HONOLULU (KHON2) — Waianae High School is preparing to receive a big upgrade.
On July 18, a blessing ceremony was held to celebrate the start of renovations of Building X for the state’s first modern Health Learning Lab.
The new lab will offer Waianae High School students hands-on skills while training in a state-of-the-art environment.
This is the first of a planned statewide network of labs that aims to address the state’s shortage of nearly 4,700 healthcare workers.
“And the vacancy rate at the end of last year across the state for health care professions is around 14%,” said Hilton Raethel, President of Healthcare Association of Hawaii. “So there’s almost 4,000 open positions right now in health care, and this project we are hoping, along with all the others, is going to help reduce that vacancy rate.
The building renovation is expected to be complete in January 2026.