Meet a Member: Texas transplant finds her ‘ohana’ in Hawaii network

Penny Souder, RN, MS, CPC, works at Maui Memorial Medical Center in beautiful Hawaii. She joined the CDI team a year and a half ago, at the department’s inception. She belongs to the local ACDIS chapter, which is based on Oahu (a different island), so this presents her with a geographical challenge. But she says the chapter is “ohana,” which, as Souder explains, means nobody gets left behind. It also refers to a close group of friends or a class that resembles a family. Hawaiian families understand how aloha is the essential element in every ohana. “Loving and caring for each other is the glue that holds families together and becomes the social fabric for our islands,” Souder says.