Filling the Front Line Gap, Right Here at Home

Dylan Yanazaki, a junior at UH Hilo, is in the first cohort of High-School Direct Entry nursing students.

When Dylan Yanazaki’s mother suffered a severe eye injury, the family had to make frequent, stressful trips to Oʻahu for her care. “Watching how it affected her pushed me towards nursing,” said Yanazaki, a Hilo High School graduate and first-year nursing student.

Now she’s one of the first students to enter UH Hilo’s nursing program through its new High-School Direct Entry pathway. The program gives qualified local seniors a reserved seat in the nursing cohort, so they don’t have to reapply and hope for a spot in their sophomore year of college.

It’s part of a bigger push to train nurses on Hawaiʻi Island and keep them here.

A Statewide Shortage, Felt Hardest in Rural Communities

Hawaiʻi is facing a critical nursing shortage, and experts say it hits the neighbor islands hardest, including Hawaiʻi Island, Maui, and Kauaʻi.

“The more rural, the more need there is,” said Professor Jeanette Ayers-Kawakami, DNP, MSN, CNE, TCN-B, RN, Director of the UH Hilo School of Nursing.

Ayers-Kawakami says healthcare facilities statewide are facing a critical shortage of nurses and nursing faculty — a crisis driven by pandemic burnout and a widespread wave of retirements.

She says nurses are what patients count on most. “Your nurses are your front line. They’re the ones doing the rounds every hour. They’re the ones recognizing critical changes, and more often than not, they’re the ones who are saving you.”

More Faculty, More Seats

Training more nurses starts with more people to teach them, Ayers-Kawakami said. To help, the Hawaiʻi State Legislature funded five new faculty positions for the UH Hilo nursing program. As a result, the incoming class grew from 30 students to 40 this year, and the program plans to admit 50 next year.

First-year nursing students learn how to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) during a training demonstration at UH Hilo.

One new faculty member is Roda Galang, DNP, MSNed, BSN RN, a tenure-track clinical assistant professor with nearly 28 years of nursing experience. She moved from the University of Texas and intentionally chose Hawaiʻi Island to help meet rural healthcare needs.

For Philippines native Galang, growing another rural island’s nursing workforce was an opportunity to spark positive change she couldn't pass up.

“I’m inspired to leave a legacy that helps the next generation,” Galang said. To her, training local students is key to the island’s future. “Nurses are the backbone of our healthcare. Hospitals will collapse without nurses.”

Caring for Home

Yanazaki hopes to specialize in pediatric care or labor and delivery, and eventually earn her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). Whatever path she takes, her top priority is staying on Hawaiʻi Island to serve her own community. She knows firsthand how hard it is for rural families to travel for care.

“It would be great to be a part of that solution here,” Yanazaki said. “I think our focus should be on how we can keep all the students here who want to stay and work in this community and be able to provide for our families.”

By pairing state investment with dedicated faculty and direct local pipelines, UH Hilo is ensuring that Hawaiʻi Island’s future caregivers can be trained right at home to care for their own neighbors.

The Hawaiʻi High-School Direct Entry pathway lets pre-nursing majors, like Yanazaki, lock in a spot in this competitive program — so long as they maintain their GPA and clear all prerequisites.

Learn More About Hawaiʻi High-School Direct Entry into Nursing (HSDE)

The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo (UH Hilo) School of Nursing (SON) program offers direct entry into nursing for dedicated Hawaiʻi high school graduates seeking to complete their Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree in four years. In order to be considered for direct entry into the BSN program at UH Hilo, students must be graduates from a Hawaiʻi high school, complete the UH Hilo and SON application process, and meet the continuation requirements while taking prerequisite courses prior to the start of their cohort in the BSN program.

In addition to the 40 students on campus, the UH Hilo School of Nursing has a cohort of 10 students in Waianae on West Oʻahu who are also part of the program.