Wai'anae health center gets $2M grant
Advertiser Staff
The Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center was awarded $2 million from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support programs aimed at eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities among minority populations.
The Wai'anae facility was one of 40 organizations selected from 22 states to receive funding for such projects.
The five-year grant will support the Health Center's community action plan called E Ola Koa, which translates as meaning "May one live with the health, wealth and longevity of a koa tree."
The plan will augment local efforts to reduce obesity rates and cardiovascular disease among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, according to a news release from the center. The funding will support a local farmers market to increase the availability of healthy products. In addition, physical activity will be promoted through cultural and nutritional activities, such as gardening.
The Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center's collaborating partners on the CDC grant include the Waimanalo Health Center; the University of Hawai'i's School of Social Work; Ma'o organic farms of Wai'anae; Waipa Foundation on Kaua'i; Hoa 'Aina O Makaha; and Hui Ku Maoli Ola, a native-plant nursery on O'ahu.
"The Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center is pleased to receive this funding. We are dedicated to reducing, and possibly eliminating, the myriad of health disparities affecting our community," said Sheila Beckham, director of preventive health at the center and principal investigator of the CDC grant.
The Health Center, which was deemed by the Hawaii Psychological Association to have one of the healthiest workplaces last year, also has a weight-loss program. The Lifestyle Enhancement Program uses a multidisciplinary team of physicians, registered dietitians, fitness trainers and behavioral therapists to guide patients through lifestyle modification. The program has helped patients make changes to their diet, increase physical activity, lose weight, and improve the status of "co-morbid conditions."
