05/03/2025
Moanikealohilani Keamoai-Koka, RN – Nurse Case Manager and Merrie Monarch Champion! 🌺
We’re honored to celebrate Moani, a compassionate nurse case manager with Mālama Ola and a talented dancer with Hula Hālau o Kāmuela, which was crowned the overall winner of the 62nd Merrie Monarch Festival!
Moani has been dancing hula since high school and rejoined her hālau in 2023 after college—just as she began her journey with Mālama Ola. When Merrie Monarch training began in March, she gave our team a heads-up, and we were proud to support her with schedule flexibility, encouragement, and aloha.
For her ʻAuana performance, Moani put out a kāhea (call) to her Mālama Ola ʻohana for “Christmas” berries to help create lei. The response was heartfelt. She crafted lei from berries gathered from her supervisor Kim’s yard and from a patient’s tree, a gift shared with aloha by the patient’s spouse.
“Hula is how I reset,” Moani shared. “Being a nurse is so rewarding, but it can weigh on your heart. At 5 PM, I’m still thinking about our patients. Hula gives me this peaceful two hours once a week where I can get lost in the music and come back to work recharged—ready to give my patients 100%.”
She adds, “Especially working in hospice, it’s so important to have something outside of work that grounds you—but also to have coworkers and a company you can truly rely on. Our support staff meetings, the way our supervisors are just a phone call away—it makes all the difference.”
From Kauaʻi, Moani had initially planned to work in acute care—but she found her calling in hospice at Mālama Ola. “I love this work. I want to do it for the rest of my life. Mālama Ola really is a family.”
We’re incredibly proud of Moani and grateful for the joy, compassion, and strength she brings to both her hula and her hospice care.
