Walking into Waianae High School’s new health learning lab feels like stepping into a real-life medical facility. From hospital beds and clinical equipment to students dressed in scrubs practicing hands-on skills, the newly opened space offers real-world clinical training to help students explore careers in health care.
The lab is the first of its kind in a planned statewide network designed to strengthen Hawaii’s health care workforce by inspiring students early. The project came together through collaboration among the Hawaii Department of Education, industry partners, community organizations, and supporters like HMSA, who helped turn the vision into reality.
A peek inside the new health learning lab at Waianae High School.
More than a classroom
Gov. Josh Green, a practicing emergency room physician who trained in hospitals across the country, said the space is encouraging young people to become part of the solution to the statewide physician shortage. “If students get interested in health care early, they’re more likely to stay, train, and serve their communities right here at home,” he says.
Health learning lab students check Gov. Green’s vitals.
Training locally to serve locally is especially meaningful for the Waianae community, where health disparities remain a challenge, and the need for homegrown providers is especially strong.
Training that feels real
Hilton Raethel, president of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii and former HMSA executive, has been working on health care workforce solutions for years. He said the goal was to make learning as real and interactive as possible. “When you walk in here, it looks like you’re actually in a health care setting,” he says. “These are real beds, real equipment, real supplies. Students are immersed, using the terminology and learning skills they can take straight into the workforce or further education.”
Raethel with Gov. Green and Department of Education superintendant Keith Hayashi
Raethel emphasized that the lab is about creating visibility and excitement around health careers, whether students go on to medical school, nursing programs, or directly into certified health care jobs after graduation.
A model for Hawaii’s schools
For Department of Education leaders, the lab represents what’s possible when partners work together. For Deputy Superintendent Tammi Oyadomari Chun, seeing the completed space for the first time was emotional. “I had visited the site before the renovation, just two older classrooms, and I couldn’t have envisioned what this would feel like,” she says. “Today, when I walked in, I actually started to tear up. This is a world‑class facility that puts students in an environment that prepares them to be globally competitive while remaining locally committed.”
The lab now serves as a model for what similar facilities can look like across Hawaii’s public high schools.
Seeing the future up close
At the heart of the lab are the students. For junior Jyzamee Sablan, who’s in the nursing pathway and hopes to pursue pediatrics or gynecology, seeing the new learning lab changed how she sees her future. “Before, it was hard to fully imagine what working in the health care field would look like,” she says. “Now, being in a setting like this gives me more courage and motivates me to work harder. I can actually see myself in a clinic like this one day.”
Student Jazamee Sablan sharing her experience with the health learning lab.
Powered by partnerships
HMSA’s investment helped bridge the gap between vision and execution, supporting a space that blends education, workforce development, and community health. The lab’s success is most visible in the students practicing skills, building confidence, and imagining careers that once felt out of reach. “What we like to do at HMSA is partner with the community to help ensure that their needs are being met in the way that they think they should be,” says Jenn Diesman, senior vice president of government policy and advocacy at HMSA.
Strong partnerships helped make the health learning lab a reality.
As the first of what’s planned to be many similar labs statewide, Waianae High School’s new learning lab shows what can happen when education, industry, and community come together: An educational facility where students in Waianae can access world-class opportunities without leaving home. For some, this will be the first step toward a job, for others, it may help to fulfill a calling. Either way, the doors are open and so is the future.
Check out this video from the grand opening ceremony of the health learning lab:
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