About Island Nurse Companion
Meet our Registered Nurses
Island Nurse Companion was founded by an RN who understands this journey from both sides — as a nurse, and as a mother who has traveled inter-island and to the mainland with her own medically complex child. Patients who can’t travel alone deserve a trained nurse beside them — not a stranger.
Violet Silva, RN
Founder & CEOViolet is Hilo born and raised and a proud graduate of Waiakea High School. Her connection to Hawaiʻi, her community, and the families she serves runs deep. Violet has dedicated nearly two decades to caring for patients across a wide range of settings — from home health and hospice to acute bedside nursing as a Registered Nurse at Hilo Benioff Medical Center.
Throughout her nursing career, Violet has cared for patients and families during some of their most vulnerable and uncertain moments. She understands that quality care goes far beyond medications, vital signs, and clinical skills. It’s also about listening, communicating, advocating, reassuring, and making families feel safe when everything around them feels unfamiliar.
But Violet also understands the challenges of medical travel from the other side of healthcare.
As a mother of a medically complex child, she has personally experienced the realities of traveling inter-island and to the mainland for medical care. She knows the preparation that goes into every trip — the packing, medical supplies, medications, documentation, transportation, coordination with providers, airport logistics, and countless details that families have to think about before they ever board a plane.
She also knows the emotional side of it: the uncertainty of traveling with a loved one who has complex medical needs, the stress of being away from home, and the quiet worry that comes with being far from your familiar doctors, nurses, support system, and care team.
Those experiences gave Violet a perspective that cannot be learned solely in a classroom or hospital. She understands what families are navigating because she has lived it herself.
That firsthand experience became the foundation for Island Nurse Companion.
Violet created Island Nurse Companion with one simple belief: families should not have to navigate medical travel alone.
I’ve packed the medical bag, coordinated the flights, and sat beside my own child hoping everything would go smoothly. I know exactly what families are carrying when they travel with complex medical needs — and I started Island Nurse Companion so no one has to carry it alone.
— Violet Silva, RN, Founder & CEO
Experience
Two decades at the bedside
Certified Nurse Aide
Earned CNA certification and began working as a Home Health Aide.
Home Health Aide
Provided in-home care and support to patients in the Hilo community.
CNA, Hospice of Hilo & Pōhai Malama
Delivered hands-on hospice and elder care as a Certified Nursing Assistant.
Associate Degree in Nursing
Completed her nursing degree, becoming a Registered Nurse.
Registered Nurse, Hilo Benioff Medical Center
Practicing acute-care nursing while founding Island Nurse Companion.
Matthew Eckles, RN
Registered NurseMatthew was born and raised in Tempe, Arizona, and graduated from Arizona State University in 2019 with a degree in Nursing and Integrative Health, where he was also a student athlete. He started his nursing career in Phoenix before moving to Hawaiʻi in 2021, where he worked at Queens.
From there, he spent several years as a travel RN and worked in a variety of specialties across hospitals in Arizona, Hawaiʻi, California, and Guam — including supporting patients through Typhoon Mawar with limited power and resources. After his travel contract, Matthew returned to Hawaiʻi to be a permanent guest, working at Hilo Benioff Medical Center as a local contractor.
He’s an active volunteer in the Hilo community and completed the Pono Settler course with Elijah, son of Oʻahu — a personal commitment to being a respectful, informed member of the community he calls home. Matthew also understands medical travel from the family side: he has helped coordinate home care and travel for his own elderly father, giving him firsthand insight into what patients and families are navigating.
I’ve helped my own dad get to appointments and through hospital stays, so I know what it means to have someone who actually knows what they’re doing right there with you — not just clinically, but as someone who cares.
— Matthew Eckles, RN
Experience
From Phoenix to the Pacific
Arizona State University
Nursing & Integrative Health, student athlete.
Staff RN, Banner University Medical Center, Phoenix
Cardiac Progressive Care and high-acuity COVID units.
Staff RN, Queens Medical Center, Honolulu
Moved to Hawaiʻi for the Comprehensive Cardiac Care Unit, a telemetry/ICU hybrid.
Travel RN, Multiple Locations
Telemetry, progressive care, and oncology units across Arizona, Hawaiʻi, California, and Guam.
Local Contract RN, Hilo Benioff Medical Center
Telemetry unit back home in Hilo.
Registered Nurse, Hilo Benioff Medical Center
Returned to Hilo after a travel contract in Phoenix — now practicing in the Progressive Care Unit.
Why Families Choose Us
What sets Island Nurse Companion apart
- RN-led, one-on-one care — never shared, never rushed.
- Founded by someone who’s lived it — as a nurse, and as a mother who has traveled inter-island and to the mainland with her own medically complex child.
- Every case personally reviewed before it’s accepted, with an honest answer if a higher level of care is needed instead.
- Hilo-based, with firsthand knowledge of inter-island travel and the Hawaiʻi healthcare system.
- Direct coordination with your care team, the airline, and equipment providers — start to finish.
Ready to tell us about your trip?
Violet and the team would love to help.