With Hawaii’s dire shortage of health-care professionals, the efforts to train the next generation of providers have to ramp up at an early stage. That is why the debut of the school-based clinic concept makes such good sense, as does its placement at Waipahu High School.

The partnership between the state Department of Education and Hawaii Pacific Health also provides needed services to the community.

The students who shadow the doctors at the clinic can continue their studies at the University of Hawaii- West Oahu, where the health professions are an academic focus.