Hawaiʻi Keiki: Healthy & Ready to Learn Annual Report 2022-2023

In 2014, the Hawaiʻi Keiki: Healthy and Ready to Learn Program was established to provide access to school nursing services in Hawaiʻi public schools. The Hawaiʻi Keiki Program sits at the intersection of education and health to achieve student, school, and system success. The program enhances and builds school-based health services that screen for treatable health conditions; provide referral to primary health care and patient centered medical home services; prevent and control communicable disease; and provide emergency care for illness or injury. Students succeed academically when they come to school ready to learn.

The Hawaiʻi Keiki Program has the following five core goals:

1 Reduce preventable health-related chronic absenteeism and minimize interruption to instructional time

2. Enhance wellness in the school environment and community

3. Promote optimal student health through preventive screening & effective services for chronic health conditions

4. Collaborate with community partners and organizations to provide coordinated school health programs, services, and resources

5. Promote the nursing profession

The Hawaiʻi Keiki Program remains strongly committed to the mission of providing school-based health services to improve health, wellness and access to care to ensure keiki are healthy and ready to learn. Our Hawaiʻi Keiki staff proudly deliver our mission and vision from a place of compassion with HEART and ALOHA. These values are the guiding principles that direct the program and its culture. The strengthened partnership between Hawaiʻi Keiki and the Hawaiʻi Department of Education (HIDOE) over the years has enhanced our ability to provide equitable school health services across all islands The Hawaiʻi Keiki Program effectively utilizes a variety of healthcare professionals and creative approaches such as telehealth to improve access to care, while focusing on collaborating with community partners to bring additional health services, education, and resources that impact health in schools, locally as well as statewide.

School-Based Health Services

The following school-based health services are available to HIDOE schools and are offered to most schools if there is available technology and staffing.

School Nursing

ertified Nurse Practitioners (APRNs) & egistered Nurses (RNs) are located at awaiʻi Department of Education (HIDOE) ampuses in a health clinic to provide chool-based health services to udents. School nurses provide episodic are, manage chronic conditions, track ommunicable diseases, promote healthy ehaviors, connect children with insurance & ealthcare providers, & handle emergencies.

Virtual Keiki Care

Virtual Keiki Care uses high-quality video technology to connect a Hawaiʻi Keiki

Registered Nurse or trained Hawaiʻi Keiki School Health Support Staff to a Hawaiʻi Keiki Nurse Practitioner. The Nurse Practitioner will conduct a virtual examination to provide a diagnosis & plan of care for the student, including providing prescriptions if appropriate.

Mental Health Program

Hawaiʻi Keiki offers HIDOE students virtual, confidential mental health services. Mental health services are provided by licensed Nurse Practitioners (APRN) who have specialized training & credentials in mental health.

School-Based Health Services

Dental Sealant Program

Hawaiʻi Keiki – Hawaiʻi Dental Service (HDS) Dental Sealant Program dental & nursing staff provide no-cost dental screenings for high need and/or Title 1 HIDOE elementary schools & works with the school administration to organize dental screening & sealant days.

Health Hotline

Toll-Free Hotline (844) 436-3888, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., excluding holidays & breaks

HIDOE students & families can call the Hawaii Keiki health hotline to talk to a Hawaiʻi Keiki nurse about health related questions and/or access telehealth services.

Vaccines for Children

Vaccines for Children (VFC) is a federally funded program that provides vaccines at no-cost to children who might not otherwise be vaccinated because of inability to pay. Hawaiʻi Keiki has partnered with the VFC program to bring vaccines to keiki at select schools on ahu and Hawaiʻi Island.

Where We Served

Total Reach:

258 HIDOE schools supported

57 School-based health clinics at a HIDOE school

Kauaʻi Oʻahu

3 Nurses (1 APRN, 2 RNs)

6 SHSS*

34 Nurses (11 APRNs, 23 RNs)

86 SHSS*

Maui County

Maui Molokaʻi Lānaʻi

8 Nurses (2 APRNs, 6 RNs)

16 SHSS*

Hawaiʻi Island

11 Nurses (3 APRNs, 8 RNs)

26 SHSS*

Activity & Impact (Goal 1)

Goal 1: Reduce preventable health-related chronic absenteeism and minimize interruption to instructional time

Hawaiʻi Keiki believes that students must be in school to learn and reach their full potential. Our teams of Nurse Practitioners (APRN), Registered Nurses (RN) and School Health Support Staff (SHSS) work collaboratively with the Hawaiʻi Department of Education to bring health services (both in-person and virtually) to keiki at school. By providing health services at school, our staff minimizes lost instructional time and eliminates the challenges parents face with taking time off work and traveling to medical appointments. We always connect back with the student's Primary Care Provider to ensure continuity of care is maintained to keep our keiki healthy, in the classroom, and ready to learn.

