appreciate our beautiful state,
its host culture and its people.
Bishop Museum has always supported the education, training, and
employment of Native Hawaiians. The Museum was in fact founded on the
grounds of the Kamehameha Schools and was intended to enhance the
education and pride of Native Hawaiian children. In its 110 year
history Bishop Museum is proud to have counted among its employees
Hawaiian culture specialist Dr. Mary Kawena Pukui, the author of the
Hawaiian dictionary, and Maori scholar and Hawaiian culture specialist
Dr. Te Rangi Hiroa (Peter Buck), the Museum's third director.
Bishop Museum's goal is to staff the Museum's collections,
education, and research programs with Native Hawaiians in leadership
positions. Kamehameha's golden feather cloak, the sacred sash of Liloa,
the coronation gown of Lili'uokalani, and the many other items of
importance should be cared for and made accessible by Native Hawaiian
museum professionals. The stories of Hawaii's legacy of excellence in
the Museum's historic Hawaiian Hall will be best told when they are
personal stories by Native Hawaiians. The great voyages of exploration
taken by Hawaiians in the past and present, the wisdom of the kupuna in
land management and conservation, and the relationship of people to
each other and the land and sea, should be told by Native Hawaiians.
The Museum's anticipated new Science Learning Center should include
Native Hawaiians telling us how this traditional knowledge base will
prepare us for our future on earth and in space.
In order to achieve this, we need trained individuals with
credentials that will meet both the requirements of state and federal
historic preservation laws and traditional cultural standards. The
University of Hawaii system is already providing the academic training
required for both archaeologists and cultural specialists. Bishop
Museum proposes to develop in cooperation with the University an
internship program that offers students the opportunity to receive
practical experience working with anthropologists and cultural
specialists. This program would also expose students to the Museum's
collections and the stories. Archaeological staff from Bishop Museum
have helped train Native Hawaiian students in fieldwork and cultural
materials analyses and look forward to again form these partnerships.
Bishop Museum would also seek opportunities to develop exchange
programs where interns could train at other informal educational
centers such as the Native Alaskan Heritage Center in Anchorage, and
the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Programs such as
these will broaden the educational experience of all those involved.
These internships will ensure Bishop Museum and the State of Hawaii
with academically trained specialists and archeologists who also have
the cultural expertise and sensitivity needed for this field of work.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing us to testify before the
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Heath and Human Services
and Education in support the Committee's efforts to develop initiatives
that will provide the State of Hawaii with important educational and
training opportunities for Native Hawaiians.
Senator Inouye. Twenty-six years ago I was privileged to
participate in discussions that led to the establishment of the
statewide Alu Like, Incorporated. I must say it has brought
back much pride to all of us here. It has brought much honor to
Native Hawaiians.
During the 24 years of your existence Alu Like has received
countless recognition nationally for its excellence in
performance. I can tell you that as one member of the
congressional delegation it does me proud. I note in the
audience we have two ladies who've played important roles in
bringing about the success story: Ms. Winona Rubin. Please
rise. [Applause.]
And Haunani Apoliana. [Applause.]
On behalf of the committee we thank you three ladies for
carrying on this great tradition. If all the organizations and
companies in Hawaii operated like Alu Like we'd be in great
shape today.
I want to thank Bishop Museum for participating in Native
Hawaiian programs especially the cultural enhancement programs.
The programs you did in the canoe building has done much for
Native Hawaiians. It has, in many cases, not only restored but
generated self-esteem identity to their ancestry. I hope you
will keep it up. Give my best to your boss.
Mr. Duarte. Thank you. I will.
Senator Inouye. Senator Akaka.
Senator Akaka. I also want to say mahalo nui loa. This has
been an excellent hearing. Again I thank the
chairman for having this hearing. It will, no
question, help us with our future legislation. Aloha.
Senator Inouye. With that may I announce that the record
will be kept open for two weeks for those who have not
testified and would wish to have their testimony made part of
the record. Please feel free to do so.
conclusion of hearing
Thank you all very much for being here, that concludes our
hearing. The subcommittee will stand in recess subject to the
call of the Chair.
[Whereupon at 2:05 p.m. Monday, August 16, the hearing was
concluded, and the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene
subject to the call of the Chair.]
MATERIAL SUBMITTED SUBSEQUENT TO CONCLUSION OF HEARING
[Clerk's note.--The following material was not presented at
the hearing, but was submitted to the subcommittee for
inclusion in the record subsequent to the hearing:]
Prepared Statement of Leona M. Atcherley, Task Force Coordinator for Ka
na Ha
Greetings: I am a native Hawaiian, as legally defined in the
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended. As such, I am speaking
in behalf of the race of 50 percent to 100 percent native Hawaiians who
are the only class of native Hawaiians so defined that the United
States government has a binding fiduciary and oversight responsibility
for. Because we are the only race on earth who were given two
constitutionally approved entitlements by the Congress of the United
States: The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, as amended, and the
federal Hawaii Statehood Admission Act of 1959, in Section 5(f) known
as the Public ``ceded'' Lands Trust.
