The National Institutes of Health was so taken with a Star-Bulletin article last year headlined "Out of the Box" about a Kalihi-Waena Elementary School class, that it adopted that theme for a national project, says an NIH representative. Isle school inspires
U.S. health programA federal institute
adopts the theme of
a Kalihi-Waena project
By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com"The NIH felt this was an excellent pilot program to promote interest in the sciences and healthy lifestyles amongst our elementary schools," said Douglas Yee, Hawaii member of the NIH Directors Council of Public Representatives.
"Project: Out of the Box" was extended to schools in South Dakota, Maryland and Washington, D.C., as well as Hawaii, he said.
He said each program addresses a particular minority population: Asian Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, American Indians and African Americans.
The Star-Bulletin story published April 18 last year described surprise boxes being sent every month to Joyce Tsuda's Kalihi-Waena fourth-graders to promote health awareness and interest in science and health professions.
Dr. Yvonne Maddox, deputy director of the NIH and the National Institute of Child Health and Development, initiated the project with Tsuda's class after visiting the school in November 2001 during a conference here.
"Dr. Maddox was so thrilled with the class, when she returned to the NIH, she arranged with several NIH institutes to send boxes about their respective institutes to this class over the remaining portion of the academic year," Yee said.
The boxes to Tsuda's 29 students included such items as water bottles, toothpaste and brushes, pens, heart-shaped key rings and information about nutrition, dental and heart health, vision and other topics.
Hilda Dixon, of Maddox's office, visited Kalihi-Waena last week, delivering boxes from NIH institutes to Robin Hashizaki's fifth-grade class.
Hashizaki said her 30 students were excited to receive the gifts, which represented dental health, the American Heart Association, inhalants, poison and sleep deprivation.
Those are health issues recognized by the NIH in January and February, she said, adding that she will follow up on them with class lessons.
The next boxes will arrive in March and May, she said.
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