Video: Community leader Randy Kurohara gives public talk on kuleana health
The talk, “Kuleana Health: Our Responsibility for Health,” is part of UH Hilo’s Kuleana and Community Weekly Talk Story gatherings.
By Staff/UH Hilo Stories.
Randy Kurohara, executive director of the local organization Community First Hawaiʻi, gave a public talk Sept. 20 at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo on community health.
The talk, “Kuleana Health: Our Responsibility for Health,” is part of a series of weekly gatherings held this semester at UH Hilo where students, faculty, staff, university retirees, and members of the local community get together in a safe and welcoming environment to share their thoughts around a common topic.
The goal of the series, named Kuleana and Community Weekly Talk Story: Building Community Through Conversation, is to strengthen the university’s connections to the local community through conversation. Topics cover Maunakea stewardship, mental health, better communication, houselessness in Hawaiʻi, entrepreneurship, and more. Following a short talk by a featured guest, attendees break out into discussion groups and then share their manaʻo (thoughts) with everyone.
Kurohara is a longtime small business owner on Hawaiʻi Island and now serves as executive director of Community First Hawaiʻi, a small local nonprofit founded by the late Barry Taniguchi, with a big vision to transform healthcare on Hawaiʻi Island. In his talk, he shared general information on health care from a national, state and county perspective and what’s working and what’s not on Hawaiʻi Island. Kurohara spoke to the need to shift healthcare from treating disease to keeping people healthy and why the local community needs to play a more active role in accepting kuleana (responsibility) for both personal health and the wellbeing of others.
Kurohara is currently a member of the UH Hilo Community Advisory Board. Previously, he served as director of the Department of Research and Development, deputy managing director, and managing director for the County of Hawaiʻi. He has served as an officer and/or member of the Rotary Club of South Hilo, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hawaiʻi, Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce, Hawaiʻi Island Chamber of Commerce, Hawaiʻi Health System Corporation’s East Hawaiʻi Regional Board, and others. He holds a bachelor of business administration with a focus on marketing from UH Mānoa.
The talk was held at the Kilohana Student Success Center located on campus in Edwin Mookini Library.
The Kuleana and Community series is sponsored by the UH Hilo Office of the Chancellor, Kīpuka Native Hawaiian Student Center, Kilohana Academic Success Center, Center for Global Education and Exchange, and Assistant Professor of Communication Colby Miyose and Associate Professor of Sociology Alton Okinaka.