Both of the texts of those original Acts conclude with a so-called
savings clause section that reads in the following manner: All Acts or
parts of Acts, either of the Congress of the United States or of the
State of Hawaii [amended from Territory] to the extent that they are
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, are hereby repealed. What
this says is that the line in Section 4 of the Hawaii Statehood
Admission Act that reads to the effect that the qualifications of
lessees in the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act can be changed with the
consent of Congress is null and void, that Act 37. Session Laws of
Hawaii, 1994 and H.J. Res. 32--Public Law 105-21, June 27, 1997 to
amend the successorship provisions of the original HHCA, 1920, as
amended not only were unenforceable as such but are null and void as
well.
When the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act was created, Congress
limited the benefits to those of 50 percent or more aboriginal blood
[at the request of the native Hawaiians in the Territorial Legislature
which appealed to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Territories which
had stipulated that the quantum be set at 100 percent] to preserve that
race of native Hawaiians. To genocidally, legislatively and
demographically encourage the dilution of this race will, with
certainty, result in its extinction.
It is in the best interest of the United States and the native
Hawaiians, with the help of Congress to gain financial access to seek
the enforcement of their rights in the courts of the United States
whenever those rights are threatened by any Act or legislation on the
part of Congress or the State.
Ka na Ha has battled mightily and consumingly during this past
legislative session to combat the many bills that circulated easily
between the Senate and House Committees, bills that would have forced
Ka na Ha to seek injunctive and Civil Rights relief should any of its
testimonial warnings were to remain unheeded. We are here to stay, and
we won't go away. We are here to remind all lawmakers that wherever the
above savings clause that remained in Title 48 when the Statehood
Admission Act became law was shifted to, buried or hidden, it
nevertheless retains the full effect of the law as it always did when
the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, as amended, was enacted.
On April 15, 1920, U.S. Representative Curry of California,
Chairman of the House Committee on the Territories, 66th Congress, 2nd
Session, submitted Report No. 839 on the Rehabilitation of Native
Hawaiians bill, H.R. 13500, by which the basis of an act to establish a
Hawaiian Homes Commission were set forth for consideration. Page 11 of
that report bluntly sets out the reasons why the legislation is based
upon a reasonable and not an arbitrary classification and is thus not
unconstitutional class legislation.
During the hearings of the Senate Committee on the Territories,
after all constitutional arguments and questions were considered, the
consensus was that, indeed, such an act was constitutional.
On July 9, 1921 the Act was enacted into law. ``Later, when the
constitutionality of the Act was tested, Judge H.E. Stafford ruled:
This Act is unquestionably constitutional, for the reason that a so-
called civilized nation has a moral obligation to see that an
aboriginal race, over whose people and habitat they acquired
jurisdiction and contract, be not exterminated.''
Section 5(f) of the Hawaii Statehood Admission Act states ``that
the lands granted to the State Of Hawaii by Section 5(b), (c), (d) and
(e), together with the proceeds from the sale or other disposition of
any such lands and the income therefrom, shall be held by said State as
a public trust for five specific purposes . . . and their use for any
other object shall constitute a breach of trust for which suit MAY be
brought by the United States.''
Four of the purposes involve use of the ceded lands for specific
public benefits. The only purpose not specified for ``something'' of
public use or value is the one for native Hawaiians ONLY!!! To wit: ``.
. . for the betterment of the conditions of native Hawaiians, as
defined in the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended . . .''
When one proceeds to read Article XII of the State Constitution,
1978, the first conflict and breach of trust is discovered in Section 4
which states that the lands granted to the State ``by Section 5(b) of
the Admissions Act . . . shall be held by the State as a public trust
for native Hawaiians and the general public.'' Yet no where is the term
general public or native Hawaiians and the general public stated in the
Admission Act.
The second conflict and breach of trust is discovered in Section 5
which states: The Office of Hawaiian Affairs shall hold title to all
the real and personal property now or hereafter set aside or conveyed
to it which shall be held in trust for native Hawaiians and Hawaiians.
Yet no where is the term Hawaiians or the expression native Hawaiians
and Hawaiians stated in the Admission Act.
The third and fourth disqualifications read as follows: There shall
be a board of trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs elected by
qualified voters who are Hawaiians, as provided by law. So how did the
native Hawaiians disappear all of a sudden? And what law? A phony law?
A non-existent law? A fictitious law? Probably all three. The fifth
disqualification: The board members shall be Hawaiians. They just take
our lands and our moneys and kick us out. Because we don't exist in
that phony election process. Together with fictitious Hawaiians on
OHA's voting list, the native Hawaiians are easily outnumbered by more
than a two to one ratio. Hence it is a foregone conclusion, clearly and
blatantly stated in this State constitution, that the voters shall be
Hawaiians and therefore the board members shall be Hawaiians. I do not
fall under the definition of Hawaiian, whatever that is, but John
Waihee and Frenchy DeSoto rigged these fictions, conflicts and breaches
against the native Hawaiians very precisely, very expertly.
In Section 6 the native Hawaiians are taken to the slaughterhouse
again; we are being raped, plundered, and murdered in that paragraph in
ways that complete the intentions begun in Sections 4 and 5, just as
surely as they had let loose a veritable Nazi Holocaust against us. And
we who were the sweet, soft, El Stupidos know-nots became the
everlasting victims only now beginning to comprehend the evil, genocide
and destruction that has always been waged against us, first, from the
time of the enactment of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, and then
the wicked capitalization and planning that followed the enactment of
the Statehood Admission Act.
