Page 19 - MidWeek - Sep 29 2021

SEPTEMBER 29,, 2021
MIDWEEK 19
CommunityLeaderLivesBy ‘EHanaKākouSpirit’
FROM PAGE 14
ernment’s management of the pandemic, for example,” says Akina, who oversees a team of 18 staffers that produces policy research, videos, editorials and cartoons as “an independent voice” representing the people of Hawai‘i.
“My heart breaks when I see the divi- sion that has risen between our citizens,” hecontinues.“Manyofussupporttheim- portant role of government in managing thecrisissituation;manyothersofussup- porttheprotectionofindividualrightsand therightsofbusinessestooperateasfreely as they see fifit. Unfortunately, when these twoperspectivesareseenasantitheticalto each other, misunderstandings arise and tempers flflare, and we fifind ourselves with growing tension.”
Healthcare Providers’ Plea to the public –
KOKUA!
I am a physician and may even be your doctor, and am
writing this plea for your help. Our hospitals are filling up
with very ill patients infected with COVID-19 and we are seeing patients, your loved ones, friends, neighbors and members of our community, dying from this infection. Like you, I now know others who have been infected by COVID-19 and unfortunately some of those people have passed away. When the first waves of COVID-19 patients appeared in our hospitals, the vaccines were not yet available and the infected patients were mostly elderly kupuna with medical problems. Of the COVID-19 patients in our hospitals now, about 9 out of 10 have not been vaccinated and are now much younger than the previous surges. The fact that only about 1 in 10 of the patients hospitalized with COVID-19 have had vaccination tells us that serious illness and death from COVID-19 is preventable. You cannot think that because you are younger and relatively healthier that you will be protected from COVID-19 because we are seeing younger and healthier patients in our hospitals who are seriously ill and dying from this infection. As a doctor, I took an oath to help anyone who is ill. Like you, I am a human being with feelings and do not want to be in a position to turn sick people away from hospital care because we have too many COVID-19 patients in our hospitals to care for. I would not want you or anyone else to be in that position either so please help by preventing the spread of COVID-19 by getting vaccinated.
Sincerely,
Scott Kuwada, MD
Masayuki Nogi, MD
John Chung, MD
Lester Morehead, MD Jennifer Tamai, MD
Erlaine F Bello, MD, MS, FACP Dennis Bolger, MD, MPH Serena Del Mundo, MD Esther Wong, MD
Kuo-Chiang Lian, MD Almario Yanga, MD Masayuki Nogi, MD Victor Lin, MD Jordan Winston, MD Janet Kao, MD Christie Izutsu, MD Gary Ahn, MD
David Spinks, MD, MPH Travis Watai, MD
Roui De Castro, RN, MD Gypsy Paar, MD
Corey J. Lum, DO, FACP, FACC Sheri Shimizu-Saito, MD Anthony L. Michaud, MD, PhD Gerard Akaka, MD
Michiko K. Bruno, MD
Omar Abdul Ghani, MD, FACC Justin Barratt, MD
Sho Furuta, MD FACS
Alvin N. Furuike, MD
Yusuke Kobayashi, MD
J. Douglas Miles, MD, PhD Brent Burroughs, MD
Alan Kuo, MD
Daniel Chan, MD
Sari Umekawa, MD
Irene Hwang, MD
Roy K Esaki, MD, MS, FASA Michon Morita, MD
Fay Gao, MD
Patrick J. Sousa, MD
Shari Kogan, MD, FACP Mario Silva, MD Whitney Limm, MD Randall Suzuka, MD Kazuma Nakagawa, MD Nash Witten, MD
Sung Bae Lee, MD Elizabeth Koehler, MD Van Luu, MD
Stuart Nakamoto, MD, MS Dipanjan Banerjee, MD Horia Vulpe, MD, CM Victoria Wong, MD
Alison Moore, MD Edward Okimoto, MD Nobuhiro Ariyoshi, MD Patrick Pedro, MD
Neil Gray, MD, PhD Keisuke Miyamoto, MD Emily Diep, MD
Florian Sattelmacher, MD Larissa Medina, MD
Julius Cuong Pham, MD, PhD Leslie A. Rudzinski, MD Hong-Ru Chen, MD
Mary Diane Eckert, MD Jessica Barry, M.D.
