About Us
Who is Hui Pohala?
Hui Pohala is a growing coalition of diverse stakeholders working to improve access to high quality palliative care throughout Hawaii.
Our Mission is to serve as a catalyst and convener to improve access to high quality palliative care.
Our Vision is for the people of Hawaii with serious illness to have access to high quality, team based, person centered palliative care, in the setting they prefer.
Our Values:
- Collaboration
- Excellence
- Equity – Reducing health disparities
- Honoring patients’ choices
- Compassion, Respect and Kindness
What does the name Hui Pohala mean?
Hui Pohala was chosen because it represents uniting (hui) to provide relief from sickness and worry (pohala).
What is the significance of the Hui Pohala logo?
In Hawaiian culture the color red represents passion and energy and ginger signifies healing. Our logo depicts our commitment to relieving the stress of illness so people may live the best quality of life that they can.
How did we get started?
Hui Pohala was launched as a result of the call to action emerging from the first Hawaii State Palliative Care Summit held in April 2020 with over 120 diverse stakeholders. Summit presentations clearly showed the advantages of palliative care to patients, families, and caregivers as well as the associated reduction in unwanted care. Summit participants highlighted large gaps in access to high quality home-based palliative care statewide, as well as the negative impact of that gap. A broad consensus on the need for expanding access was reached during the summit. The Summit Report describes key barriers to expanding access identified during the summit. Hui Pohala is organizing and convening work teams to address these barriers.
Following the Summit a core group of healthcare champions stepped forward to build a coalition to significantly improve access to high quality palliative care. Initial core supporters of the growing coalition include Kōkua Mau, John A. Burns School of Medicine, Chaminade School of Nursing, Queen’s Health Systems and the Hawaii State Department of Health.
Initial Core Supporters of Hui Pohala
Kōkua Mau – A Movement to Improve Care
Kōkua Mau is a statewide network dedicated to improving care and support for those with serious illness and their loved ones. We are Hawaii’s trusted source for accurate information on Advance Care Planning (ACP) including Advance Directives and POLST as well as palliative care, hospice care and grief and bereavement support in Hawaii. (Kōkua Mau means ‘Continuous Care’ in Hawaiian.)
“Palliative care offers the opportunity to provide excellent care for those with serious illness and their loved ones. After many years of joint efforts, we are at a tipping point in Hawaii to make this a reality.”
Jeannette Koijane, Executive Director of Kokua Mau
John A. Burns School of Medicine, (JABSOM)
“Palliative care is an essential service to provide to patients with serious illness and should be viewed as preventive care to avoid suffering and pain for those with advanced illness. Everyone should have the same opportunities for support and care, regardless of insurance or geography.”
Dr. Lee Ellen Buenconsejo-Lum, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at JABSOM
Chaminade School of Nursing
“Access to high-quality palliative care is essential for all of us in Hawaii. Delivery of outstanding palliative care is supported by effective education and resources for health care professionals, patients and families, and community members. At Chaminade School of Nursing and Health Professions, we are dedicated to providing education and developing resources to support this important work.”
Rhoberta J. Haley, PhD, RN, Dean and Professor School of Nursing and Health Professions
Queen’s Health Systems
“Promoting the value of and helping increase access to palliative care is vital to the people of Hawaii. I support the increased ability to provide patients relief from pain and other symptoms of a serious illness and to improve quality of life, no matter the diagnosis or stage of disease.”
Mia Taylor, MSN, APRN-Rx, Director of Community & Post-Acute Care Services, The Queen’s Health Systems
Hawaii State Department of Health, (DOH)
“DOH recognizes the need for palliative care as an option for Hawaii’s residents and looks forward to our community’s adoption as a standard of care. We are pleased to work with community groups like Hui Pohala which are committed to collaboration with diverse stakeholders to benefit the people of Hawaii.“
Lorrin Kim, Chief, Department of Health, Office of Planning, Policy, and Program Development
How will Hui Pohala catalyze Improvement?
Hui Pohala’s initial strategies to catalyze expansion of access to palliative care are outlined here.
Preliminary plan for work teams to reduce barriers to access: Work Teams.
Hui Pohala Board of Directors
Rae Seitz, MD – Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Rae Seitz is a Harvard trained palliative medicine specialist who led the development of home-based palliative care on behalf of both Kaiser Permanente Hawai’i and HMSA. Dr. Seitz is an educator and speaker about palliative medicine and palliative care in Hawai’i, nationally, and internationally.
In 2013 Dr. Seitz was recognized as one of 30 visionaries in palliative care by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and remains committed to expanding capacity for high-quality palliative care in Hawai’i.
Hermina “Mia” Taylor, RN, MSN, FNP-BC, APRN-RX – President
Hermina “Mia” Taylor is a Family Nurse Practitioner with 39 years of nursing and leadership experience in both inpatient and outpatient settings including oncology, critical care, infectious diseases, care management, and hospice and palliative care. Prior to joining The Queen’s Health Systems in 2015, she was a nurse practitioner with St. Francis Hospice.
Mia’s time at The Queen’s Health System has been devoted to the development of community-based clinical programs as part of the Queen’s Clinically Integrated Physician Network/ACO. Her current role as the Director of Community & Post-Acute Care Services has allowed her to be involved in the development of a post-acute strategy that emphasizes ambulatory growth and community partnerships to improve patient access to high-quality care and resources across the continuum.
