Hāmākua-Kohala Health

Board of Directors

Supporting Board Members of Hāmākua-Kohala Health

Diana Moriarty – Diana Moriarty is originally from England. She visited Hawai’i in 1970 and has lived here ever since. In 1971 she moved from Oahu to the Big Island and has resided and worked in North Kohala for the past 26 years. She attended nursing school in Hilo and is currently employed at Kohala Hospital as the quality manager, social worker designee and occasionally staff nurse. This experience in a community hospital serving as a safety healthcare net for the area prompted her to accept a position on the Hamakua-Kohala Health Board of Directors where she assumed board leadership for the patient services committee. She enjoys swimming, walking, gardening, and a new hobby, playing the recorder. She is dedicated to the support of community health centers and hospitals and the vital role they play in providing healthcare to the people of North Kohala and Hamakua.

Diane Ashley – Diane Ashley has been a resident of the Hamakua coast and a patient at Hamakua-Kohala Health Center since 2005. She is a teacher at Honokaa High and Intermediate and had also been teaching there since 2005. Her education includes BA, University of California at Santa Barbara, major Sociology, minor Spanish and MA, Boise State University, Curriculum & Instruction. During her time on the Big Island, she has also been involved with numerous community organizations, including Big Island Sailing Foundation, Kahilu Theater, Waimea Ocean Film Festival, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, United Methodist Church, Lydia’s Closet and Sew Fun, and the Up-Link After School Program for the Intermediate School. Working with teens at HHIS has made me particularly aware of the need here for a quality rural health care center and since I have been a client of the health center which promotes health and wellness, I have been both impressed and pleased with the services that are offered right here in our small community. With this particular perspective of our rural community, I am deeply inspired to assist with the HKH Center’s contribution to maintaining our community’s health and wellness. Mahalo for giving me this opportunity to give back to our awesome community something that I strongly believe in.

Kenneth Kaneshiro – resides in Honokaa and graduated from Honokaa High School in 1960. He later graduated from Fresno State in California with a degree in Geology. Returning to Honokaa, he started his career with the USDA – Soil Conservation Service as a Conservation Technician, (now known as the Natural Resources Conservation Service, NRCS). After working in the Honokaa Field Office for a year or so, he transferred to Phoenix, Arizona, as the geologist on the Watershed Planning staff. After about five years, he came home to Hawai’i and served as the geologist on the Hawai’i Watershed Planning Staff. He stayed in Hawai’i for the rest of his career with the NRCS, taking positions as the Watershed Planning Staff Leader, Assistant State Conservationist and State Conservationist before retiring in 2003. Ken is quite involved in our community. Before joining the Hamakua-Kohala Health Center Board, he served on a County Commission on Public Access and the County Water Board, and is a member of the Hamakua Lions Club, the Hamakua Farm Bureau and Honokaa Hongwanji.

Nidhi Chabora – APRN-Rx, BC, creating art is “worthy of prescription.” After several years of spending her days working as a Nurse Practitioner in Hilo, Hawaii doing medication management paired with some supportive and motivational therapy, she noticed a persistent sense that there was a piece missing. “Clients who responded to medication came in feeling better with reduction of symptoms, but I felt something was missing in their presentation,” she remembers. “There was relief but very few signs of healing: such as high self esteem, solid sense of self, engaging in purposeful activity and enjoying meaningful relationships.” Nidhi joined the Hamakua-Kohala Health Board of Directors in 2019.

Ravi Inder Singh – lives between Honokaa, SF Bay Area & New Delhi. After receiving an MBA at the age of 22, he was involved in building 4 technology companies. He was the Founder & CEO of MPS Technologies which served over 200 medical research schools. After his corporate career, he has focused on serving the community in different ways.

Mr. Singh joined the Patient Care and Quality Improvement Committee in 2019 and serves as its Chair since 2020. He is delighted that the committed team at HKH vaccinated over 90% of the community against Covid. When taking a break, he enjoys hiking, singing, and traveling the planet. Ravi loves all forms of “woo-woo” and aims to get into interesting conversations with all kinds of weird and wonderful people. He doesn’t eat animals, loves cheese, electric vehicles, and life-enhancing ideas.

May Harrington, MSW – May is originally from Boston, MA and moved to Hawai’i in 1986 after visiting in years past falling in love with the beauty of the islands and the aloha of its people. May became a nontraditional student at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and obtained undergraduate and graduate degrees in social work by 1996. She focused on social justice issues, program development and organizational change for groups marginalized and underserved by our system of care in Hawai’i. As a social service volunteer and social justice activist, she has advocated for marriage equality, social justice for the LGBTQ+ community, ending violence against women and supporting Hawai’ian Sovereignty, women’s right to reproductive healthcare, the needs of those with low income, and the mental health needs of our keiki.

May and her spouse have lived in Honoka’a since 1996 and have been consumers of HKH services for many years. May worked for the Department of Health, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division serving the families of the Hamakua, North and South Kohala districts. She partnered with staff from the Department of Education, Family Court and the other child serving agencies in a statewide effort to develop a culturally competent, responsive school-based system of care for keiki in need of mental health services.

May loved being part of a talented, hardworking team working on big, audacious goals and enjoys the same since joining the HKH board of directors in 2021. May acknowledged that her social work education and experience informs her work as a board member. Yet more importantly, she noted that being a long-term consumer helps her provide valuable insight into the needs and concerns of the diverse community the center serves. In retirement May has enjoyed her mixed media art and photography pursuits. She and her spouse enjoy a quiet farm life in Ahualoa where the rescue-animals are fully in charge.

Elodia Le May – I come from a big family of nine people. I grew up in Seattle, Washington and I am a middle child. Yes, all the things that go with a middle child are true. I have taught for 43 years in elementary school, all levels of ESL including adults, with the department of education. I have also taught in Brazil and Bolivia. Me encanta languages and different cultures.