I have strong news for the Solicitor General who falsely propounded
that the United States government has a trust responsibility to ALL
NATIVE HAWAIIANS as falsely defined by OHA--NOT!!!
At this point I ask to end this part of my discourse and if the
honorable Senator Inouye can permit, I would be glad to provide parts
II and III of this continuing testimony which time does not permit me
to offer with the foregoing text.
But thank you far accepting what I have to offer at the moment.
______
Prepared Statement of Kawaikapuokalani Hewett, Cultural Health/
Education Specialist, Waimanalo Health Center
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, and Members of our
Congressional Delegation: Malama I Ke Ola, the word malama translates
to take care of or to attend. Other translations include to observe as
a kapu or to honor as a god.
Malama without the kahako over the first vowel translates as light,
month and moon. Because of the kaona of words, both translations should
be deemed pertinent to our understanding in healing traditions.
The late kahuna Emma deFreis shared with me that the light of the
moon symbolizes the nurturing love of a mother to her children.
Likewise Hina, the goddess of the moon reflects all womanly kuleana.
I find it fascinating that innately every mother is a healer. Her
body creates antibodies that are passed on to her child through her
breast milk. It is her antibodies that strengthen the immune system of
her child. Because of this, breast-fed babies get fewer colds than
bottle-fed babies.
In addition, a mother's antibodies will instinctively mold to fight
off the particular symptoms of her child's cold. Yet, the percentage of
Hawaii's mothers that breast feed remains considerably low.
Concerning:
malama i ke ola
--If the ability to heal is in our capacity, why have we abandoned
such an essential healing tradition?
--How can we restore our commitment to sustain life through the
perpetuation of our natural healing traditions?
Concerning:
`imi ho`ola
`Imi Ho`Ola, the Kahuna Ho`ohapai Keiki and the Kahuna Ho`Ohanau
Keiki were practitioners whose kuleana were birthing and prenatal care.
The health of the child was reflected through the health of the mother.
The Kahuna Pa`Ao`Ao and the Kahuna `Ea were practitioners whose
kuleana was the treating of inherited childhood diseases. All of these
Kahuna were trained in the knowledge of La`Au Lapa`Au as they relied on
traditional herbs and healing traditions to treat their patients.
i pa`a ke kino o ke keiki i ka la`au
The body of the child is solidly built by the la`au or medicines.
Our ancient mothers consumed herbs during pregnancy and nursing for the
sake of the babies health. Herbs were continuously given to children
throughout their teens to ensure health in their adult lives.
The importance of health and the treating of illnesses were
apparent through the extensive order of Kahuna or experts. Yet, today
pregnant mothers are not likely to seek pre-natal care; and often
times, young children do not receive proper immunization.
--Why have we become so neglectful of our health and how do we
restore the reverence for our lives, our health and our well
being?
Concerning:
hanai i ke alo
Hanai I Ke Alo, as an infant develops a sense of sight, his
attention begins to focus on his parents who become his primary role
models. The child observes mommy and daddy and then begins a pattern of
mimicking that will eventually become a part of the child's distinctive
character.
I Maika`I Ke Kalo I Ka `Oha, if the goodness of the kalo is judged
by the young plants that it produces then will the parents be judged by
the behavior of their children.
--Will what the child observes and experiences become the child?
--Will the addictive behaviors exhibited by parents in front of their
children be a cause of addiction?
--Will the abusive behaviors displayed by parents in the presence of
their children be a cause of abusive behavior?
Do we truly understand how our behaviors affect the development of
our children; and how do we provide them with better experiences for a
better quality of life?
Concerning:
ku i ka mana
Ku I Ka Mana, I stand in reflection of the Mana `Ai you have fed
me. The food that you chewed for me as an infant was the food that
nourished me.
--If the Mana `Ai was good physical foods, then I would physically be
healthy.
--If the Mana `Ai was good values and appropriate discipline, then
would know the difference between what is right and wrong; and
I would be able to make conscientious decisions.
--If the Mana `Ai was aloha and I was nurtured and loved, I would
develop respect for myself and thus be able to respect others.
ku i ka mana
``Was the Mana `Ai good?''
Look at the health statistics, I think it reflects the truth. We
are the largest impacted group in regards to high blood pressure,
diabetes, cancer and heart disease. In regards to crime, statistics
show that our numbers are great and growing in the juvenile and adult
correctional facilities.
Are the problems of our youth an indication of our own weaknesses?
And, how do we restore the strength of the family unit and the
importance of parenting?
Concerning:
Ka ho`ohanohano ana o na Hawaii
ho`ola mau
Ko Ke Akua Ha`I Amio, the gods speak through narrow channels. The
gods determine to whom they wish to speak. Thus, the gods themselves
founded the ancient lineage of Kahuna.
Ko Ke Kahuna Ha`I Kupua, the Kahuna reveals the messages from the
gods. It was the kuleana of the Kahuna to disseminate our values. Our
traditions, our kapu and our culture, as interpreted by the GODS.
Our culture then comes from within the Heiau or temple. It was the
Kahuna who from the Heiau maintained our standards.
Who then today interprets culture to be proper or appropriate? Who
then living today was trained by a known Kahuna? What Kahuna lineage
will prevail? Hewahewa?
The question is, how do we restore the esteem associated with the
enlightenment of the Kahuna?
