Donors give $23,000 to UH-Maui College
A retired couple on Maui has donated more than $23,000 to the University of Hawaii Maui College.
Lee Chamberlain and Saman Dias earmarked $16,000 of the donation for a new nursing “earn and learn” partnership among UH-Maui’s Hana Career Pathways, Kaiser Permanente and ‘Ohana Pacific Health, after Chamberlain recently underwent surgery and was hospitalized.
“I was delighted to make a donation to nursing,” Chamberlain said. “Nurses make a hospital stay bearable. Following my discharge, I had wonderful home care from another nurse. I love their
caring and professionalism.”
The Certified Nursing Assistants/Medical Assistants to Practice Nurse Bridge at UH-MC allows 35 working nurse aides and medical assistants to become licensed practical nurses, Allied Health Department Chairperson Mary Farmer said. The curriculum allows the students to work as CNAs and MAs for about 20 hours per week during the 12 months of nursing school so that their tuition is fully covered. Farmer said the recent donation will help cover the cost of specialized software.
The donation balance of more than $7,000 will be divided between the college’s early childhood education program and an internship for sustainability and engineering students to work with Maui County’s chief innovation officer on sustainability, affordable housing, infrastructure improvement, environmental protection, job creation and green economic development. The early childhood education program will use its funds to train students and Maui’s early childhood educators on the use of balance bikes in the play yard.
“We feel it’s important to have safe biking infrastructure on Maui and we’re hopeful the balance of our donation will help pave that path as well as helping students interested in helping the County implement innovative ‘green’ projects,” said Dias.