You wake up one day to find a blurry spot right in the center of your vision. No matter what you do, it won’t go away. Instead, it gradually grows larger and darker. For many living on the islands, it may take months to be seen and get a diagnosis, by which time, it can often be too late, but the Eye Center of Hawaii (ECoH) is on a mission to change that.
Chief Executive Officer of ECoH, Anu Nullar, is familiar with the difficulties of healthcare access. Native Hawaiian, Anu grew up on a coffee and mac nut farm 40 miles south of Kailua-Kona and attended Ho’okena Elementary. It wasn’t the easiest place to grow up, things like television and running water weren’t a given during her childhood, let alone regular and consistent medical care. “Access to health care (in the islands) is … unacceptable is the only way I can put it,” says Anu.
Like so many people who grow up in small towns, it was hard for her to imagine having a meaningful impact. Still, after graduating from Konawaena High in 1995, she studied at the University of Hawai’i, Hilo, before leaving for job opportunities on O’ahu, like much of the youth from our outer islands.
For years, she worked in various medical offices and even project managing construction, putting her degree in business administration to good use. Then in 2010, she took a front office position with Dr. Michael Bennett at the Retinal Institute of Hawai’i. Now recognized as one of the best cataract surgeons in America, Dr. Bennett was working on improving specialized eye health for the islands. That same year he expanded to the Big Island when Dr. Young, one of the few ophthalmologists on the Kona Coast for decades, decided to retire.
Young’s practice, originally named Eye Center of Hawai’i was brought under the umbrella of Dr. Bennett’s Institute; it was the start of something new for both, the organization and for Anu. “The growth has been exponential since then, and it's been an amazing journey for me personally, as well,” says Anu. With the encouragement and mentoring of Dr. Bennett, over the next years, Anu went from helping to check in patients, to Director of Operations, to eventually becoming COO. All while they expanded to both Hilo and Maui.
This was a big step for her, as she freely admits struggling with the visibility of her new position and the voice it gave her. Especially back then, she says, “We’re taught as girls — especially being a native Hawaiian — we should be seen and not heard.” Her instinct was to not put herself forward, but Dr. Bennett wasn’t having it.
On one particular occasion, they were trying to secure funding for a study to put cameras able to diagnose hypertension and diabetes in the offices of primary care physicians. Just one of the many ways they were seeking to improve the overall health care in outlying islands. So she and Dr. Bennett met with a large insurance company with a plan to distribute 40 of these cameras.
“There was this huge conference table,” says Anu, “and I sat not even at the table, I sat in the corner.” Afterward, Dr. Bennett pulled her aside and told her not to ever do something like that again.
“He said, ‘Your voice is the most important voice here. You should absolutely have a seat at the table.’ That was kind of a pivotal moment for me.” For the first time, Anu began to realize that what she had to think, to say, mattered and that perhaps she was the one who could make the difference.
As the vision to expand care continued to grow, Anu also had a growing desire to return to her home island. In 2017, she did just that, moving herself and the main operations of ECoH to Kona. With this move also came a new name for what was now the largest retinal practice in Hawai’i: The Bennett Eye Institute.
Then came the pandemic and the move to a new location off of Nalani Street. The new office was bright, spacious, and — most importantly — had ample parking to meet the growing demand.
Things were going incredibly well for the practice and Anu had just been made CEO when everything became much more personal. Early in 2023, her Uncle who lived on Kauai was suffering from eye problems. He tried to make an appointment to be seen, but the earliest availability was months away. In the meantime, it got so bad that he actually lost all vision in his left eye. That was when he contacted Anu and asked if they could see him at one of the Oahu offices. Of course, she immediately said yes.
Unfortunately, by that time, it was too late.
The doctor’s visit revealed that his vision loss had been the first symptom of pancreatic cancer and just after Christmas 2023, he passed away. The loss of a loved one of course can never be fully encompassed in words, but along with the grief, Anu was deeply upset by the circumstances. “It highlighted how there's such a gap, a discrepancy in outer island care versus O’ahu.”
Anu suddenly had a mission to get an office open on the Island of Kauai as soon as possible. She hadn’t been able to help her uncle, but she was going to make sure she could help others. There was an eye office that had just closed after the doctor’s passing.
That was when former CEO of First Hawaiian Bank, Don Horner, jumped in. He believed in the vision and as her new business partner they began the process of acquiring the Kauai office in February, keeping on all the former staff. With this new venture, though, Anu felt it was time for a rebranding. While Dr. Bennett had started his practice to specialize in eye surgery and retinal care, the Institute had already begun a slow integration of other eye services. Yet it was with this new personal experience and the Kauai expansion that she knew they needed a new name, one that would reflect their dedication to Hawaiian Medical Care and expanded services.
They needed to look no further than the first office they had acquired on the Big Island: Eye Center of Hawai’i.
In April, the Kauai branch officially opened under that name and with a new logo designed by Anu’s husband, Justin Dryer. Immediately, they began caring for all the established patients while bringing in the other services ECoH is known for. In just those first three weeks, they saw an average of 70 patients a day.
Today ECoH has seven offices on O’ahu, Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island. Their mission to care for our kūpuna is thriving, and they are expanding into affordable eyewear with frames designed by Anu’s husband and made right here on the islands. They also intend to keep the practice privately owned so they can care for customers without being controlled by insurance companies. To provide care for those most in need, with things like mobile eye clinics and telemedicine to help bridge the gap for the islands they haven’t made it to yet.
As they keep looking forward, they want to focus more on chronic care management for those with glaucoma and diabetes to prevent poor outcomes, especially for the most at-risk patients. What Anu says she hopes for most of all is to take on a larger kuleana or responsibility in our community and to show young Hawaiian girls, that even if they don’t believe it, they have a voice, they can be the change.
“Having mentors like Dr. Bennett, like Don (Horner), people who genuinely built me up in this way so that I can be confident in who I am … That's where the difference was,” says Anu. “For me, it's carrying that forward and building that amongst our community of girls.”
Because sometimes what we require is just for someone to believe in us, to see us for who we truly are, and to do that for others in turn. Then maybe we could see the beauty of what this world could really be.
Learn more at EyeCenterOfHawaii.com.
It highlighted how there's such a gap, a discrepancy in outer island care versus O’ahu.