Dr. Noa Emmett Aluli Kuʻi Lāʻau Health Fund established on Molokaʻi : Maui Now

A Health Fund in honor of the iconic Molokaʻi physician, Dr. Noa Emmett Aluli (1944-2022) has been established to work with the Molokaʻi General Hospital, Nā Puʻuwai and the Molokaʻi Community Health Center.

The new fund will organize events focused on health screenings, develop programs to address care gaps, such as Kūpuna suport in the community, and create a healthcare training curriculum incorporating place-based cultural knowledge. 

“One year ago, on Nov. 30, 2022, Dr. Aluli, transitioned into the spiritual realm, after serving 46 years as a family practice physician at the Molokaʻi Family Health Center. Those of us who worked with him in medical care on Molokaʻi and throughout Hawaiʻi want to honor, share and perpetuate his medical legacy,” according to a fund announcement.

The Dr. Noa Emmett Aluli Kuʻi Lāʻau Health Fund has been established to honor Aluli and carry on the special health care of aloha that he formed on Molokaʻi, with the hope of spreading it to other Hawaiʻi rural communities.

The fund will engage in fundraising, apply for grants, and partner with Molokaʻi General Hospital, Nā Puʻuwai, Molokaʻi Community Health Center, and other community-based organizations.

“The specifics of these projects have yet to be fully outlined with our partners. The Kuʻi Lāʻau Health Fund will support these valuable endeavors which will help strengthen comprehensive healthcare for Molokaʻi,” according to fund leaders.

Dr. Aluli pioneered a distinct Native Hawaiian approach to health care, applicable to rural Hawaiian communities. “Get to know the patient, their family line, their family health history and why they came to see him. It was a relationship built on trust, 90% Aloha, 10% Medicine,” according to the announcement.

Fund leaders call Aluli a “visionary for Native Hawaiian health.”

He led the Molokaʻi Heart Study & Molokaʻi Diet Study and Hua Kanawao Ka Liko – A Multigenerational Study of Heart Health on Molokaʻi. He helped found the Native Hawaiian Health Care System and Nā Puʻuwai for Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi and was the driving force behind the Cardiovascular Risk Clinics. He helped set updialysis, hospice, home health and telemedicine on Molokaʻi. Aluli welcomed traditional Hawaiian medicine in his clinic and trained countless medical and nursing students at his clinic and the Molokaʻi General Hospital

Instrumental in raising millions of dollars to renovate Molokaʻi General Hospital, Aluli also helped establish the Paul G. Stevens Outpatient Clinic, for both primary and specialist care. 

“His philosophy, ‘The health of the land, is the health of the people, is the health of the Lāhui,’ inspires us, as we work together for the health of the people of Molokaʻi,” fund leaders said.

Fully Tax Deductible Donations can be made to: Ahahui O Nā Kauka 677 Ala Moana Blvd. Suite 1015 Honolulu, Hawai’i  96813 or Venmo @ahahuionakauka or Paypal to [email protected]. Write: Kuʻi Lāʻau Health Fund in note/comment section.