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Newswatch
Star-Bulletin staff and wire service
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North Shore shark alert is off
Lifeguards removed shark-sighting signs yesterday on the North Shore after no shark was seen near Chun's Reef and Laniakea, a city news release said.
Lifeguards checked the area in the morning after posting the signs the day before.
On Saturday afternoon a police helicopter spotted a 12- to 15-foot tiger shark swimming in the area.
Pediatric care plan is praised
The Hawaii Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and health insurer UHA have received a Special Achievement Award for an innovative collaboration.
The American Academy of Pediatrics presented the award to Hawaii Chapter President Dr. Galen Chock at a recent meeting in Portland, Ore.
In the collaborative project, pediatricians with the academy recommended preventive pediatric examinations, and UHA worked with them to develop a tool to measure use of the procedures.
UHA pays its providers an extra amount to use the tool to collect data to help document the effectiveness of preventive care and identify children at risk for serious conditions, such as childhood obesity, according to a news release.
"The benefits of this kind of collaboration are enormous for all of us," said Dr. Max Botticelli, UHA chief executive officer. "Excellent preventive care can identify illnesses before they become life-threatening or chronic. The health of our children will improve with a system of recognized preventive care, and health care becomes much more cost-effective."
Chock said the pediatric health screening program "is the product of thoughtful pediatric input and health plan initiative which recognizes that optimal child health involves important screening by pediatric health care providers."
The screening program was introduced in February to a group of pediatricians who tested it, then it was opened to all HAAP member pediatricians. UHA is now offering the program to participating primary care physicians providing health care services to UHA members.
Pacific islanders' health targeted
The University of Hawaii has received an $850,000 federal grant to provide health care for residents of the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye has announced.
Special emphasis will be given to prevention of breast and cervical cancer, he said.
A Pacific Center of Excellence in the Elimination of Disparities will be established by the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine's Department of Family Medicine and Community Health to provide resources and technical assistance for comprehensive health care strategies.
Services will be provided on Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, Palau and Federated States of Micronesia and to more than 100,000 migrants from those areas to Hawaii or the mainland.
"The U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands suffer significant disparities in health care access and outcomes when compared to the United States," Inouye said in a news release.
Inouye said the center "can play a crucial role in ensuring that culturally acceptable cancer screening and preventive services can reach people in remote rural areas as well as in urban centers."
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Police, Fire, Courts
Star-Bulletin staff
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NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Garden Isle tot drowns in pool
A 4-year-old Kekaha boy drowned yesterday in a swimming pool in Kekaha, a Kauai County news release said.
The boy was attending a party with his family when he ran into trouble at about 2:15 p.m.
HONOLULU
Homicide in Kalihi spurs police probe
Police opened a murder investigation yesterday in connection with the death of a Kalihi woman that also left a man in critical condition with stab wounds.
The incident occurred at 2110 Kahaha St. at 2:35 p.m., police said.
The man, who was in his late 40s or early 50s, was taken to the Queen's Medical Center, while the 44-year-old woman died at the scene at 3:23 p.m., said Honolulu Emergency Medical Services spokesman Bryan Cheplic.
A resident at the multiunit, two-story dwelling said the couple had lived there with their two teenage children for about eight years.
Eric Villaver, 44, arrived on Gulick Avenue, where police taped off Kahaha Street, and waited to be allowed into his home, the same building where the victim lived. He identified the victim as Linda.
"I never know this can happen like this," he said.
Villaver had lived upstairs with his family for 15 years, while the other family lived downstairs in the back.
NORTH SHORE
1 dead and 1 hurt as mo-peds crash
A 14-year-old boy died yesterday after a mo-ped accident near Waialua that also left a 15-year-old boy in serious condition.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office identified the teenager as Gjino Kanahele of Honolulu.
Police said Kanahele was traveling west on Kaukonahua Road on an unregistered mo-ped at 1:04 p.m. About a mile north of Kamananui Road, Kanahele drifted onto the shoulder on a left curve and hit the right guardrail. He bounced back onto the roadway and collided with the 15-year-old on another mo-ped that was traveling alongside him, police said.
Police said Kanahele sustained head, body and other injuries and died at Kapiolani Medical Center at Pali Momi. The other teenager was taken to Pali Momi in serious condition.
Neither boy was wearing a helmet, and speed might have been a factor in the crash, police said.
It was the 52nd Oahu traffic fatality this year compared with 79 last year.