Grant targets Hawaiians
in nursing studies10 students will get financial aid
in an effort to boost diversity
Ten native Hawaiian students will be able to begin nursing studies this fall at the University of Hawaii-Manoa with financial assistance under a $241,000 grant from the Queen's Medical Center.
The School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene will receive the funds over three years in a partnership with Queen's to increase the number of native Hawaiians in the health care field, Interim Dean Barbara Molina Kooker announced before leaving the office Friday. Julie Johnson succeeded her as the new nursing dean.
Only 5.1 percent of Hawaii's registered nurses are native Hawaiian although native Hawaiians comprise about 19 percent of the population, Kooker noted.
UH-Manoa Chancellor Peter Englert said the nursing program has one of the highest percentage of native Hawaiian students on the Manoa campus.
Native Hawaiians comprise 8.4 percent of the student body and they will make up 13 percent of the nursing students with the additional 10 students.
"We believe that these native Hawaiian nursing students will provide more culturally competent care, address and improve the health status of the native Hawaiian population in our state and serve as role models to recruit other young women and men in to the nursing profession," Kooker said.
Mathews said support of the native Hawaiian student nurses "expresses the vision of the founders of the Queen's Medical Center, Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV, and continues the heritage which is so meaningful to our mission."
University of Hawaii
