Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 4, 1 April 2013 — Connecting culture to better health [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Connecting culture to better health

Heona Ayau-Odom was on her way to becoming a homebody. Then the ll-year-old bookworm's mother stumbled upon a family-based healthprogramrun by Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services, a leafy enclave that emphasizes the benefits of good nutrition and culture. Since that discovery two years ago, the fifth-grader has gone from spending hours at home poring over the pages of lengthy Harry Potter books to hiking for native plants as well as growing 'ōlena in a garden at Kōkua Kalihi Valley. "She could lay in bed all day and read," said her mother, Ku'uipo Ayau-Odom. "But I wanted her to heeome more active. And since joining the program, she has heeome more active and open to doing physical activity." Known as Ehuola, the two-year-old program, whose name means vigor, highlights a new push to get entire families serious about taking meaningful steps to forge a healthier future. The program attempts to help children and their parents make a cultural eonneehon to food and fitness as a way to adopt healthier habits.

It's also among the approaches taken at Kōkua Kalihi Valley to not only encourage active living and healthy eating, but to also discourage overeating, junk-food consumption and sedentary lifestyles. Of the 10,000-plus patients the center serves every year, about 10 percent are Native Hawaiians. "We are seeing a tremendous amount of diabetes starting at a young age," said Dr. Dave Derauf, executive director of Kōkua Kalihi Valley Family Comprehensive Services. "It's not uneommon for us to treat teenagers for hypertension or coronary disease. Also, a fair amount of cancer is not unique to our patient populahon. These are lifestyle diseases that reflect a breakdown in community and a loss of eonneehon to culture. But we're also seeing a lot more community members involved in their own health. People are coming together to talk about their food and where it comes from." Examples include the Ehuola program, whieh is prompting big changes in the families whose health-care needs it has been meeting. For example, when Ku'uipo Ayau-Odom vacationed in Canada recently, she took kalo and sweet potatoes with her to make sure her family had healthy food to eat at the hotel they stayed in. This is the same family that, before participating in the program, would always eat on-the-go in between work and extracurricular pursuits. "The car ended up being where we would eat," she said. "The program reminded me of the importance of family time and how to be mindful of our heahh. Since the program, my husband quit smoking, I quit drinking and my daughter is no longer a homebody. The program is exactly what my family needed at the time." ■

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Ku'uipo Ayau-0dom, left, and her daughter, Heona, spend quality time gardening as part of the 'ohana-based health program Ehuola at Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services.