Building a Culturally Aware Native Hawaiian Health Professions Workforce

The Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program (NHHSP) strives to build a culturally aware Native Hawaiian health professional workforce through coaching, mentoring, and networking, who are committed to serving the unique health needs of Native Hawaiians throughout the State of Hawai'i. As of October 2020, 302 scholarships have been awarded to 277 recipients across 12 health disciplines with 90% remaining in Hawai'i. In 2019, NHHSP began re-imagining how to build a vibrant, culturally aware workforce, committed to service, leadership, and improvement of Native Hawaiian health through program expansion. This article describes the transformation of NHHSP to Mauli Ola Mālamalama (MOM), a success-oriented strategy-based Native Hawaiian Health Workforce Development Center of Papa Ola Lōkahi. Researchers conducted a qualitative assessment using surveys and interviews among alumni of the program to understand their experience of being a recipient and its meaning to them. Questions included work experience, challenges, solutions, impact of working in rural communities, mentorship, and legacy. The 5 themes identified by alumni were awareness, passion, inherent culture, reciprocity, and legacy. The overarching theme of the assessment, aloha, is embedded in the passion and desire to serve Native Hawaiian communities. Re-imagining the program from NHHSP to MOM began with examining the core values of suitability, commitment, and leadership. These values were then embedded in all aspects of the program and supports provided to recipients. MOM strives to ensure that recipients are culturally aware as they enter the workforce. This broader vision will help increase the number of Native Hawaiians in health care roles.