She eyed a career in fashion. Instead, this nurse answered the call to save lives

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Renee Kojima didn’t start out to be a healthcare hero. In fact, she was eyeing up a future in fashion design but a little volunteer gig out of college triggered something.
“I started volunteering at a doctor’s office because my cousin was a friend of hers, and then I volunteered at the emergency room at Castle hospital, and thought that I liked it,” Kojima said.
That experience led her to switch career paths — but her mother had doubts.
“My mother thought that I should not be a nurse because I’m this big. And so she said, I think you’re going to have a really hard time because you don’t weigh that much either. It’d be one thing to be as short as you are, but at least if you had weight on you. And so anyway, I defied the odds and did it anyhow, and I’ve had my challenges along the way, yes, but for the most part, I think I really loved most of it,” she explained.
And that love is big part of why her patients love her back.
“So we go about our day wanting to do the best thing for our patients, each one of them, but David in particular, is such a great guy. You know, you walk see him on the street and probably walk past him, perhaps, but until he talks to you, and then it’s really one of those things where he’s a Gold Star family member and he’s also a veteran, and I think that, for that reason, I mean to me, he should have so much more respect from all of us.”
At one time, David almost was a strapping 235 pounds.
Then something as common as acid reflux flared up and worsened to the point where doctors had to remove his stomach and esophagus. He was put on a feeding tube for seven years and his weight dropped to 76 pounds.
Things eventually turned around especially when Renee was assigned as his nurse.
“If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here right now,” said David. “Because she saved my life three times, and I’ll never forget that she’s always going to be the top for me, and nothing’s going to ever change that. And I love her. You know, I don’t know how many people think probably I’m talking crazy, but I’m not, because I’ve had other caretakers, and once they leave, I don’t never hear from them. You know, when they go home, whatever, when she goes on vacation and calls me and make sure I’m okay.”
“You know, nobody else does that, I don’t think anyways, and I’ve been through so much that she’s a God-sent.”
We asked Renee how it feels to save someone’s life a handful of times, she answered, “ I don’t know. And so one of those things where I don’t know that I felt that so much, it was just part of doing the job, of recognizing that something is not quite right, and referring him to see the person that will fix things like the emergency room. But I think when I look at him, I feel like I need to do things, maybe above and beyond, in the sense that I want to save him.”
David says Renee gives him hope.
“You know, she doesn’t like just come in, do this and leave. We talk, and she wants to know how things are going, how my grandkids are doing and all that stuff and pictures,” he said.
And it seems the caregiving is a two-way street.
“There is a lot of nourishment that comes from the satisfaction knowing that he is doing well, you know. I mean, I think on the days that he’s not feeling well, it’s negative for me too.”
David wasn’t the only one benefitting from Renee’s care, his wife Jean Marie also credits Renee for making her life better.
“It was very difficult for like, five years, I had to, I had a full time job. I also my daughter was in the hospital at one time, where I was going back and forth to hospitals every day after work, and then Renee came into our life, and my whole life changed. I now have a new life. Now I’ve been able to go back to school, so I’m taking an online course and starting to it’s like a whole new life for me,” she said.
Lucky for the Olmos family, Renee isn’t going to hang up her scrubs any time soon.
“I probably could retire, but I choose not to. I find this so fulfilling, and I really do like the fact that when I come to work every day that I feel like I learn something every day, and I think that’s what we’re here to do is to be part of for the community,” she said.
“I feel like that’s what we’re here to do, is to give back to our our neighbors and our friends and treat them like we want to treat our family.”
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