It is a dubious distinction to have populations with the highest incidence of kidney disease and diabetes. That's why the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii believes this conference was important.

"We had about 226 people come in from all the way from Saipan, from American Samoa, from Guam, from the mainland and all the dieticians, RN's, and physicians here in the islands," said Diane Pinard of the National Kidney Foundation.

All those health care professionals had one objective -- to find a way to cut back on kidney disease among Pacific Islanders.

"Actually, American Samoa is number one in diabetes and therefore, of course, in kidney disease. Guam is number two and Hawaii, as you know is one in seven, which is thirty percent higher than the rest of the nation. So it's very important for us to stay on top of all the new things that are coming down," said Pinard.

The obvious goal of the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii is to eliminate diabetes and kidney disease. In the meantime, Diana says, there is the important objective of alerting the public to the potential damage those diseases can do.

"Education is primary to help our community, the people that are servicing our community and keep everyone on the cutting edge of how we can assist in this very grave disease," she said.

By all accounts, this recent conference was a big success. And next year, even more specialists will return.

"Next year, we will be bringing in the International Society of Renal Nutrition and Metabolism. They are a group of doctors, over three hundred physicians from around the world," said Pinard. "They'll be meeting at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and the same group that was meeting with us today, the dieticians, will be coming in for an extensive training at that time."