{"id":222061,"date":"2025-09-16T12:28:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T22:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=222061"},"modified":"2025-09-16T13:03:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T23:03:32","slug":"uh-west-oahu-doh-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/09\/16\/uh-west-oahu-doh-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> West O\u02bbahu\u2013DOH<\/abbr> partnership tackles public health workforce shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"students<\/p>\n

A new partnership between the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2013West Oʻahu<\/span> and the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> State Department of Health (DOH<\/abbr>) will provide students with valuable hands-on training while addressing a critical shortage in the state\u2019s public health workforce.<\/p>\n

The UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span> Public Administration (PUBA<\/abbr>) division\u2019s Health Care Administration (HCAD<\/abbr>) certificate program equips students and health care practitioners with a broad range of administrative skills needed in the growing health care field. In consultation with DOH<\/abbr>, PUBA<\/abbr> has developed the HCAD<\/abbr> DOH<\/abbr> Pathway for practicum placements that prepare students for employment in the public health sector.<\/p>\n

“We see it as a win-win for both DOH<\/abbr> and UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span>,” said HCAD<\/abbr> Instructor Linda Axtell-Thompson. “There is a critical and growing shortage in public health staffing\u2014both locally and nationally\u2014that our UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span> programs can help address.”<\/p>\n

Students in the pathway must complete 120 field hours and 40 academic hours. Participants who meet requirements are eligible for tuition support, book stipends and a $2,000 practicum stipend.<\/p>\n

Urgent need<\/h2>\n

Vacancy rates across DOH<\/abbr> and many state agencies are about 30%, according to DOH<\/abbr> Chief Policy Officer Lorrin Kim. Nationally, the American Public Health Association<\/a> reports that local and state health departments need an additional 80,000 full-time employees just to provide basic public health services.<\/p>\n

“The pathway collaboration between UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span> and the Department of Health is a strategic investment in our public workforce designed to expose Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s future health care leaders to essential public health concepts and functions,” Kim said.<\/p>\n

“We are incredibly excited and grateful to the Department of Health for this amazing opportunity,” said PUBA<\/abbr> Division Chair Kristina Lu, who is also the HCAD<\/abbr> Program Director. “Through this pathway, students will complete their administrative practicum with the DOH<\/abbr>, gain valuable, real-world experience and be well-positioned for future employment with the department after graduation.”<\/p>\n

Program details and application information<\/a><\/p>\n

For more visit Ka Puna O Kaloʻi<\/span><\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

—By Zenaida Serrano Arvman<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students gain real-world public health administrative skills through new pathway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[165,1459,59,603],"class_list":["post-222061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-health","tag-ka-puna-o-kaloi","tag-uh-west-oahu","tag-workforce-development","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222061"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222116,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222061\/revisions\/222116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}