12月毕业生帮助毛伊岛火灾恢复

8月, David Kim planned to join his Carolina classmates when they gave the final presentations of their master’s degree program. 而不是, 他在毛伊岛, 在大火吞没拉海纳镇后提供帮助, killed at least 99 people and left hundreds without homes.

金被录取了 医疗管理硕士课程 博彩平台大学吉林斯全球公共卫生学院. He took the bulk of his coursework online while working in Hawaii as the agency manager of Kaiser Permanente’s Oahu and Maui Home Care.

金运用了他在MHA项目中学到的东西, his military training and his home-health business experience when he flew to Maui on Aug. 9 to coordinate the emergency response and medical care by his company’s teams. They wound up treating anyone who needed their care whether insured or not.

当他降落在毛伊岛时，金博彩平台了混乱. 拉海纳化为灰烬. 没有网络服务和手机服务. Hundreds of people missing, including a Kaiser Permanente nurse. He and the leadership team mapped out a plan to find and care for patients. But closed roads and a limited emergency response forced improvisation — scheduled meetups, 纸质地图和口口相传-进行诊所. A nonclinical worker, Kim went door to door with clinicians to help. Fortunately, they had a mobile-health van with exam rooms where doctors and nurses could work.

Many people couldn’t get prescription medicines or leave Maui. Some only had the clothes they wore when escaping the fire. “They were completely shut off from the world,金说。. “他们不知道从哪里获得医疗资源, so we were the ones who told them where our Kaiser Permanente 人员 and federal and state emergency 人员 were going to be.”

待了两个星期后, the team flew roundtrip daily because displaced residents needed hotel rooms.

反思经验, Kim credits his education and experiences with preparing him to respond. 他在弗吉尼亚州的费尔法克斯长大，并参加了美国大学.S. 军事学院. After graduating from West Point, he spent seven years in the U.S. 在日本，阿富汗和夏威夷服役.

Kim said Gillings’ 医疗管理硕士课程 exposed him to “gaps and opportunities” in the healthcare system. （David Kim提供）

在日本, Kim helped respond to the 2011 tsunami and earthquake that decimated the city of Sendai and killed 19,000人. In Afghanistan, he oversaw transportation of equipment, ammunition and 人员. 在夏威夷, Kim coordinated the Army’s disaster response with the Hawaii Emergency Agency and FEMA and planning for all U.S. 军事分支. After retiring as a captain, he began working in his family’s home health care business.

Wanting a broader influence in health care, he took a consulting job with Kaiser Permanente. 后来夏威夷有个职位空缺. 这简直是天作之合. After a manager suggested that he earn a master’s degree to spur his job advancement, Kim applied to the Carolina master’s program because Gillings is ranked second nationally among public health schools.

The program enhanced what he had learned about project management, 绩效改善与领导力. “We broke down business cases to understand the financials behind it, 的操作, 的人员, 人员, 的政策,金说。. “It’s a holistic program that exposed me not only to our health care system’s foundations, but also introduced gaps and opportunities that challenge our system.”

Kim将于12月6日毕业. 17, especially enjoyed learning from classmates — hospitalists, 律师, 会计师, 顾问和其他卫生保健专业人员.

Now he hopes to realize his “dream to eventually take on a director’s role, to oversee the entire operations and improve our capabilities.”