Project Vision Hawaii
- Program Representative(s) Interviewed: Darrah Kauhane, Executive Director
- Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
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Program Overview: Project Vision Hawaii
provides essential health and human services to communities in four islands across the state. The
organization was founded in 2007 with the primary purpose of providing vision care, and it has since
expanded to offer a range of health and social services, including primary care, dental care, hearing
services, housing assistance, health education, hygiene outreach, and re-entry services.
Project Vision Hawaii’s three mobile programs work to address healthcare needs and support residents’ overall well-being:
- Better Vision for Keiki has provided free school-based vision screenings and exams to over 20,000 students. By identifying and addressing visual impairments, color blindness, and other vision problems early, the program provides children with the care and resources that they need to succeed in school. The Better Vision for Keiki program is accompanied by the Better Hearing for Keiki program, which offers free hearing screenings for students alongside the vision services.
- Project Vision Smiles recognizes the connection between oral health and overall health by delivering essential dental care to communities most in need. The program’s team of oral health experts and dentists provides preventive, emergency, and minimally invasive services to populations that are uninsured, homebound, incarcerated, disabled, and experiencing homelessness.
- Hiehie Hygiene Outreach operates a mobile unit that serves low-income individuals and those experiencing homelessness in communities across the Hawaiian Islands. The program provides showers, restrooms, and hygiene supplies to promote health, dignity, and well-being. In addition to hygiene resources, the program provides street medicine services to address the immediate health needs of the communities it serves. Through partnerships with local organizations and agencies, Hiehie Hygiene Outreach connects individuals to medical care, social services, housing assistance, and health education.