When my son needed open heart surgery because of a deformed aortic
valve, I personally searched for the best open-heart surgeon in the
State of Hawaii that I could find. I verified his track record of
successful operations locally as well as out of state.
Should we expect any less scrutiny of our Kahuna today?
Concerning:
haloa
In accordance with the ancient pono of this `aina, Papahanaumoku
the earth mother is recognized as a goddess. Through her was born the
first Haloa, who expired at birth and was buried, near her dwelling.
From his body grew forth the Kalo, the physical and spiritual
sustenance of the Hawaii.
The second born son of Papahanaumoku and Wakea the sky father, was
Haloanakalaukapalili. He is esteemed in history as being the father of
the human race. Although he is also recognized as the first divine
king, his birth established mankind as the junior line in the order of
succession through the creation.
We may say we have respect for our traditions and we may say we
have respect for our past, but is the `aina a manifestation of
Papahanaumoku; and if so, how do we lay claim to the goddess? Are we
the owners of the `aina-land or are we today the caretakers of our
traditions?
he iwi, he iwi
he i`o, he i`o
he koko, he koko
Being of the same bones, flesh and blood. Therefore, is the
reference of the word, ``kuleana'' a reflection of how we perceive our
own esteem.
--If we interpret kuleana as land ownership and we have no land, then
do we have esteem?
--If we interpret kuleana as lineage, then we all have parents,
grandparents and great grand ancestors. So, do we have esteem?
Also,
--Is our relationship with the `aina a kino lau of Papahanaumoku--the
earth mother a reflection of our relationship with our own
parents?
--Is this relationship truly one of respect?
--How do we restore the respect for the truth as established through
the creation of the land, the kalo and mankind?
Concerning:
ko kakou pono
Our integrity is directly linked to our `Aumakua. It is through the
communication with our `Aumakua that we are enlightened, guided and
protected. The channel of communication is the Moe Uhane or the dream.
The balance of `Aumakua respect is reflected in the `olelo no`eau:
Aloha Aku, Aloha Mai. Thus, as we give, we are given to. As I nurture
my family and maintain the respect for the `aina or environment, the
kalo from which poi is made and the kanaka or mankind, the `Aumakua
will enhance my life.
An integral responsibility of `Aumakua worship that is rarely
discussed is their kuleana of punishment and compensation. When I
offend my `Aumakua, I must mihi or apologize to reestablish my pono.
The consequence of not seeking their forgiveness is to lose their
support and communication.
This is a challenge as most Hawaii see little value in their Pono!
As we have come to a point in time where retribution is at the
forefront of our minds and our efforts, how relevant is the `olelo
no`eau- ``Aloha Aku, Aloha Mai.''
--As a people do we seek spiritual receiving or material gain?
--Where should our priorities be?
Concerning:
ku lokahi
`o ka po nui ho`olakolako, `o ke ao nui hemahema
The guidance that is given in dreams are often times misunderstood
and neglected by man.
We are linked to our `Aumakua by the piko or cowlick at the back of
our heads. This is where our kupuna sit as they dwell with us
throughout our lives. This is why the head is kapu or sacred.
To slap someone's head is to show great disrespect not only for his
or her `Aumakua, but also for your own. To be disrespectful of your own
`Aumakua in ancient times carried great consequence, often times the
outcomes were illness and death. Is this philosophy still truth? Are
our illnesses a reflection of our abusive behaviors to our families,
others and to ourselves? We need the enlightenment of the `Aumakua to
guide us in making the best possible choices to enhance our lives. If
we cannot see our respect for life through the `Aumakua, how can we
have respect for anything?
We are the descendants of an ancient drug free and alcohol free
people whose most esteemed value was `ohana. Harmony was maintained
through ho`oponopono; and pule or prayers of permission and forgiveness
were offered ritually.
If we truly believe in the `Aumakua and the mana associated with
respect for our ancestors, why do many of our people continue to make
the wrong choices. We hear about these wrong choices that reflect
crime, abuse and drugs; daily in the news.
A healthy relationship with the spirits of our ancestors reflects a
healthy relationship with our minds and our bodies. How then do we
restore this tradition that reflects holistic health?
pu`ali kalo i ka wai `ole
With lack of water the kalo grows misshapen.
With lack of spiritual guidance, will the abuse in our lives
continue?
Ha`i `Olelo Pani:
As I began my ha`i `olelo with an `olelo no`eau, allow me to
summarize with another.
aia no ia `oukou ka pauku i waena
aia i hea ka po`o
aia i hea ka hi`u
We today represent the middle section of the fish. It symbolizes
the present. The head of the fish symbolizes the past, it is where we
have come from. The tail of the fish symbolizes the future, it is where
we need to go.
If you don't know where you came from, how do you know where you
are going to go. We must acknowledge the past for it was the head of
the fish that brought us here. But, we must also acknowledge our future
for the tail of that same fish is now pushing us forward.
i mua e na hawaii
e ku lokahi kakou!
Mahalo
______
Prepared Statement of Chiyome Leinaala Fukino, M.D., President, E Ola
Mau
Honorable Daniel K. Inouye, Hearing Chair: I am Chiyome Leinaala
Fukino, M.D., President of E Ola Mau, a nonprofit corporation of Native
Hawaiian Health Care Providers dedicated to improving the health of
Native Hawaiians. We are testifying in support of authorization of
appropriations for fiscal years 2000 through 2010 for the Native
Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act.
