Pictured: Dr. Leslie Gise, Arcelita Imasa (MD 2019), Dr. Kelly Withy, Dr. Stephen Kemble and Senator Dr. Joshua Green. Gabriel Lapid Photo.
By Gabriel Lapid, JABSOM MD Student 2018
The University of Hawaiʻi’s (UH) John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) auditorium was transformed into a think tank on Saturday, Jan. 20th at the Doctors Create Local Solutions panel. The UH medical school’s Partnership for Social Justice, a student interest group, hosted the event.
Guest speakers Dr. Kelly Withy, Dr. Stephen Kemble, Senator Dr. Joshua Green and Dr. Leslie Gise presented and offered possible solutions to various obstacles in both local and national healthcare.
The panelists painted a portrait of the vast terrain that needs to be crossed in order to optimize medical practice in Hawai‘i, whether it be doctor shortages, physician burnout, single-payer healthcare or healthcare inequality, The room buzzed with energy that was inspired by many combined years of work and activism from the panelists and other doctors in attendance.
The unique nature of this panel discussion attracted many community physicians.
“The idea that doctors are creating solutions,” Dr. Nadine T. Salle said, is all it took to bring her out to the medical school on a Saturday afternoon.
Dr. Salle, an Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Primary Care Physician, posed an important question regarding the forum by which the working solutions would be refined and implemented.
Other attendees noted a need for doctors to maintain active communication with each other in order to spread and act upon ideas. An increase the membership of the Hawai‘i Medical Association, for example, would be useful to empower that organization’s ability to advocate on behalf of physicians.
JABSOM fourth-year medical student Arcelita Imasa organized the panel and moderated the dialogue between nearly 70 participants, more than half of which were physicians. Imasa, an ‘Imi Ho‘ōla Post-Baccalaureate Program graduate, has organized several other social justice events.
Imasa plans to follow-up by e-mail with those who attended the panel, wherein plans for future meetings and solution development will be discussed.
See event photos by Gabriel Lapid
