Skip to main content

Transcript: S. Kalani Brady, M.D.

Kalaupapa give him a unique opportunity to spend time with his patients

[Brady:]
As you know, being a doc, I have the frustration in my practice both here in Kalaupapa, but especially in Honolulu where compliance or understanding of the medications, commitment to taking a health plan is really a challenge for every patient and every doctor.
[Lindberg:]
Yeah. So we have something to learn from the traditional healers in that respect.
[Brady:]
Right.
[Lindberg:]
They also do a thing that you don’t do, I don’t think, and is very hard to do, and that’s to spend a lot of time with your patients.
[Brady:]
True. I’ll tell you, Dr. Lindberg, my time here in Kalaupapa is a real blessing, because when I was a youth wanting to go into medicine, perhaps like you, I had this romantic impression that it was a lot of time spent with your patients. Well, in Kalaupapa, I have that gift. It’s expected by the Department of Health that I’m down here spending time listening to their "mo'olelo," their stories, and it’s just a part of the job in addition to describing in detail their medications, why they should take them and the various things that all Western physicians do.