Naomi Morita, MD – Vice President
Dr. Morita is a specialist physician in hospice and palliative medicine and in internal medicine. She has a broad breadth of experience in a variety of clinical and academic settings in Southern California, Miami, Florida, and Hawai’i. Prior to joining Hui Pohala, she was most recently a St. Francis Hospice Medical Director. Previous positions include primary care internal medicine with Southern California Kaiser Orange County and Kaiser Hawai’i. At Kaiser Hawai’i, she was also a hospitalist section chief and created an outpatient palliative care consultation service. While with the University of Miami AHEC (Area Health Education Center) she mentored medical students and residents, nurses, and physician assistants while caring for indigent populations in various settings, including the houseless, and worked in clinics and inpatient wards for persons with HIV/AIDS. While in Miami many years before palliative medicine became an entity, she realized that her role as a physician was to “help the living to live better and to help the seriously ill and those who were dying to live as well as they could”.
She is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Hawai’i John A. Burns School of Medicine, Department of Geriatric Medicine.
Dr. Morita’s focus is healthcare workforce development in palliative care. She recently created a curriculum for “Introduction to Palliative Care for Allied Healthcare Workers”, and is updating it into the “Palliative Care Primer for Allied Healthcare Workers”.
Lori Jordan, BA, ACHE – Treasurer
Originally from Southeast Tennessee, Lori has lived in Hawai’i for nearly 30 years. She has over 35 years of experience in non-profit healthcare management. Currently, she serves as the Director of Organizational Excellence and Advancement for Hawaii Care Choices on Hawai’i Island. Her experience includes work in the Native Hawaiian Health and Federally Qualified Health Center on Kaua’i Island and as Executive Director for Kaua’i Hospice for 13 years, as well as numerous years of work in the area of HIV/AIDS beginning in the late 80s. She is an Advanced Certified Hospice Executive, recently completing her tenure on the Regulatory Committee of the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). Lori served on the Board of Directors for Kōkua Mau, the state hospice and palliative care association, for nine years, and was President for four of those years (2015-2019). Lori is a 2012 graduate of the Hawai`i Community Foundation’s PONO Leadership Program, a Weinberg Fellow Alumni from the Class of 2001, and winner of the 2016 AIM For Excellence Award for outstanding achievement in nonprofit management.
When not working, she is most likely watching old movies, reading inspirational books, or simply relaxing on the beach and philosophizing with friends, noting, “I’m about co-creating heaven on earth and how we do that consciously every day.”
Elizabeth “Beth” Freitas, APRN, PhD – Secretary
Beth graduated from Winona State University and the University of MN before moving to Hawai’i to work at The Queen’s Medical Center in 1989 until 2024. Beth is an advanced practice nurse (APRN) with training in Pain & Palliative Care. She is passionate about conducting research in spirituality and emotional intelligence, building the next generation of APRNs, and providing quality care for palliative patients and their families. Beth is grateful for her husband and daughters who encourage her, and her dog who reminds her to play each and every day.
Nathan Hokama – Board Member at Large
Nathan Hokama, APR, Principal, Strategic Communication Solutions, LLC, has more than 30 years of experience guiding large corporations, small nonprofit organizations, and government agencies in building and managing their reputation. He has collaborated with executive leaders to develop and execute communications programs for major change initiatives, executive leadership transitions, rebranding initiatives, high-profile litigation, Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, and potentially controversial issues.
Prior to establishing Strategic Communication Solutions in April 2004, he served as corporate communications manager for BHP Hawai’i and Tesoro Hawai’i (now Par Hawai’i, Inc.); served as media relations consultant for The Carlye Group, a Washington, D.C.-based international private equity firm that acquired Verizon Hawai’i (now Hawaiian Telcom); corporate communications manager for American Savings Bank; and director of community relations for Shriners Hospitals for Children.
He is accredited by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and is a current member of the PRSA’s Counselors Academy and the Independent Practitioners Alliance. He was named the Gregg W. Perry Public Relations Professional of the Year in 2008.
In addition to serving on Hui Pohala’s board, Nathan is a board member and communications committee co-chair of the American Judicature Society, a member of the advocacy committee of the Hawai’i Oral Health Coalition, and has volunteered for the Japan-America Society of Hawai’i Sister Summit, Foundation for Animal Care and Education (FACE) Foundation Hawai’i (veterinarian services), Nisei Veterans Legacy, North Shore Coastal Resilience Working Group, and Surfrider Foundation.
Administration & Project Management Staff
Melissa C. Bojorquez, LBSW, MBA
David Chang
Crystal Costa, C-TAGME (Communications & Technology)
Mahalo
Hui Pohala is also grateful to the many champions who helped launch the effort to catalyze care transformation for the seriously ill of our ohana, including Lee Buenconsejo-Lum, MD, Sharon Vitousek, MD, Warren Wong, MD, Takeshi Uemura, MD, Geoff Galbraith, MD, and Daniel Fischberg, MD.
Special thanks to Crystal Costa (JABSOM) and Adam Haley and Adam Keener (Chaminade School of Nursing) for their administrative support in helping to get things going.
Additional thanks to:
- Hope Young of Kokua Mau for her administrative assistance
- Dr. Kalani Brady for his guidance with the selection of our group name
- Mike Nomura of Nomura Design for his help with the Hui Pohala logo design
- Beth Hood of Websites with Aloha for the website design
- ACP Decisions for sharing the use of their video about palliative care