Other Duties as Inspired
Story 112

Ish Howze: I work from my heart, and it's my passion to make sure that if you come in with a frown, you leave with a smile.

Natasha Peru: Every associate at Castle, everyone will reach out to you if you're in need. If we see somebody who's lost in the hospital, we have no problem with, "Hey, do you need some help? Can I help you somewhere?" And we will physically walk them to where they need to go.

Paul Oshiro: This hospital has a really good community feel to it. When you walk by someone in the hallway, they say, "Hello, how are you? How are you doing?"

Shauntei Mendoza: Everyone embodies that ohana feeling and just sense of helping others. Yes, you can truly see it.

Natasha Peru: My friends and I went to our local grocery store, and we decided that we were going to buy something to make for dinner. At checkout, they gave me a little coupon and it was good for a free turkey. It turned out that I had several coupons and when we went to go redeem them, we had all these turkeys. And then I came to work and I asked my coworkers and they had enough turkeys too. In fact, I had coworkers that had even more. So I was like, "What are we going to do with all of these turkeys?" I was like, "There's too many turkeys." So I was like, "Oh, I wonder if we could donate them."

So I reached out to Sara-Mae, who is our chaplain here at Castle and she was able to reach out to Jesse Seibel. So then Jesse was able to get in touch with somebody from our community who was able to take the turkeys in and help feed everybody who needed a turkey for Thanksgiving. I was able to help a lot of people, so it felt good.

Ish Howze: I had a patient that I was called to come out and help and assist, and they decided they did not want to be seen at that time. The family, you could see the concern on the family's face. They really wanted us to help them. They brought them here and I found that the patient was roving the parking lot and discovered them at the bus stop. And I was able to, again, find some commonalities, have that conversation, just make it relatable and get that why and remind them of their why, and then get them to come back into the ER. And so I was successful.

Again, my staff always say that I'm the person to call. If nothing else works, call Ish. And so I take pride in that just because I have the time, and I make the time even when I don't have the time. And when patients come here, they come in pain, they come in fear. And I want to be that person that kind of brings that calm, that ease. And when they're not ... They come in frowning and I want them to smile when they leave. So that is my ultimate purpose, my ultimate goal. And every day I can go home grateful and thankful and know that I made somebody smile.

Paul Oshiro: So I'm the social worker for the emergency department. Sometimes we'll have adolescents who come in that have wanted to hurt themselves or hurt someone else. So we don't have an acute adolescent facility here. They need to be transferred to an outside facility. So if the adolescent is appropriate and he or she wants to go outside for some ice cream or soda and juice, we take them outside for a little bit, about 25 minutes, to get some fresh air, just so they can get outside of the hospital room. I sit down next to them, they get to choose whatever ice cream they want. We have vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry. So just listen to their stories and seeing what their strengths are. I just go from there and I just listen.

Shauntei Mendoza: So I've been volunteering with the Waimanaolo distribution. In Waimanaolo they have a food distribution that occurs every first and third Monday of the month. Usually, they ask for volunteers to come from 12 o'clock to 4 o'clock, and basically, we help prepare boxes for families that are in need. The food is provided from the Hawaii Food Bank. So usually we get about two trucks. You kind of never know what will get delivered. Usually there are some produce, dairy, there's usually protein, and we do try to divide it amongst all the boxes equally. During COVID there was a really big turnout, and usually about 200 families we were about to serve, or if not, even more than that. It's very humbling. I'm a nurse because I love to help people, so this is just another way of giving back to the community and to be able to help others.

Paul Oshiro: It's not asked for us to go out of our way. We just kind of do it because it's someone's aunt, uncle or cousin, brother or sister. So it's just us giving back.

Ish Howze: A lot of the times I think beyond the doors of my department. I don't just clock in to come to my office. I actually make sure that myself, as well as my staff, are taking care and living out our mission. That's our goal. People come here for help and that's what I'm supposed to do.

Shauntei Mendoza: As a nurse, I do that for a living, but to do it on my days off, it's that more rewarding. And just to help the people in our community and giving back, it's a very satisfying service.

Ish Howze: It's not just me. I know it's everyone, and everybody has their role. We play it well.

Natasha Peru: Everybody's willing and giving and willing to go more than a 100% to help you or anybody.

Shauntei Mendoza: Everyone goes out of their way, whether it's just a small gesture, picking up rubbish, directing someone to their destination.

Paul Oshiro: I think a lot of people go outside of their comfort zone to see how they can best assist patients. Just to go a little extra, I guess. Or it's not even extra, it's just kind of doing what's best for people.