Good morning Honolulu this is Wake up 2Day on KHON Channel 2
[News Anchor:]
Alright Dianne what have you got?
[News Anchor:]
OK Ron, a new traveling exhibition looks at health and medicine among native Hawaiian people. It’s actually made up of various iPads - which is why I’ve got mine - that display the native voices of Hawaii discussing health and wellness...
[Narrator:]
The National Library of Medicine’s Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness exhibition continued its nationwide tour by visiting Hawaii.
Its first stop was the Queen’s Medical Center in downtown Honolulu, where the grand opening of the exhibition coincided with Queen’s Heritage Day.
[Diane Paloma:]
This year’s theme of Na Leo Oiwi, literally translated as Native Voices, coincides with the opening of a traveling exhibit from the National Library of Medicine. It is here in the Queen’s historical room that these native voices will permeate our hallways much as the King and Queen’s voices do today.
[Narrator:]
The Heritage Day celebrations began at Mauna ‘Ala, the royal mausoleum, where honoring gifts called ho'okupu were presented at the tombs of the Hawaiian Ali ‘i, or royalty.
The celebration continued on the Queen’s Medical Center front lawn with presentations by local and national dignitaries.
[Rep. Tulsi Gabbard:]
When we stop and reflect for a moment on what these past 155 years represent, the Queen’s vision that is still being carried out today it's truly an inspiration.
[Narrator:]
In the Queen’s Historical room, Kupunas, medical staff, and hospital visitors listened to the stories of the Native Voices exhibition.
[Art Ushijima:]
Each of the indigenous people has a unique culture, a unique heritage, that is melting away in the 21st Century. What Native Voices enables is the preservation of a culture. And through the telling of their story enables everyone else to share and appreciate what the unique values that the indigenous people have provided to this country, to this land.
[Diane Paloma:]
In our culture it’s very important to go back to the communities that you get to know. And I think it just highlights the commitment that the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health have for the Hawaiian people.
[Narrator:]
The Native Voices exhibition will also visit the University of Hawai'i’s John A. Burns School of Medicine and the Hamilton Library at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
As the Native Voices exhibition travels, the National Library of Medicine hopes it will contribute to positive health outcomes in native communities throughout the country.
[Dr. Gerard Akaka:]
I’m hoping that with these stories something will change. Maybe prospective students...health care providers...or the Hawaiians themselves who would be the patients. My hope is that they change their behavior in terms of health to live healthier lifestyles.
[Diane Paloma:]
What the Native Voices exhibit reminds us all of is that you are accountable for your own health and it’s one of the main things that we as Hawaiian people take very close to heart. Without health you don’t really have a community so I think this exhibit helps highlight those facets of traditional culture that makes us think of what legacy am I going to leave for the next generation.
