Making a Difference

Each January, nearly 1,000 physicians, nurses, and staff from Kaiser Permanente, along with their family members and other community partners, get together to volunteer in the community. It’s a tradition that began 15 years ago; the company holds its annual day of service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to honor his legacy.

The volunteers are divided among nine different locations across the state: Paepae o He‘eia, Kāko‘o ‘Ōiwi, Papahana Kuaola, the Cultural Learning Center at Ka‘ala Farm and Kalaeloa Heritage Park on O‘ahu; Paeloko Learning Center on Maui; Waipā Foundation on Kaua‘i; and Pu‘uwa‘awa‘a Forest Reserve and Haleolono Fishpond on Hawai‘i Island.

“They’re always needing help. They have massive things they’re trying to do, and we have a lot of people,” says David Bell, MD, assistant area medical director for professional development, people, and service for Hawai‘i Permanente Medical Group. He says it was important to choose nonprofits that would connect physicians, providers, and staff physically to the land. All of these sites are tied together as having missions dedicated to ahupua'a restoration and aloha aina. The group brings medical staff outside to the communities they serve, which also helps to create stronger bonds within the group itself.

Volunteers may be assigned to remove invasive species and replant native ones, restore a stream, remove rocks or work in a lo‘i. “They do a wide variety of things that get them sweaty and outside and moving, and in some instances, dirty. It’s hands-on, culturally based fishpond restoration work,” says Keli‘i Kotubetey, founder and assistant executive director of Paepae o He‘eia. “They have been invested in the restoration and the success of the fishpond and that is amazing.”