Activity & Impact (Goal 2)

Goal 2: Enhance wellness in the school environment and community

Hawaiʻi Keiki enhances school and community wellness through two primary areas. First is through the support of population-focused school health services. These services include increasing compliance with state mandated immunizations, testing for and reducing the spread of communicable disease (such as COVID-19) and facilitating a return to school following illness. Secondly, Hawaiʻi Keiki improves wellness by increasing knowledge and understanding of health through education and training for students, school teachers, and administrators. In the 22-23 School Year, Hawaiʻi Keiki nurses took part in the HIDOE’s effort to provide opioid overdose response training to school staff and administrators statewide. In total, Hawaiʻi Keiki nurses provided 211 schools with Hands-Only CPR, AED, and opioid overdose response training at the request of HIDOE leadership and in collaboration with Hawaiʻi Department of Health. Additionally, Hawaiʻi Keiki nurses continue to increase wellness in schools by providing students with health education on topics that contribute to health awareness, such as asthma, vaping, tobacco use, mental health, personal hygiene, and nutrition.

Goal 3: Promote optimal student health through preventive screening & effective services for chronic health conditions

Hawaiʻi Keiki continues to partner with community organizations providing in-school screenings for vision, hearing and oral health. Our nurses facilitated screening efforts to identify students needing additional services to improve academic performance. Our partnership with Hawaiʻi Dental Service Foundation continued to grow with the Dental Sealant Program extending to 68 schools on Oʻahu, Maui & Kauaʻi and providing 2,000+ dental screenings and 1,700+ dental sealants to HIDOE students. Hawaiʻi Keiki’s partnership with Project Vision and Vision to Learn was also instrumental in helping to organize vision screenings and free prescription glasses for HIDOE students in need. Hawaiʻi Keiki nurses also assisted school administrators with the evaluation of students with chronic medical conditions to determine any requirements for accommodations or health services to ensure all students have equitable access to a quality learning environment.

Activity & Impact (Goal 4)

Goal 4: Collaborate with community partners and organizations to provide coordinated school health programs, services, and resources

Hawaiʻi Keiki nurses serve as a bridge between schools and community organizations at both the local and state level. In the 22-23 School Year, Hawaiʻi Keiki collaborated with 78 partners. These partnerships bring expertise and services to students and staff that improve the learning environment and health of students. For example, Hawaiʻi Keiki nurses in the BaldwinKekeaulike-Maui Complex Area partnered with Pamela Foster, President & CEO of AED Institute, who guided the first HeartSaver course for HIDOE staff and collaborated with Hawaiʻi Keiki nurses to obtain manikins and CPR cards through the American Heart Association - Hawaiʻi. In the past year, Hawaiʻi Keiki also partnered with the American Lung Association to train our staff as facilitators for programs to address/eliminate youth vaping. Many of our nurses have also collaborated with the Maʻi Movement to provide period products at middle, intermediate, and high schools. Other key community partners include the American Red Cross, local pharmacies, and local mental health partners. The core foundation of our program allows us to enhance school-based health through grant funding for specific services.

Activity & Impact (Goal 5)

Goal 5: Promote the nursing profession

As a program partnered with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing, Hawaiʻi Keiki is actively committed to promoting professional school nursing practice and high-quality healthcare services. We believe professional development is critical to develop our future nursing and healthcare workforce. Hawaiʻi Keiki promotes the adage “if you see it, you can be it” for students within the HIDOE and actively supports the Hawaiʻi Department of Education Career Pathways Program by engaging with the high school level health academies and career fairs to increase student awareness and interest in the nursing profession. Hawaiʻi Keiki nurses provide training and education for School Health Assistants (HIDOE employees) to increase their life-saving and first-aid skills. Additionally, Hawaiʻi Keiki provides opportunities for our state's future health professional workforce to experience school health as a clinical setting and continues to spread awareness of the benefits and value that school health provides to the community. As a learning organization, Hawaiʻi Keiki supports its staff and encourages scholarly endeavors at the local and national level.

Hawaiʻi Keiki: Healthy and Ready to Learn

Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2528 McCarthy Mall, Webster 402 Honolulu, HI 96822

(808) 956-8522

hikeiki@hawaii.edu

Leadership Team

Deborah Mattheus, PhD, APRN-Rx, CPNP, FAAN Senior Practice Director & Dental Sealant Program Director (808) 956-8426

dmattheus@ucera org

Monica San Jose, Ed.D. Business Operations Manager (808) 853-7211

msanjose@ucera org

Kailene Oliveros, DNP, APRN-Rx, NP-C, NCSN Director of Clinical Operations (808) 861-6839

koliveros@ucera org

Benjamin Kilinski, MS, APRN-Rx, CPNP-PC DOE Clinical Consultant (808) 490-2245

benkilinski@ucera org

Azeema F. Vogeler, PhD Data Manager (808) 286-8795

avogeler@ucera org

If you require this information in an alternative format, please email hikeiki@hawaii.edu.