Our team developed culturally based care for Hawaiian families. It means things like not having to rush them on a visit. Taking them out to the lo'i. We're trying to integrate the culture into child abuse prevention and focus on what is happening in the family, not what's not happening. In the past five years, the program has helped hundreds of families, and it adds another 75 each year.
Referrals come from doctors, the hospital and other agencies.
For Santiago, who was a ward of the Queen Lili'uokalani Trust herself as a teen because of problems at home, intervention was life-saving. The positive role models came at the right time. The only place I could reach out to was the place I'm now working. Many are so sick they see few people, except Moore and social worker Pat LaFleur, who visit weekly to make sure medications are delivered on time, and appointments with psychologists are made. Only a handful of doctors and a few psychologists will see HIV patients, Moore said.