{"id":382336,"date":"2022-12-28T06:01:06","date_gmt":"2022-12-27T20:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=382336"},"modified":"2022-12-28T06:01:06","modified_gmt":"2022-12-27T20:01:06","slug":"guam-officials-mourn-passing-of-hattori-uchima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/guam-officials-mourn-passing-of-hattori-uchima\/","title":{"rendered":"Guam officials mourn passing of Hattori-Uchima"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
Hattori-Uchima<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

University of Guam officials issued the following statements about the untimely passing of Dr. Margaret Hattori-Uchima, the dean of the UOG School of Health, who died during a paddleboarding incident on Monday when she was pulled over the reef in rough surf.<\/p>\n

From University of Guam president Thomas W. Krise:\u00a0<\/strong>
\n\u201cWe are heartbroken by this overwhelming loss, and our thoughts and prayers are with Dr. Margaret\u2019s family, loved ones, and her colleagues at the School of Health and across our University. A bright light of our community has gone dark, and we are devastated to lose such a vibrant spirit way before her time. Her dedication, compassion, kindness, and understanding will inspire us all forevermore.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

From Anita Borja Enriquez, senior vice president and provost:\u00a0
\n\u201cWe are devastated by the passing of Dean Margaret. She was a champion for supporting disadvantaged and underserved populations and for advancing the nursing profession and health care on island and throughout the region. She will be dearly missed.\u00a0Our deepest condolences and love to her family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a registered nurse for 35 years, a faculty member at UOG since August 2001, and the dean of the School of Health since 2014, Hattori-Uchima exemplified what it means to be a Triton and displayed true leadership in her service. She has been an advocate for improving the quality of health care in the region and has provided leadership in the study and alleviation of health disparities. She also served for more than a decade with the Guam Homeless Coalition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaker Therese Terlaje also issued the following statement on behalf of the 36th\u00a0Guam Legislature:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur island mourns the tragic loss of Dr. Margaret\u00a0Hattori-Uchima, dean of the University of Guam School of Health and registered nurse for 34 years.\u00a0 Dr. Hattori has also been an educator for 23 years, facilitating and advancing educational opportunities in her profession for Guam\u2019s nurses and social workers for decades,\u201d stated Terlaje.<\/p>\n

Hattori-Uchima\u00a0has been recognized with such accolades as the 2019 Nurse of the Year from the Guam Nurses Association, American Academy of Nursing 2020 Class of Fellows as the first fellow from Guam, 2021 COVID Hero recognized by KUAM, and the 2022 Public Citizen Award from the National Association of Social Workers Guam Chapter, where she was honored with a resolution from the 36th\u00a0Guam Legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr.\u00a0Hattori-Uchima\u00a0was in a category of exceptional women of Guam, whose tireless commitment to advancing public health and welfare made a difference in so many lives, most especially our patients.\u00a0 She was a visionary and a catalyst for change.\u00a0 As the chairperson for the Legislature\u2019s Committee on Health, I trusted Dr.\u00a0Hattori-Uchima\u2019s institutional knowledge to improve the quality of healthcare on Guam and to ensure we remove all impediments to growing our local workforce and meeting Guam\u2019s critical need for highly skilled nurses, social workers, nurse assistants, and other healthcare professionals,\u201d stated Terlaje.<\/p>\n

As a dedicated professional, Hattori-Uchima\u00a0set a high bar for her contributions in advancing healthcare and public welfare including advocating for disadvantaged communities on Guam and in the region, commitment to the homeless as a long-time member of the Guam Homeless Coalition, and work with the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program and the Pacific Island Partnership for Cancer Health Equity.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of the 36th\u00a0Guam Legislature, our heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to Dr.\u00a0Hattori-Uchima\u2019s family, students, friends and close associates.\u201d (Saipan Tribune)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University of Guam officials issued the following statements about the untimely passing of Dr. Margaret…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":382325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[51],"class_list":["post-382336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-guam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}