Since our incorporation in 1986, E Ola Mau has consistently
advocated for culturally appropriate delivery of health care services
to Native Hawaiians. The landmark study, from which our name is
derived, documented for the first time the abysmal health status of
Native Hawaiians in this our aina hanau (native land, birthplace). As a
member of the Board of Papa Ola Lokahi, we have watched the struggling
emergence of the Native Hawaiian Health Care systems. We continue to
advocate for coordination of health care services between the Native
Hawaiian Health Care Systems and other providers within Hawaii's health
care community.
Native Hawaiian health statistics continue to be collected by
multiple agencies using widely disparate parameters. Uniform statewide
ethnicity tagging has not been established. Current sources of data
require 1 to 3 years for data compilation and publication, making
timely health needs assessments and program outcomes reporting
difficult. Nevertheless, more readily available death statistics
underscore the continuing poor health status of Native Hawaiians.
Our participation for more than a decade in numerous matters
pertaining to Native Hawaiian health has culminated in the development
of the E Ola Mau Native Hawaiian Health Statistics Database (NHHS). E
Ola Mau believes that a unified relational database that includes both
static and real-time data is essential in the planning of cost-
effective health related programs. The E Ola Mau NHHS Database
introduces a standard data collection methodology. Our Database
currently contains information from state and private sector published
reports. We are working with some of the agencies that have published
these reports to begin real-time data input and design customized
output report layouts that facilitate rapid compilation, analysis and
dissemination of collected data.
E Ola Mau has designed a preliminary research program based on
information contained in the NHHS Database to enter real-time data and
longitudinally monitor critical outcomes data. The program monitors
Hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus, Coronary Artery Disease, Congestive
Heart Failure and Hyperlipidemia, five chronic illnesses which account
for the majority of health care costs in both in-patient and out-
patient settings.
The E Ola Mau Laau Lapaau Database contains information gathered by
E Ola Mau over the past decade while working with Kupuna Laau Lapaau
throughout the state of Hawaii. Published scientific research already
done on identified laau is included in this Database which will serve
as a resource for Western trained health care providers who treat
Native Hawaiian patients who utilize traditional remedies.
E Ola Mau recommends adoption of statewide uniform ethnicity
tagging to improve the monitoring and assessment of Native Hawaiian
health status. Current methods of ethnicity identification include a
mixture of self-identification, surname, and ``eyeball'' recognition.
Of the approximately 17,000 records included in the E Ola Mau NHHS
Database, less than 5 percent are identified as Native Hawaiian
statistics.
While there is increasing awareness among academic and governmental
agencies of the need for research, and service allocation for Native
Hawaiian health, there is still much more work to be done in order to
improve the health of Native Hawaiians. The Native Hawaiian Health Care
Improvement Act is one critical component of this journey.
E Ola Mau will continue to work with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs
and Papa Ola Lokahi to draft appropriate language for the
reauthorization of the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act. It
is imperative that the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act
accurately reflects the evolution of Native Hawaiian agencies and their
increasing capacities to participate in improving the health of Native
Hawaiians thereby allowing Papa Ola Lokahi to focus more specifically
on its area of expertise.
______
Prepared Statement of Dr. Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, Director, Center for
Hawaiian Studies
The Center for Hawaiian Studies (CHS) at the University of Hawaii
at Manoa (UHM), with its breathtaking new building ($8 million)
adjacent to the Kanewai Taro Garden, represents a substantial
commitment, in the nearly 100 years of the University's existence, to
the coordinated study and preservation of Hawaiian culture, history,
politics, and language. The new building, called Kamakakuokalani in
honor of Gladys 'Ainoa Brandt, serves as a home for all Hawaiians at
the UHM campus, and is often referred to as the eastern gate of the
University, where the sun rises and enlightenment in things Hawaiian
begins.
mission
Our mission, as determined by a statewide council of Hawaiian
educators in their Ka'u University of Hawaii Hawaiian Studies Task
Force Report of 1986, is to achieve and maintain excellence in the
pursuit of knowledge concerning the Native people of Hawaii, their
origin, history, culture, language, literature, religion, arts and
sciences; their interactions with their oceanic environment and other
peoples; and to reveal, disseminate and apply this knowledge for the
betterment of all peoples.
Through student services, instruction, research, and community
outreach, the Center dedicates itself to serving the Native people of
Hawaii from Ni'ihau to Hawaii island. Our areas of inquiry include
traditional culture, resource management, indigenous land and water
rights, and self-determination.
growth in facilities
The new facility (funded by the Hawaii State legislature) houses an
auditorium (200 seats), 2 large classrooms (50 seats each), a video
showing classroom (50 seats), 2 conference rooms (35 seats each),
faculty and staff offices and a student wing complete with private
rooms for study. The Center also has a library and resource center
where students can do research, have access to class readings and work
on their assignments in the computer center. Kanewai Taro Garden,
adjacent to the facilities is used by as a classroom for Hawaiian
botany classes.
growth in faculty, staff and students
Since the 1986 Ka'u Report recommended that the staff at the Center
for Hawaiian Studies at UHM be expanded to 15 full time faculty, CHS
has grown from .5 FTE to 4.5 FTE, with an additional full time
secretary, student academic advisor, a part time grants writer, 2
graduate teaching assistants, and 2 lecturers.
