{"id":3570,"date":"2019-01-11T14:34:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-12T00:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/?p=3570"},"modified":"2020-02-28T17:25:50","modified_gmt":"2020-02-29T03:25:50","slug":"the-quiet-heroism-of-dr-lisa-taniguchi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/index.php\/the-quiet-heroism-of-dr-lisa-taniguchi\/","title":{"rendered":"The Quiet Heroism of Dr. Lisa Taniguchi"},"content":{"rendered":"

January 11, 2019 —<\/p>\n

Written by Marybeth Kotrodimos
\nPhotos by Vina Cristobal, and courtesy of Lisa Taniguchi<\/p>\n

There is no question that UHP has some of the very best doctors in Hawaii.\u00a0 A glance at their profiles in our online directory<\/a><\/span><\/strong> reveals a group of individuals whose education and breadth of experience is indeed impressive.\u00a0 What really stands out, however, is their dedication to their work, a dedication that leads so many of our practitioners to go above and beyond the great demands of their positions to volunteer their time and energy to helping people live happier and healthier lives.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dr. Lisa Taniguchi, an audiologist at the UHP Speech and Hearing Clinic. Vina Cristobal photo.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Lisa Taniguchi, the Clinic Coordinator at the UHP Speech and Hearing Clinic, (aka CSD for Communication and Speech Disorders) is a UHP doctor who most definitely fits that description. \u00a0<\/strong>A line in her profile on our UHP website reads, “Aside from teaching, she has a passion for community outreach in providing hearing screenings and spreading awareness of hearing healthcare.\u201d\u00a0 This passion is evident in the long list of projects and events to which she has generously given her time, expertise, and energy.<\/p>\n

Dr. Taniguchi tells us that she was drawn to audiology early on through her work with the Special Olympics, an organization that has since benefited from her considerable skills and dedication.\u00a0 Her work for the Special Olympics includes partnering with other audiologists to test the special athletes\u2019 hearing at an all-day event at UH Manoa Campus in which medical practitioners of various specialties offer health screenings to those participating in Special Olympics.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"Dr. Taniguchi (in <\/em>top photo, fifth from top row) is pictured with volunteers, including students from the CSD program. On the bottom picture, volunteers assist with a hearing test on a Special Olympics participant.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

She offers regular hearing screenings for children and youth.\u00a0 An example of her work with young people includes\u00a0her participation in the Children and Youth Day events offered every October at our capital where, she tells us in her humble and unassuming manner, where she and her team \u201cdo things like look in children\u2019s ears for wax.”<\/p>\n

Though Dr. Taniguchi has devoted much time and effort into helping children and young adults, one of her primary focuses is on helping the kupuna of our community.\u00a0 She regularly conducts screenings at senior housing facilities and events for seniors.\u00a0 She is also active on the Healthy Aging Panel, which attempts to educate managers of condo complexes with a senior population on the issues of hearing and vision loss in their residents. Her presentations address such topics as \u201cAging in Place\u201d such as the one she did recently for a condo association, regarding helping people live independently in their own homes as they reach advanced age.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dr. Taniguchi (third from right, in stripes) was part of a panel at the Palolo Chinese Home in September.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

She facilitates meetings of a group of stroke victims who come together on Saturdays to practice communication skills. This is not, she tells us, a support group, but a clinic where the patients can work on regaining the communication skills that might have been lost when they suffered a stroke.<\/p>\n

Her active community outreach also includes a heavy schedule of giving presentations as part of her effort to make people aware of the importance and availability of good hearing healthcare.\u00a0 In the past year, her presentations have been on such topics as “Communicating with Loved Ones with Hearing Loss” at the Palolo Senior Health & Wellness Day event, “New Hearing Aid Technology” at Kahala Nui Senior Living Home, “Healthy Brain Aging and Dementia: Optimizing Communication” at St. Francis Healthcare systems of Hawaii, “Hearing Loss:\u00a0 Presbycusis and Otoxicity” for the Head and Neck Support Group at The Queen’s Medical Center,\u00a0 and one titled, “Can you hear me now?” at the Dr. Rosita Leong Mini-Medical School on Healthy Aging, among others.<\/p>\n

When asked about her outreach activities, Dr. Taniguchi says, \u201cWhenever there\u2019s an opportunity for us to get out there, we\u2019re out there.\u201d And somehow, there is no hint of bragging in her words, only humility and kindness.<\/p>\n

Despite her many accomplishments, she remains approachable, and obviously, happy to serve our community. We are truly lucky and proud to have Dr. Lisa Taniguchi in our \u02bbohana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January 11, 2019 — Written by Marybeth Kotrodimos Photos by Vina Cristobal, and courtesy of Lisa Taniguchi There is no question that UHP has some of the very best doctors in Hawaii.\u00a0 A glance at their profiles in our online directory reveals a group of individuals whose education and breadth of experience is indeed impressive.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-3570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-department-of-speech-and-hearing-therapy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/uhphawaii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Palolo-Chinese-Home-Senior-Health-and-Wellness-Day-2-9.8.2018.jpg?fit=5526%2C3280&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3570"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13128,"href":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3570\/revisions\/13128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhphawaii.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}