Our Island,
Our Community,
Our Health
Healthcare is caring for health not treating disease. Only a community can make this paradigm shift.
Community First Founder
The Late Barry Taniguchi
Why Community First?
Barry Taniguchi founded Community First to help our community come together to make this shift and to find solutions based on the common good.
He had 3 Principles:
- Only Together
- Make the Invisible, Visible
- Try, and don’t expect to get it right the first time
Guiding Principles
Only Together
There is no way to transform healthcare & achieve a sutainable system without coming together. If West, North, and East Hawaii come together, we can build a County-wide system of health governed by each community to best address their needs while leveraging information technology and payment models which require scale.
Make the Invisible, Visible
My son Toby once said, “We value harmony more than truth.” Sometimes for the sake of harmony we make the visible invisible in order to get along. But in the long term, harmony can only come from truth so we must make the invisible, visible. Truth is the basis of the trust needed for collaboration and transformation.
Try, and don’t expect to get it right the first time
The house is burning. We need to act, recognizing that we can’t figure it all out through the creation of binders of plans, and that we will need to make adjustments as we move forward. But we will make these adjustments collaboratively and in the best interests of the community. Only by acting can we innovate.
Vision
A community where we not only take personal responsibility for our own health, but help each other care for our mutual well-being.
Mission
A sustainable medical and social service system which provides quality care for all the people of Hawai’i Island.
Want to Help?
Become Involved, Find Solutions
Latest Insights
Hands-on Telemedicine by HOPE Services Street Medicine Program
During a time where the community experiencing homelessness faces monumental barriers, street telemedicine is an innovative technological solution, which helps address health disparities exacerbated by the pandemic. These encounters are often the first step to building trust in social service providers and becoming more actively engaged in the journey to permanent housing, which for HOPE clients is the ultimate goal.
Vibrant Hawaiʻi’s Hub for Resources and Information about COVID-19.
There is a desperate shortage of personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 crisis. Please click here to learn how you can help even if only by making a face mask.