Young Rho, MD
Larissa Fujii-Lau, MD Daniel Fischberg, MD, PhD, FAAHPM
Michael Furlong MD, FACP, FRACP
Tonya Kratovil, MD
Reid Ikeda, MD, FACP, FCCP Kelly Kawaoka, MD MPH Anne Kemble, MD
Jatinder Lachar, MD
Traci T. Murakami, MD Gavin Park, MD
Ynhu Le, MD
Christina S. Martin, MD,
MPH, FACS
Joey Y. Kohatsu, MD Raymond Davidson, MD Lauren Oshima, MD
Lana Arakaki, MD
Anthony Guerrero, MD
John Houk, MD
Chihui Yuan, MD
Jonathan Dworkin, MD Michael Tom, MD
Junji Takeshita, MD
Kristin K. Fernandez, MD, MS Pablo Stewart, MD
Alena Velasco Hughes, MD Karen Haberthier, MD
Kelley Withy, MD
Dawn Peterson, DO
Jodi Goh, MD, MPH
Jennifer Nakamatsu, MD Katsuya Andrew Iizuka, MD Tricia Song, MD
Grace Liu, MD
Teresa Bane-Terakubo, MD Scott Kuwada, MD
Nathan Kam, MD
Eesha Bhattacharyya, MD Wilma S Kam, MD
Lavonda Nakamoto, MD
But while he acknowledges the vital role government plays in any crisis and fifirmlybelievesthatstateandcityoffificials aredoiingth“ewirhbaet stht geiyvbeneltiheevecibrceusmt”sgtaivnecn- eths,ehceiracduvmissetsacnacuetsi,ohneinadmvoisveinsgcafourtwioanrdin . mo“vGinogvefornrwmaerndt. must not overstep its con“sGtiotvuetironnmael nbtomunudsat rnieost oanvderestnedp uitps vcionlastintugtithoenafrlebeoduomndsatrhieys arnedaecntudalulyp cvhioarlagteidngwtihthe fprreoetdeoctminsgt,h”eoypainresaActkuianlaly, acdhdarignegdtwhaithopnrloytebcytinpgr,o”coepeidniensgAiknin“a, radtidoinagl,tfhaact-obnalsyedbaynpdrroecsepedctifnugl minan“a- nraetri”oncaln, ftahcet-sbtastedavanodidre“strpaemctpfulilnmg aon- tnher”rigchatns tohfeinsdtaivteidauvaolsid” a“ntrdam“spolivnegoounr pthroebrliegmhts.”of individuals” and “solve our p r o A b s l e a mn Os . H” A t r u s t e e - a t - l a r g e , A k i n a s e e s thinAgssamn OorHe Aattr“ugsrtoeeu-nadt-laervgel,”Aikninwahsiecehs htheianngds mothoerer baot a“rgdromuenmd blevrsela,r”einchwarhgiecdh wheitahnmd aoitnhtearinbionagrdamtreumstbfeurnsdarwe hcihlaergened - swuirtihngmthaainttahienhinogusaintrgu,setmfupnlodywmhenilte, edn- usucaritniognthaantdtheehaoltuhscinagre, enmeepdlosyomf eNnat,tievde- Hucaawtiaoinianasndarheebaelitnhgcmaret.nIenehdis fiofveNyaetaivrse a H t a t h w e a s i t i a a t n e s a a g r e e n b c e y i , n h g e m’ s e p t a . r I t n i c h u i l s a fi r l v y e p y r o e a u r d s oaft tchoellsatabtoeragtienngcyw, ihteh’scoplalretaicguleasrlyanpdroiund- sotfitcuotilnlagbnoercaetisnsgarwy irtehfocormllesa, galuleosfawndhiicnh - hsteitsuatyinsghansecneostsoanrylyrelefdortmo sp,raoltleoctfinwghtihceh thruesta, ybsuthgasronwoitnogniltysloedthtaot pitrcoatencbtiengustehde “trfuosrtp, rbouptegrropwuripnogsietss.”o that it can be used “foUrlptirmopaetrelpyu,roppoeseras.t”ing from two per- speUclttiivmesataetlyO, HopAeraantdinGg IfHromhastwhoelperd- AspkeicntaivuensdaetrOstaHnAd a“nthdeGdIiHffehraesnthwelapyeds wA e k i c n a a n u h n e d l p e r p s e t o a n p d l e “ o t f h a e l l d b i f a f c e k r e g n r o t u w n a d y s s , pweerscpaencthiveelps apnedobpelelieofsawllobrkactkogreothuenrd.”s, pe“rsNpaetcutriavlelsy,awnde abreligeofsinwgotorkhtaovgeedthifefre.”r- e n c “ e N s a a t n u d r a t l h l y a , t w m e a a k r e e s g u o s i n w g h t o o wh a e v a e r d e i , ” f f e h r e - aedndcse.s“aHndowtheavtemr,aikf ewseustwarht owwithe oaruer,”dihfe - faedrdesn.c“eHs aonwdevueser,tihfewmetsotacrrtewatiethdoisutrandcife-
(Above) Akiina and three of hiis chiilldren (from lleft) Ho‘‘onanii,, KeAupunii and Kamana,, attend the lleii-drapiing ceremony for the Kiing Kamehameha statue iin the natiion’’s capiitall.. Not piictured are wiife Liiz and son
