Welina me ku'u aloha pumehana! It is a pleasure and honor to join the staff and many friends of the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center to celebrate the center's 30th anniversary of serving the Waianae Coast communities' health care needs. I congratulate CEO Richard Bettini and the officers, board of directors, and staff of the center for three decades of caring for the health and well-being of families on the Waianae Coast. I have been privileged to work with the center in securing federal resources and raising capital funds over the years.
From this center, and five other clinics in Leeward Oahu, thousands of patients receive comprehensive, integrated health services, from primary care to emergency services, dental care, behavioral health, preventive health, adult day care, and health career training programs. Your new Native Hawaiian Healing Center and Dining Pavilion represents another unique milestone as the Health Center undertakes creative solutions to address pressing health care issues in the community. Indeed, the Health Center has excelled in meeting community needs as it has grown from a one-doctor clinic into the largest employer on the Waianae Coast.
The Health Center's leadership and staff understand the importance of culturally relevant methods of providing health care to indigenous peoples. The failure to incorporate culture into health care has had a devastating impact on indigenous populations who often perceive health care services based on concepts of western medicine to be ineffective. For that reason, I applaud your efforts to incorporate traditional healing practices with modern medical care.
Our history is shared by so many of the indigenous peoples and immigrants who call the Waianae Coast home. Because of our shared legacy, it is my priority in Washington to help national policymakers understand the importance of culture and tradition when formulating policies that impact indigenous peoples, immigrants, and other patients with limited health care options. Fortunately, the federal government is beginning to recognize the importance of diversity and culture in providing effective health care services and health education to Native Hawaiians and other indigenous communities.
The Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center has played an important role in offering traditional healing services as an integral part of its programs. These programs and services not only benefit the Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders who receive treatment from the Health Center, but all your customers are better served by a holistic, culturally appropriate approach to wellness and health care. Today, after 30 years of service, your mission is more important than ever. By providing health services regardless of a patient's ability to pay, working to reduce health disparities, increasing prevention education, and committing time and resources to socio-economic well-being along with health services, the Waianae Coast Health Center is truly a "model of excellence" and an abundant spring of comfort and healing for thousands of Hawaii's people.
Mahalo nui loa.
God bless you all.