Since 1986, CHS has grown from 25 student majors to 148 student
majors, and CHS faculty teach another 1,000 students in various classes
every year. With our small number of faculty, CHS has one of the
highest student to professor ratios in the university system, but our
faculty frequently over enroll their classes in order to accommodate
eager students.
About 30 CHS student majors graduate every year with a B.A. in
Hawaiian Studies, and 90 percent of CHS graduates continue on to a
variety of graduate programs (there is not yet a Masters degree in
Hawaiian Studies). A majority of CHS majors are Native Hawaiian who are
the first in their families to attend university. CHS successes in
attracting increasing numbers of Hawaiians into the university system,
reflects our dynamic, award winning faculty, and our excellent new
curriculum.
growth in instruction and curriculum
The 1986 Ka'u Report recommended that Native Hawaiian students
would be attracted to university if more courses were offered in
Hawaiian Studies. Part of the attraction of CHS to students has been
the development of cutting edge curriculum about things Hawaiian which
have never before been taught at the University of Hawaii. These
include:
Hwst 107: Hawaii: Center of the Pacific
Hwst 270: Hawaiian Mythology
Hwst 341: Hawaiian Genealogical [Pre-contact History]
Hwst 390: Modern Issues in Hawaii
Hwst 440: Researching Mahele Land Awards
Hwet 490: Decolonization in the Pacific
One of our most popular courses was developed in conjunction with
master navigator Nainoa Thompson of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
Never before taught at any university in the world, Hwst 281-282 is a
two semester course on traditional non-instrument Hawaiian Navigation,
that includes the study of Hawaiian astronomy, weather, sailing
dynamics and design of double hulled voyaging canoes like the
internationally known Hokule'a.
This later course is one of our new line of Malama Hawaii (Hawaiian
Resource Management) courses that seeks to marry Hawaiian tradition
with western science to better understand the Hawaiian custom of living
in harmony with mother earth. In Spring 2000, we will teach the first
course in Hawaiian Fishpond Management ever offered at the University
of Hawaii.
In addition, curriculum and courses developed by CHS are often
exported to Hawaiian Studies programs in the University of Hawaii
Community College system, to encourage articulation between the
campuses.
chs research
One of the strengths of UHM's Center for Hawaiian Studies program
is its emphasis on research. Students who attend CHS courses are
expected to understand the vital role research plays in deepening and
expanding Hawaiian understandings of culture, land, politics, and self-
identity. The faculty of CHS have published path-breaking new books and
articles on the topics of Hawaiian culture, land tenure, history and
politics. Three of the four CHS faculty have served as principal
investigators of research projects, some of which are listed below:
1. The 1991 Na Hulu Kepuna Project (Dr. Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa),
granted $40,000 by various local foundations to collect and videotape
the oral histories of 30 kupuna who spoke Hawaiian as a first language.
2. The 1993 ``Act of War'' Historical Documentary on the 1893
Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom (Drs. Haunani-Kay Trask and Lilikala
Kame'eleihiwa), funded by a $300,000 grant frown Public Broadcasting
Station (PBS).
3. The 1995-1998 Hui'Imi Nu'u Hawaiian Student Outreach Project
(Dr. Jonathan Osorio), received a $150,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation to mentor Hawaiian students pursuing their degrees in higher
education from the community colleges to the University of Hawaii at
Manoa.
4. The 1998 Social Capitol Project (Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask),
received a $30,000 Pacific Basin grant from Harvard University.
Given the current lack of resources in the field of Hawaiian
culture, history and politics, CHS faculty actively participate in the
production of curriculum materials to address the diverse needs of
Native and non-native for information about Native Hawaiians and Native
Hawaiian perspectives; all of the faculty have given freely of their
areas of expertise for national and international documentaries on
Hawaiian issues. In addition, CHS is continually student researchers,
teachers and educated citizens.
community outreach
The Center for Hawaiian Studies actively works together with other
Native Hawaiian serving organizations to form a continuum of services
available to the needs of the Native Hawaiian community. The Center has
active partnerships with Na Pua No'eau, The Queen Lili'uokalani Trust,
Papa Ola Lokahi, and The Native Hawaiian Leadership Project, the
Polynesian Voyaging Society, the Center for Sustainable Future.
In addition to fulfilling its primary purpose of providing students
with an educational foundation in Hawaiian Studies, the faculty,
students, and staff work together to hold community events and forums
on critical issues facing the Native and non-Native residents of the
State of Hawaii, such as Hawaiian gathering rights, Ceded Lands,
decolonization, and sovereignty. At last year's forums, the Center was
host to over 10,000 students, teachers and members of the community.
future growth of the center for hawaiian studies
In keeping with the recommendations of the 1986 Ka'u Report, CHS is
working on the development of a Master's degree in Hawaiian Studies,
and a Ph.D. in Comparative Polynesian Studies. For too long, the
academic study of things Hawaiian at the graduate level has been
stymied by an absence of a Master's in Hawaiian Studies, and currently
there are 35 students on a waiting list for such a degree.
The Center's facilities were built with space made available for
digital editing bays and the storage of video equipment. Currently, CHS
is seeking funding for video equipment through grants. The Center plans
to collect and preserve for study and dissemination the oral histories
of kupuna in Hawaiian and English, before they pass on without sharing
their unique and precious knowledge.
