Hawaii Keiki: Healthy & Ready is among this year’s honorees for Pacific Business News’ annual Inno Fire Awards. To view the other winners, click here.
Hawaii Keiki: Healthy & Ready to Learn is a school-based health program, serving all 258 public schools throughout the state and 10 public charter schools. The program provides nursing services in schools, with the goal of reducing health-related absences and increasing overall student wellness. It launched in 2014 with four nurses and four clinics and has grown to more than 160 employees and 57 clinics. In 2021, it added Virtual Keiki Care telehealth to provide students with increased access to healthcare services.
Responses from Deborah Mattheus, senior practice director
What’s been your organization’s biggest accomplishment to date? Our greatest accomplishment is that our nursing services have increased the number of public school students who stay in school after a visit with our nurses and expanded access to care statewide. Our team provides evidenced-based care to all 258 [Hawaii Department of Education] public schools at 57 Hawaii Keiki school-based clinics. Last school year, 75% of students who visited our clinics went back to the classroom instead of being sent home. To address Hawaii’s geographic challenges, we were early adopters of virtual school-based telehealth visits, allowing students in remote locations to be seen by our nurses without having to leave campus.
What about your business excites you the most right now? We are excited about the recent state and national recognitions that we have received acknowledging that our innovative nurse-led model has made tremendous positive impact on health outcomes for students. This demonstrates the importance of school-based healthcare and highlights the role nurses play in improving educational outcomes. Our program is an exemplar of the change that can be made when two different professions – health and education – collaborate in innovative ways towards common goals. We are also excited about the possibilities of increasing nursing services for Hawaii State Public Charter School students. We have demonstrated success with HIDOE and believe that our next stage of growth is evolving and adapting our services for Charter School students.
How do you go about cultivating a culture of innovation within your business? We recognize that innovation frequently comes from the grassroots up. Each of our 62 Registered Nurses and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, or nurse practitioners, has the latitude to implement systems and processes that best meet the needs of their school community. Administratively, we have a process to validate appropriateness and sound clinical practices. When innovative and new ideas are identified, we feed those best practices across the program. Additionally, we partner with community and national organizations to create and implement innovative nursing solutions.
