Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 6, 1 June 1986 — Dr. Noelani J. Apau, DOH Branch Chief [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Dr. Noelani J. Apau, DOH Branch Chief

200,000 Children Come Under Her Jurisdiction

By Kenny Haina, Editor Ka Wai Ola O OHA

"Pediatrics — a branch of medicine dealing with the development, care and diseases of children." — Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. And so it is that part Hawaiian Dr. Noelani J. Apau chose this field as her "joyful specialty" because "I love working with children." Dr. Apau is the recently appointed School Health Services Branch Chief with the State Dep>artment of Health, working out of the Family Health Services Division at 741-A Sunset Avenue, across from Leahi Hospital. Dr. Apau's School Health Services Branch plays a vital role in promoting and safeguarding the health of the school population, ensuring that school-aged children achieve their potential for effective physical, intellectual and emotional functioning as adults. Dr. Apau and her two sisters and a brother are the children of Robert and Leinaaia Apau of Honolulu, who are retired school teachers. The four Apau children are graduates of The Kamehameha Schools — Roberta, 1960; Noelani, 1970; Rick Kaukapono, 1975; and Maile, 1977. All have chosen careers in the medical field. Dr. Apau attended the University of California at Berkeley where she graduated in 1974 with a major in Zoology. Then, during her third year as a student at the University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine, Dr. Apau decided that pediatrics was the field she wanted to pursue. She describes pediatrics as a "joyful specialty" since she is working with her special brand of people — children. "I like children and enjoy working with them, especially watching their happy, smiling faces and the satisfaction of helping them," Dr. Apau relates. After receiving her doctor of medicine degree from UH in 1980, she trained for three years in pediatrics at the University of New Mexico Medical Center and returned home onee more to work as Pediatric Chief Resident at Kapiolani Women's and Children's Medical Center before becoming Clinical Director for the Waimanalo Children and Youth Project in the Maternal and Child Health Branch of the Depart-

ment of Health. She moved to her present post in February, 1986. In addition to planning, organizing and carrying out the policies of the School Health Services Branch, she also oversees a statewide staff of 347 nurses, therapists and aides. Of the 347 staffers, 238 are on Oahu and 106 on the neighbor islands. Together they service a total school population of 200,000 school-aged children in the state — 160,000 are in regular public school, 700 in special schools or schools for special education and they also help about 40,000 in private and parochial schools. Involved in this service are school public health nurses, school health aides, audiologists, vision and hearing screening technicians, occupational and physical therapists, and

certified occupational therapy assistants. The Branch divides its services into two sections: • School Health Services — provides first aid services for illness and injury, early identification of health conditions, preyentive health care and referral of problems to appropriate resources in the community. • School Health Support Services — includes Vision and Hearing Screening Unit (VHS) and Occupational and Physieal Therapy Units (OT/PT). VHS provides services for the early identification of specific sensory deficits in order to prevent interference with learning and adjustment. The OT/PT Units provides evaluation, consultation and therapy services to the handicapped school population in accordance with Public Law 94-142. Dr. Apau's advice to today's youths is simple: Get that education! There are all kinds of opportunities, she points out. As for the Apau family , it wasn't easy , "but mom and dad were firm believers in education and they worked very hard to see that eaeh one of us received the best one possible". "We were always first with them. They did without a lot of things and they gave us a lot. We were not a rich family, but mom and dad worked hard to see we got an education. We had their full support", Dr. Apau recalled. Dr. Apau's older sister, Roberta Ikemoto, is a radiologist in Honolulu along with her husband, Dr. Norman Ikemoto. Both are graduates of the University of California Medical School in San Francisco. Her brother, Richard, whose Hawaiian name incidentally translates as 'good doctor,' is a medical student at the UH medical school, and younger sister, Maile, is a fourth year Stanford Medical student. Maile's husband, Doug Jachowski, is an electrical engineer. In her personal life, Dr. Apau is Mrs. William Ludlum. Her husband, Bill, is an attorney in Honolulu. Dr. Apau also feels that her happiness and success are due to the encouragement and strong support of her husband. In addition to her above duties, Dr. Apau is completing her master's degree in Public Health at the University of Hawaii.

Dr. Noelani J. Apau.