Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 9, 1 September 2012 — Queen's launching Hāna health project under an OHA grant [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Queen's launching Hāna health project under an OHA grant

By Harold Nedd From its homemade hanana bread and taro plants to its fabled highway and hidden waterfalls, Hāna is practically defined by its quiet existence on the coast of Maui. But it is a silent killer's grasp on this geographically isolated community that has residents eager to lower their risk of dying of heart disease, whieh has plagued generations of families in Hāna for decades. Starting Sept. 1, the Hāna Ulu Pono Project will take aim at heart disease and other heahh risks associated with a laek of physieal activity and proper nutrition. A $148,500 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs will help fund for a year the project iniīiated by a cardiologist from Queen's Medical Center. The project fits into a broader strategy at OHA to reduce the obesity rate among Native Hawaiians in the state. Already 80 percent of Native Hawaiians in Maui County are overweight or obese, according

to the state Department of Heahh. The fight against heart disease in Hāna is one of 22 outreach efforts statewide being funded this year with $2.4 million in grants from OHA. In Hāna, an estimated 150 Native Hawaiians are expected to benefit from the community-based project whose features include traditional Native Hawaiian practices that encourage exercise and weight control. "We're helping Hāna to benefit from resources it already has," said Dr. Todd Seto, the cardiologist from Queen's who secured the OHA grant. "Residents should see this project as a communitydriven way to improve their heahh." The plans eall for shaping the fitness and nutrition habits of Hāna residents by, for example, engaging them in such activities as fishing at least twice a week and walking together at least three times a week, SEE HĀNA HEALĪH ON PAGE 10

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The Queen's Medical Center's Hāna 'Ulu Pono Project, being supported by an OHA grant, aims to improve the health of Hāna residents through exercise and nutrition. Some participants got a head start at a more active lifestyle at the recent Relay for Life in Wailuku. - Courtesy photo

HĀNA HEALĪH

Continued from page 4 said Donalyn Naihe, director of the Hāna Ulu Pono Project. Participants will also have the option of working at Mahele Farm twice a week or working in the Kuailani lo'i from one to five days a week. In addition, kūpuna will be engaged in such activities as pieking lauhala, whieh they will weave into hats, mats, bracelets and other items. "People are really excited about this project," said Naihe. "But the most exciting part for them is the cultural aspects of the project that gets themthinking about their health and taking care of their bodies." The project grew out of a focusgroup discussion in 2010, when Queen's Medical Center engaged Hāna residents in an in-depth eonversation about heart problems that could be traced through their families. "We used information from the community meetings to shape a program that eame directly from their voices," said May Vawer, manager of the Hāna Ulu Pono Project. "The community wanted a project that was all-inclusive and would allow them to reclaim responsibility for their own heahh. ■