Hawaiʻi documentary about kidney foundation’s COVID-19 efforts becomes Emmy Awards finalist

“Caught Inside,” a documentary about the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaiʻi’s COVID-19 testing program, is an Emmy Awards Northern California finalist in the Health and Medical Long Form Content category.

The award ceremony will be held in San Francisco on June 3 and can be streamed live at https://emmysf.tv.

Directed by David Rosen and Dennis Mahaffay of Shooters Film Production, “Caught Inside” was aired exclusively on Hawaiʻi News Now in August 2022.

The National Kidney Foundation of Hawaiʻi was alarmed with the new virus after the first American to swiftly die from COVID-19 was a dialysis patient.

“Caught Inside” is the story of how National Kidney Foundation of Hawaiʻi and business, community and government leaders took the risk to create an innovative and speedy COVID-19 testing program at a time when Hawaiʻi’s Covid-19 testing capacity was lacking, no vaccines were FDA approved, and testing kits were in short supply.

Within a short span of time, National Kidney Foundation of Hawaiʻi, working with their mobile lab and local pharmacies, processed more than 10,000 tests per day with local technology provider, DataHouse.

“’Caught Inside’ highlights the efforts of this unique group of individuals who took risks
and overcame obstacles so that the citizens of Hawaiʻi remained safe,” said Rosen. “People easily forget how quickly the world’s population was infected with the virus and how our state was ill-prepared to fight the pandemic.

“The National Kidney Foundation of Hawaiʻi’s consortium helped weather the storm and expanded to a statewide model that helped Hawaiʻi experience the lowest number of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the nation.”

Co-director Dennis Mahaffay said: “We knew we were living in unprecedented times. Our island history has taught us the importance of documenting the facts during a crisis. We were fortunate to be able to weave Hawaiʻi’s unique story through the voices of Hawaiʻi’s leaders and healthcare professionals.”

The entire 23-minute documentary can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/shootersfilmproduction/caughtinside.