Ku Like Kakou: Utilizing a Community-led Model of Collaboration to Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 brought significant challenges for Native Hawaiians (NH), Pacific Islanders (PI), and other communities of color worldwide. Rapidly increasing rates of infection and transmission of the virus in Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities and incomplete or unavailable data signaled to Hawai'i's leaders that advocacy and action needed to take place to minimize the impact of COVID-19. The Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Response, Recovery, and Resilience team (NHPI 3R Team) emerged from an effort to lead and fill gaps in response to COVID-19. Through the swift, intentional, and collaborative work of the team and its partners, NHPI communities and the entities that serve them were better equipped to navigate the pandemic, improve health outcomes, and contribute to a reduction in the number of infections, a rise in vaccination uptake, and an increase in NH and PI representation on various levels of government agencies. As the world shifts its focus from COVID-19 to broader health topics, the NHPI 3R Team will continue to serve as a hub for the exchange of resources and a model of community-led work that can be used to tackle issues like COVID-19 and beyond.

Using Talanoa, a Pan Pacific Indigenous Approach, To Identify Solutions to Public Health Issues.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a public health emergency that required various public health policies and programs at the state and federal level to be established to protect the health and safety of the nation. These mainstream policies and programs proved to be inadequate in addressing the specific needs of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities as evidenced by the high case counts and low vaccination rates in these communities. In an effort to better understand and address the high case counts and low vaccination rates, a partnership was developed between the Hawai'i State Department of Health (HDOH), medical providers, and a network of NHPI-serving organizations. After the failure of Western approaches for data gathering, leaders of the partnership used an Indigenous qualitative interview method called Talanoa situated within a cultural safety framework to learn reasons for low vaccine uptake and identify NHPI-specific solutions. Findings suggest that the use of Talanoa and its ingrained cultural safety framework allowed us to gather richer data, identified solutions grounded in community, and assisted with building sustainable trusting partnerships.