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On the Big Island, North Kohala residents are growing foods organically to promote healthy eating, and restaurants are holding a lunch contest with nutritious recipes replacing starchy blue-plate specials.
The state devotes most of its
tobacco lawsuit windfall to
promoting healthier lifestylesBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comOn Molokai a volleyball-basketball league was organized for older folks, and youth and kupuna are helping each other increase exercise and grow hydroponic vegetables and fruit.
On Oahu the Nuuanu-Makiki Boys and Girls Club is focusing on programs to stop or prevent smoking and encourage fitness for nonathletic kids.
These are just a few samples of statewide community efforts to "Start.Living.Healthy" -- a message directed to residents via television and radio.
The state Health Department is spending most of its tobacco settlement money on the campaign, giving 26 communities $5,000 each to develop plans to deal with major health problems. Another $19,000 is allocated per community to carry out the approved plans.
The Healthy Hawaii Initiative's broad mission is to create healthier families by preventing smoking and obesity and encouraging better eating habits and exercise, said Virginia Pressler, DOH deputy director for health resources administration.
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The program includes community development, school activities and professional education.The idea is for health-care organizations to work with families to change attitudes and behavior, to make small changes over time until it becomes habit, Pressler said.
Profiles will be developed this summer for the 26 communities to identify specific problems. Drugs and violence are strong concerns, but there is little hope of making changes until bigger lifestyle issues are addressed, she said.
A preliminary profile was done for Hilo as an example in compiling results last year of 110 health indicators for the 26 regions.
Hawaii County had the highest percentage of overweight people in the state -- 54.3 percent -- and in Hilo it was 55.1 percent. That county also had the highest percentage of adult smokers (23 percent) and the highest lung cancer mortality (43.6 percent).
"We chose to highlight Hilo because it is the second-largest city in the state, and also for the ease of compiling data at this stage," said Susan Jackson, director of the tobacco settlement fund project, which encompasses the Healthy Hawaii Initiative.
Except for childhood obesity (double the national rate), she said Hawaii's health statistics look good when compared nationally.
"Culturally, we celebrate everything with food," Jackson said. "Just getting people to be more aware of what they're putting in their mouths, both nutritionally balanced and portion-controlled, that's the hardest thing to do."
Tobacco use was identified as the top health concern on Molokai, said Russell Kallstrom, research and program coordinator of Lamalama Ka Ili (Shining Forth with Health). The island also has one of the state's highest diabetes rates, and about 65 percent of native Hawaiian residents are obese, he said.
Lamalama Ka Ili is working with many partners to look at chronic diseases, to focus on risk factors and develop culturally appropriate ways to address exercise and nutrition, Kallstrom said.
They plan to start a program to stop smoking at an assisted-living facility for seniors, and a volleyball-basketball league has been organized at the county gym for older residents, he said.
Kawika Yahiro, Nuuanu-Makiki Boys and Girls Club grants administrator, said a stop-smoking and prevention program has begun and activities are planned under the Fitness Authority, a curriculum between Boys and Girls America and the Sports Authority.
He said the club is trying to get youngsters into some kind of exercise by making it a game, such as Ultimate Frisbee, a combination soccer-Frisbee game. "The kids love it."
Teryn Bentley, a University of Hawaii track and field scholarship student who works part time at the Boys and Girls Club, said her challenge is "to get them out moving, out playing, having a good time instead of hanging out at the club."
Don Bebee, executive director of Family Support Services of West Hawaii, said North Kohala residents began meeting and talking about the need to prevent exposure of young children to drugs and alcohol. A nutrition curriculum was developed for kindergarten and first-graders, and a "fun fitness" day is planned May 10, among other activities.
The community also is using $130,000 from the state Drug and Alcohol Prevention Division for Project Venture, a model program from the Navaho tribe in California for children 12 to 17, he said. "It is very culturally sensitive and action-oriented, with no preaching about the sins of drugs and alcohol."
