Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 11, 1 November 1987 — Mai Wakinekona [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Mai Wakinekona

By Larry Kamakawiwo'ole

Federal Liaison Officer

Impacting on Hawaiians

During the past 15 years, health, education, employment, and land have been the primary areas of federal legislation affecting native Hawaiians. The Hawai'i congressional delegation has been instrumental and supportive in obtaining federal aid to deserving Hawaiians. The current session of

Congress is no different. There are several bills in the legislative process that are of importance to Hawaiians. They include the following: S. 1441 — The Public Health Service Act Infant Mortality Amendments of 9187. This bill includes aprovision that would authorize the awarding of special fellowships to nurse practitioners and nurse midwife students who agree to serve in medically underserved populations such as a native Hawaiian health center. The nurse practitioners and nurse midwife fellowships are a new program, authorized at $4 million for fiscal year 1988. Grants shall be given to public and private nonprofit schools of nursing to operate the program. Such programs, however, must give priority to applicants who are employed by Community or Migrant Health Centers, Indian Health Service Facilities, or Native Hawaiian health centers. It is expected that

those nurse practitioners and nurse midwives assigned to the native Hawaiian health centers will themselves be native Hawaiians whenever possible. The Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate and the Department of Health and Human Services recently established the native Hawaiian health centers. H.R. 2290 — The Indian Health Care Amendments of 1987. The purpose of H.R. 2290 is to reauthorize the programs established by the Indian Health Care Improvement Act and to make certain amendments whieh include two native Hawaiian sections (Title I, Section 106, the Native Hawaiian Health Professions Scholarship Program, and Title II, Section 203, Subsection (0 (1), the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Proqram).

The Native Hawaiian Health Professions Scholarship program is a $1.8 million scholarship program for fiscal years 1988 through and including 1991. The program shall not be administered by or through the Indian Health Service. The Health Promotion and Disease Prevention program is a $3 million program for fiscal years 1989 through and including 1992. The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish a demonstration project in Hawai'i and enter into contracts with native Hawaiian organizations to carry out the demonstration project. The objective of the project is to provide a eomprehensive approach to the problem of diabetes among Hawaiians. Programs in the project would include the

determination of incidence of diabetes, an inventory of existing health care programs for treatment of diabetes, and designing and implementing a program for the treatment and prevention of diabetes. Native Hawaiian organizations are any organizations serving native Hawaiian people and recognized by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and E Ola Mau.

S. 129 includes similar provisions to H.R. 2290. S. 373 — The Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments of 1987. This bill provides a program of financial assistance to young people with special educational needs, including children from low-ineome families. The Secretary of Education shall make grants to State and loeal educational agencies for programs and projects whieh may include the acquisition of equipment and instructional materials, employment of special instructional and counseling and guidance personnel, employment and training of teacher aides, and the construction, where necessary, of school facilitips

H.R. 5 and H.R. 1451 are also important federal legislation for Hawaiians during the current session of Congress. I shall keep you abreast of all federal legislation affecting Hawaiians during my weekly news update on Hawaiian radio KCCN, 1420 on the AM dial.