M Ma au ullo oa a.. ( (T To op p r riig gh ht t) ) T Th he e O OH HA A t tr ru us st te ee e- -a at t- -lla ar rg ge e m ma ak ke es s g go oo od d o on n a a p pr ro om miis se e f fo or r g gr re ea at te er r a ac cc co ou un nt ta ab biilliit ty y iin n t tr ru us st te ee e spendiing by returniing hiis diiscretiionary alllowance to OHA benefificiiariies.. PHOTOS COURTESY KELII‘‘II AKIINA
bfertewnecens aenacdhuosethtehre,mwteo’rcerenaetveedrisgtoaincge tboectwomeentoeagcehthoetrhaetr,thweer’arte nweevenreegdoitnog. tohacto’smwehtyogIectohnetrinaut ethtoe eramtephwaesinzeethdetoe. hTahnat’ksāwkhoyu Ispciornit.i”nue to emphasize the e
aitssiptsrepsriedseidnet,nat nbdefeovrenrteutiarlilnygftoufnodremd the nonprofifit Center for Tomorrow’s Lead- ers — to tossing his hat into the world of academia. He did this fifirst as exchange faculty at Beijing University, which of- fered him lecture opportunities through- out China to discuss human rights issues, and later as adjunct faculty member at both University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and d Hawai‘i Pacifific University.
hana kākouhsipleirhite.”credits his mother with TW
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h h e i l l e p h i n e g c r h e i d m i t s fi h n i d s mh i o s t o h r e a r t wo r i ’ t s h
vhoeilcpeinagnhdimHafiwndaihiains ocrualtour’es
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l ilnetaodaercWouirntocnhanBteramfoerrhwerithātluaurnwinhgilheiam t Kinatomaehcoamuret hcaha(n“tIesrtfilolrphrearchtiācleauthwe hairlteoaft cKhamnteinhgamtiellhtahi(s“Idsatyi,l”l phreacntoictest)h, eAakrtinoaf p c o h i a n n t t s i n t o g a t i f l a l mt h o i s u s d a r e y v , ” e r h e e n d n o f o t e r s i ) n , s Ap i k r i i n n g a hpiomintos ltiovae faalmifeouins rsevrveirceendofforthienrssp.iring him“WtohleivneIawlifaesian sernviiocre oinf octohlelresg.e at No“rWthwhensteIrnwUasnaivseersniitoy,r Iinpacrotilcliepgaetead t iNnoartnhawtieosntaelrncoUnnfievrernscietya, tI wpahritcichipBaitlelyd Ginrahnaamtisopnoaklec,”onrefcearellnscAekaint aw, whihcoh gBraildly- uGarteadhawmithsdpeogkre,e”s rinecEaalslsteArnkainda.W“eIstwerans pshoiliomsporpehsiseesd. “wI withashsios imepsrseasgsedowf tiathkihnigs mGeosds’asgleovoef taoktihnegeGntoidre’swlovrledtothtahteIemntaidre wa c o o r l md mt h a i t t m I e m n a t d t o e d a e c v o o m t e m m i t y m s e e n l f t t t o o t d h e e v s o e t r e - mv i y c s e e o l f f t h o u t mh e a n s e i t r y v . ” i c e o f h u m a n i t y . ”
Despite the different paths his career has taken, Akina’s original commitment toservingothersremainsthedrivingprin- ciple in his life. It’s why he continues to have faith in humanity, why he continues s to use his voice to preach a message of unity, and why he still believes in better days ahead for the people of Hawai‘i.
His career would then transition from serving in the Christian ministry on the Wai‘anae Coast — where for three de- cades heeoopepreartaetdecdricsirsi-siinst-eirnvtenrtvioentpioron - pgroagmrasmfosrfYoor uYtohuftohrfCorhCrihstriasnt dansdersveerdveads
“The past eight years with Grassroot Institute have been thrilling for me and a wonderful opportunity to practice bring- ingpeopletogetheraroundproblemareas whilewefifindsolutions,”hefifinalizes.“It’s gratifying to work with talented individ- uals who all have a passion to make Ha- wai‘ithebestplaceintheworldwhereour r freedomsandopportunitiescanflflourish.”
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