May/June 2023
President's Corner
In addition to Mother’s Day food and libations, end of school celebrations, and back to back graduations, May was full of prep for the annual Memorial Weekend CME and the amazing Gatsby Gala afterwards – so this newsletter is coming to you as a special May/June edition!
Memorial weekend CME & Gatsby Gala were the culmination of months of hard work by the CME team. Big Mahalo to Dr’s Kahea Rivera, Melissa Natavio, Noelani Hobbs, Marel Ver and Rhea Bautista (plus me too!) for putting on yet another inspirational, educational, and recreational weekend for PMAH members and friends. Looking forward to having many of you join us again next Memorial Weekend 2024 at the Four Seasons Ko’Olina. If you’d like to join us to help plan, produce, and fundraise for this event, pleased do! Email us at PMAHinfo@gmail.com and let us know you’d like to be part of the team.
Some of this year’s CME topics spoke to the themes of May as Mental Health Awareness Month, and June as Pride, Alzheimer’s and Brain Health Awareness Month, most notably those on sex education and identity awareness in children and young adults, ADHD across the lifespan, and brain mapping and therapy with trans-magnetic stimulation for many conditions including depression, anxiety, long-covid brain fog, dementia, and traumatic brain injury/concussions. It is exciting to see medicine continue to evolve as new therapies for conditions like these continue to develop and offer patients new treatment options in addition to traditional therapies. In addition, it is heartening to see society move to becoming more inclusive and more willing to adopt, accept and integrate people’s chosen identities. In our island cultures, there has always existed a third gender, mahu in Hawaii or bakla in the Philippines. This inclusiveness and awareness helps foster and support the mental health of the community as a whole, in a time where it is so important to be more accepting of our differences. It is our ability to do this that ultimately makes us stronger as a society.
Wishing you all an amazing summer, and looking forward to our 3rd Annual Labor Day Weekend Mini-CME, a Diabetes Symposium, at the Kahala on September 3rd!
Aloha and salamat!
Lyla Cachola Prather, MD
President, Philippine Medical Association of Hawaii
Photos from Memorial Weekend CME at the Four Seasons Resort (May 27-28, 2023)
Upcoming Events
Bayanihan Clinic Without Walls Community Health Fair
Aupuni Center, 101 Pauahi St, Suite 7, Hilo, HI
June 18, 2023 - 8am to 3pm
2023 Hawaii Heart Walk (American Heart Association)
TEAM: Philippine Medical Association of Hawaii
August 5, 2023
Labor Day Weekend CME: Diabetes Symposium
Kahala Resort
September 3, 2023
2023 Komen Hawaii MORE THAN PINK Walk
TEAM: Philippine Medical Association of Hawaii
October 8, 2023
Inauguration Gala 2024
Royal Hawaiian
January 27, 2024
Updates
Spring into Health (May 20, 2023)
The Philippine Premedical Association of Hawaii (PPMAH) and Philippine Medical Student Association of Hawaii (PMSAH) held their end of the year event on 4/30/23. As part of the PMAH Foundation, Filipino premeds, medical students, residents and physicians brought together to foster mentoring, promote networking and to create a sense of community.
Ed Yap from Castle Adventist Health donating medical supplies for the next Ohana Medical Missions
Right to Left: JP Orias (OMM), Rhea Bautista (PMAH), Ria Yap (Castle Adventist Health), Ed Yap (Castle Adventist Health)
1. On the MONEY front, local legislative bills SB397/HB1367, to raise Medicaid/QUEST pay, and SB1035/HB662, bills to eliminate the GET on healthcare, are moving through the Hawaii Legislature. Also progressing are the loan repayment (SB164/HB661) and Preceptor Tax Credit (for specialists as well as PCPs SB1215/HB82) bills. If you want to voice your opinion, itʻs easy to do: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/
2. Help us raise Hawaii's Medicare rates! -- We are working with our Federal Legislators to try to get Medicare rates raised. To do this, we need to assess the cost of having a practice in Hawaii. If you own or run a practice, please complete our brief anonymous survey about costs of practicing in Hawaii: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/37RLWDV
Join the PMAH Legislative Committee!
Do you want to know more about what bills are being introduced that potentially affect healthcare in Hawaii?
Are you passionate about advocacy and effecting change in Hawaii's healthcare landscape?
Email PMAHinfo@gmail.com and let us know you're interested, and will pass it along to committee chair, Dr. Jerald Garcia.
Physician Opportunities
Are you a specialist who is willing to provide telehealth to rural areas of Hawaii? Email kelleywithy@gmail.com for more information.
Do you want to advertise an open position? Do you want to find a job in Hawaii? Do you want to meet a resident who may be interested in joining your practice? Email Your Hawaii Physician Recruiter: Thomas Hao hao4@hawaii.edu
For HMSA formularies, save this link (https://hmsa.com/help-center/your-hmsa-drug-formulary-list/). You can just put the three digit drug code from the patient's HMSA card (DRUG: xxx) and it will tell you which formulary to look at: https://hmsa.com/help-center/your-hmsa-drug-formulary-list/
COVID Vaccine Information
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/children-teens.html
https://hawaiicovid19.com/vaccine-faqs/
COVID Vaccine Access
https://www.filcomcares.org/events
https://www.oneoahu.org/find-vaccine
https://www.hawaiipacifichealth.org/hph-covid-19-updates/vaccine-update/
PMAH is a proud partner of the FilCom CARES project to provide COVID-19 resources our Filipino Communities.
To subscribe to the FilCom CARES newsletter, click HERE
Follow FilCom CARES on Facebook and Instagram for updates
Interested in becoming a member?
Benefits of PMAH Membership
As a member of the PMAH you will be able to:
1. Engage Filipino healthcare leaders in advancing the health and well-being of communities in Hawaii and abroad.
2. Be allowed to participate in a number of unparalleled networking opportunities to connect with your peers, mentors, and other medical leaders in Hawaii.
3. Attend conventions, seminars, dinners and other related events with like-minded professionals in the field
4. Keep up with the newest developments through our CME Courses and other educational opportunities
5. Become involved with Ohana Medical Missions, providing healthcare and health education to indigent patients in the Philippines, Hawaii, and other countries
Want to be more involved in PMAH?
We welcome and encourage PMAH membership engagement!!
If you have a special interest, please ask us!
We also are always looking for potential new board members.
New ideas, suggestions, concerns, and comments welcome!
Please reach out to us!
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
DONATE to PMAH and our Affiliates
Due to the pandemic, our usual conferences and other fundraising events for the year were cancelled/postponed/adjusted. Therefore at this time, we rely on donations to fund our projects and operational costs.
Your donations are greatly appreciated !
https://pmah-hawaii.org/take-action
All affiliates are non-profit charitable organizations 501(c)(3).
*When making a donation, please specify in comments preferred use ie general fund, mentorship, etc.
CONTACT US
We'd love to learn about announcements / education / opportunities / events
Please email pmahinfo@gmail.com