These materials will be made available to all interested programs
at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, the various Community Colleges and
the Department of Education statewide. Students will be trained to use
this technology to help with the collection of oral histories and the
creation of video documentaries and curriculum as guided by the CHS
research focus for each year.
In addition, CHS seeks to expand its Malama Hawaii [Hawaiian
Resource Management] courses with new curriculum on Hawaiian medicinal
and food plants, as well as traditional land management. Currently,
Malama Hawaii courses include Hawaiian Navigation (Hwst 281-282), the
Cultivation of Taro (Hwst 297), Hawaiian Fiber Arts (Hws 298), Fishpond
Management (Hwst 398), and Ceded Lands research (Hwst 440). Some of
these course are being developed in partnerships with the UH Burns
School of Medicine, the now UH Center for Sustainable Future, and the
UH Department of Geography.
Finally, there is the CHS project on creating a Vision for
Reconciliation: Ho'iho'i Ea, which the faculty of CHS believe is a
critical component in the peaceful evolution of the Reconciliation
process between the American government and the Hawaiian people.
vision for reconciliation: ho'iho'i ea
The unique curriculum at CHS has allowed us to consider an
educational vision for the reconciliation process called for by
President Clinton and the United States Congress in Public Law 103-150
(1993). This law was established to resolve the serious concerns that
have arisen between the American government and the Hawaiian nation.
However, the average citizen in Hawaii has not heard of Public Law 103-
150, does not understand the nature of Hawaiian land entitlements and
is fearful of the potential impact of Native rights. This significant
lack of understanding could serve as a major impediment to
reconciliation.
The Federal Government, under your leadership, has generously
supported Hawaiian education through the Masters degree in Hawaiian
Language at UH Hilo, the Aha Punana Leo Hawaiian Immersion Curriculum
development project, and the statewide Na Pua No'eau Hawaiian gifted
and Talented Program. Clearly, the needs of the Native Hawaiians are
diverse and many, and there is much good work being done to address the
complex concerns facing Native Hawaiians in today's multi-ethnic
society.
The Center for Hawaiian Studies is committed to working with these
and other organizations that serve Native Hawaiians to face the
challenges that the process of reconciliation, called for by President
Clinton in 1993, will present to Hawaiians, and Non-Hawaiians alike.
CHS looks forward to contributing strongly to the future of Hawaii by
providing instructional materials, curriculum and research that will
help us to understand the Native Hawaiian perspective on culture,
history and politics, which is the CHS area of expertise.
When your Subcommittee returns in November, we at the Center for
Hawaiian Studies would like to host you in our new building and present
our Vision for a Reconciliation Process. Thank you for your time and
consideration.
______
Prepared Statement of Pihana Na Mamo: The Native Hawaiian Special
Education Project, Office of Accountability and School Instructional
Support/Special Education Section, Hawaii Department of Education
Aloha, Senators Inouye and Akaka, Representatives Abercrombie and
Mink, members and staff of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education and Related Agencies, fellow educators, and
colleagues. I am Maggie Hanohano, Project Coordinator of Pihana Na
Mamo: The Native Hawaiian Special Education Project. With me today are
members from our project: Gloria Kishi, Project Director; Cynthia Choy,
Inservice Coordinator; Jan Yoneda, principal of Haleiwa Elementary
School; Kathy Arnold, reading teacher and trainer from Ka'u High and
Pahala Elementary; and Maryann Nakama, parent involver from Hana High
and Elementary on the island of Maui.
Pihana Na Mamo: The Native Hawaiian Special Education Project has
as its primary mission the delivery of educational services to children
and youth of Hawaiian ancestry with special needs that results in
improved outcomes. The vision of Pihana Na Mamo is to affirm and
promote numerous positive, varied and mutually supportive opportunities
and experiences, and partnerships with the school, family and community
so that students are rooted in their culture, are contributing members
of society, and are empowered to set and pursue their goals.
For the past nine years, we have been actively working in over 40
schools with high percentages of Hawaiian students with special needs.
Many of these schools face daily challenges of serving communities and
families impacted by social and economic hardships. We have visited
with our families who live in homes without running water and
electricity, and for whom the information age remains one dependent
upon face-to-face interactions. We have spoken to a mother who spent
the night out fishing and the early morning hours making poke to sell
to raise money for her daughter's graduation. We have accompanied the
principal of Konawaena High School to community meetings held at picnic
tables in the park and the church in Miloli'i to listen our families'
concerns regarding the education of their sons and daughters. Many of
our Hawaiian students enter school at tremendous risk for failure.
However, their resiliency and those of their families, coupled with
dedicated and creative school personnel, have produced remarkable
results.
The funds provided through the Native Hawaiian Education Act have
allowed us to implement the intensive instructional programs and
supports necessary for our Hawaiian students with special needs to be
successful members of their families and community. We have submitted
written testimony including student demographic data and project
evaluations. Also, we have included a summary of project activities.
We would like to take this time to have personnel from our project
schools share their experiences with you:
Jan Yoneda, principal at Haleiwa Elementary School, has implemented
a school-wide, comprehensive research-based reading program. Each
morning for one and one-half hours, all students are engaged in direct
instruction reading activities. A walk through her campus will find
teachers and students totally focused and completely on-task,
reinforcing the Hawaiian value of pa'ahana, or diligence and hard work.
