Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 8, 1 August 1988 — Nanakuli Hawaiian Returns to Open Medical Practice [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Nanakuli Hawaiian Returns to Open Medical Practice

| Dr. Laverne Waioli Kia, lnternal Medicine

By Kenny Haina, Editor Ka Wai Ola O OHA A native Hawaiian who was raised on Hawaiian Homestead land in Nanakuli has returned home to open her office in the practice of internal medicine. Dr. Laverne Waioli Kia, who completed her third and final year of residency at the University of Hawai'i July 31, opened her Nanakuli office the very next day on Monday, Aug. 1. It is located at 87-2070 Farrington Highway, telephone 668-2386. Dr. Kia, bubbling with enthusiasm and looking anxiously toward her long goal of going into private practice, told Ka Wai Ola O OHA she was establishing her office in Nanakuli because this was what she always wanted to do ever since she became interested in medicine. "It was always my goal to go back home to Nanakuli to help my fellow Hawaiians in my chosen field of medicine. Our people have so many health problems that I feel this is the best plaee where I ean be of service," Dr. Kia responded. The youngest of 15 children of Robert Kia, who died in 1975, and Charlotte Werner Kia, 73, the new doctor on the block is the only college graduate in her family whieh today numbers 10 survivors — four boys and six girls. Her father was originally from Maui and her mother from Kaua'i. The family had lived briefly in Kailua where she was born and then moved to Nanakuli where she attended Nanaikapono Elementary School her first three years. She transferred to the fourth grade at Sacred Hearts Academy from where she graduated in 1975. Dr. Kia received her Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from UH Manoa in 1979 and enrolled in the John A. Burns School of Medicine, getting her degree in medicine in 1985. Then followed three years of residency. During her four years of college she was able to

maintain a 3. 1 grade point average on a scale of 4.0. However, during her one year in the Imi Ho'ola program in the schooI of medicine she maintained a GPA of 3.7. She was also named "Intern of the Year" and earned the program director's award for excellent performance in 1985-86. Her original goal was to become a registered nurse but an intense interest in the sciences changed all that. She had seen her father suffer from a series of strokes and this convinced her more than ever that medicine was ,her field. "Medicine in the beginning," Dr. Kia explained,

"was something new to me. I really didn't know what it was all about until I got into it." To finance her education, Dr. Kia went after scholarships, financial aid and loans. "I wanted to be a doctor specializing in intemal medicine so I just decided to go for it," she said. Dr. Kia, who is 75 percent Hawaiian with the other 25 percent about evenly split between German and Amenean Indian, is married to Gregory Dale Shannon, a medicine technician at St. Francis Hospital. They have a 3-year-old daughter, Waioli Rose Charlotte Shannon. While in college, Dr. Kia was involved with the haumana program and spent countless hours on laboratory work and research. She explained she will always be involved with research work. During her residency years, she said she didn't have too mueh time pursuing hobbies or being with family. "In residency, you're on eall every fourth night and we're always busy," she recalled. She likes to sketch a little whenever time permits, otherwise she prefers to give time to her family. The Shannons moved back to homestead land in Nanakuli about a month ago to be with her mother and near her practice. Among her many ohana members are twin cousins Dennis Kia and Denise Kia Ramento, kumu hula of Aloha Polynesia O Pumehana, frequent participants and winners in keiki hula festivals and competitions. Being native Hawaiian she apologized for not being able to speak the Hawaiian language but that's another area she hopes she will have the time to pursue later. Dr. Kia was quick to add, however, that "I do know a few words and I understand a little." A native woman returns home to fulfill a goal nurtured by a young girl growing up in Nanakuli.

Dr. Laverne Waioli Kia