Kathy Arnold, reading teacher and trainer from Ka'u High and Pahala
Elementary, has been with our project for two years. She has been
delivering direct instruction reading at her schools, as well as
serving as a trainer for intensive reading instructional support for
our schools in Hawaii District.
Maryann Nakama, parent involver from Hana, Maui, has been with
Pihana Na Mamo for seven years. She has been instrumental in building
partnerships between the school, our families, and the community . Her
resourcefulness and energy continues to astound us. We thank you for
this opportunity to appear before your committee and for your continued
support.
______
Prepared Statement of Joyce S. Tsunoda, Sr., Vice President for the
University of Hawaii, Chancellor for the Community Colleges
Senator Inouye and Members of the Committee: Thank you for the
opportunity to testify today in support of the Native Hawaiian
Community Based Education Learning Centers Program. With funds
provided, we have established centers at Hawaii, Kaua'i, Leeward, and
Maui Community Colleges. These Centers have the responsibility to
coordinate and deliver island-wide services and activities.
Administration is coordinated through my office, the Office of the
Chancellor for Community Colleges.
The need for community based programs was identified at both the
1993 and 1997 Native Hawaiian Education Summits. Additionally, in 1997,
the Statewide Native Hawaiian Education Council set forth three goals
relating to Native Hawaiian education. They are: (1) to empower and
support communities in the development of successful Hawaiian
educational programs; (2) to improve the experiences of Native
Hawaiians, especially those within the public school systems, through
institutional change; and, (3) to establish a Native Hawaiian
educational system. As the Council itself is not charged with nor
funded for direct implementation of programs and services, the Native
Hawaiian Community Based Centers' goals, activities and services are
designed to complement and support these goals of the Native Hawaiian
Education Council.
Meeting these goals and the success of activities and services
offered are in a large part due to the collaborations and partnerships
developed by each Center and their respective community and private
organizations. Each Center solicits input from members of an island-
wide community advisory council in the development of activities and
services. In this manner, Native Hawaiian communities are becoming more
active in controlling their educational destiny. Additionally, with the
Centers housed within the Community Colleges, Centers have become an
open door welcoming Native Hawaiians into higher education.
Significant progress has been made at each of the Centers in the
delivery of a wide variety of activities and services that increase the
educational opportunities for Native Hawaiians. This year alone, over
4,500 Native Hawaiian participants engaged in activities and service
provided through the four Centers around the State of Hawaii.
Participants vary in age, educational, social and economic background,
from `opio to kupuna (youths to elders), at-risk youths and
incarcerated Native Hawaiians, native speakers and non-native speakers,
and rural and urban Hawaiians.
Given the parameters of the program and intent of the grant, a wide
variety of educational activities and services are offered; much of
which are culturally-driven, community-based, and family oriented.
These activities provide the foundation upon which Native Hawaiians
will build upon in the movement towards self-determination. Some of the
activities and services include:
--Computer literacy courses delivered in various communities and on
campus
--Various after-school and summer programs for Native Hawaiian
youths, ages 3-18, in both Hawaiian language immersion schools
and non-immersion schools
--Hawaiian language courses delivered in various communities
--Counseling and assistance to Native Hawaiians who need to develop
basic reading, writing, and math skills for entry into college
--Summer bridge programs for Native Hawaiian adults wishing to enter
college
--Financial assistance, to overcome barriers to higher education and
continued training, including assistance for tuition, fees,
books, supplies, and childcare
--Numerous Hawaiian cultural workshops and presentations on a wide
variety of subjects and topics including Hawaiian drum making,
Holua sled making
--Numerous training and courses including Hawaiian Animation
Illustrations, 'Ukulele, Hawaiian language, voice training
--Leadership development courses and activities for both Native
Hawaiian youths and adults
--Canoe culture beginning with planting of the trees to carving the
canoe to sailing
--Teacher training for certification
--Recruitment of Native Hawaiian teachers
--Introductions and orientations to college
--Master/Apprentice and mentoring activities
--Community partnerships in organizing and presenting events such as
the World Indigenous Peoples' Conference on Education, the
Hanalei Taro Festival, Career and College Fairs, various ocean
and family festivals
--A Native Hawaiian Education Summit
--Community participation in a variety of educational conferences
The Native Hawaiian Community Based Education Learning Centers have
and will continue to have a great impact on Native Hawaiian
communities. The Centers' educational activities and services provide a
broad foundation upon which Native Hawaiians are able to build,
strengthen, and elevate their academic, spiritual, social, political
and economic skills. From activities that include the revival of
ancient arts and culture to participation in cutting edge technology,
Native Hawaiian participants are acquiring skills and knowledge
applicable in today's society. With the integration of culture, there
is also a renewed pride and esteem, not just in one's self but also in
the community. Participants continue to express their appreciation for
what is offered through the Native Hawaiian Community Based Education
Learning Centers.
I share with you the narrative portion of the Center's recent
Updated Performance Report submitted to the U.S. Department of
Education this past May 1999. The report provides detailed progress
made over this past year.
I anticipate Native Hawaiians' participation in Centers' activities
will increase. I ask for your continued support and approval of funds
to continue the work of the Centers as we seek to increase the
educational opportunities for Native Hawaiians to engage, develop, and
enhance their economic and social status in the State of Hawaii.