Fitness challenge accepted

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer

Kuhio Park Terrace resident Fern Jarra reaches for her pedometer every day, dances with her toddlers and exercises with her neighbors in a program aimed at helping residents of the state housing project get healthier — one step at a time.

Yolanda Ambrocio, Frances Anetone, Fern Jarra and T. Alualu, pedometers in hand, are among the Kuhio homes residents and workers set on improving their fitness and health. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

The Kuhio Community Challenge comes out of the state Health Department's Start Living Healthy campaign, which is supported by tobacco settlement money.

Jarra said she put on weight when she was pregnant and had a hard time losing the pounds later. Now, she's chasing after a 2-year-old son and a 1-year-old daughter and trying to set a good example.

She tells friends and neighbors who notice the difference in her that there's no magic. "Do something, start walking. If I can do it, they can do it," she said.

She said the effort encouraged her to get her boyfriend to quit smoking just a few days into the program. She said he's surprised by the energy he has. "He's waking up early," she said with a proud smile. "He's cleaning house," she added, feigning shock.

Even before the challenge, she joined a yoga class at the community center and signed up for belly dancing two months ago. Combined with the walking, she has lost more than 20 pounds and feels healthier.

Although the Kalihi community has seen its share of violence and troubles, residents have been working for years to battle drugs and crime in their neighborhood. This new 10-week health program got off to a fast start on Nov. 10 with 15 teams of 10 people each, made up of residents and people who work there.

The state Health Department first tried to get 10 teams of 10 but found they had more volunteers than they needed so they opened it up to people who work there as well. On Monday afternoons, the teams gather for group exercises.

Participants get chances to win prizes and healthy incentives for each day of participation. If they do extra classes and activities, they earn more chances. The incentive prizes include gym memberships, healthy holiday dinner, family pass to Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park and a TV-DVD combo with health and exercise DVDs.

T. Alualu, a Kuhio homes resident for 25 years, leads an all-male team made up of co-workers in the security and maintenance team.

At 43, Alualu found himself drifting away from exercise and weightlifting and gained more than 60 pounds over the past 15 years. He said his excuse was the same as most people's: "I'm so busy."

Alualu and his wife have nine children, ranging in age from 21 to 3. So, he is busy but has a lot of motivation for being healthy. "To me, it's a wake-up call," he said. "In two weeks, I feel a difference."

The state Health Department budgeted $6,800 for the program but has stretched those dollars with help from donations and discounts from partners in the community.

Barbara Yamashita, chief of the state Health Department's Community Health division, said it is always looking for ways to reach out to more people in the community and it had good contacts in the Kuhio community and with Parents and Children Together, an agency working there.

If the program succeeds at Kuhio, it could be used as a model for other housing areas, Yamashita said.

"It's about everyday people working to make things better," she said. "It's about the little steps that you can do; it's not about looks. It's not about the Lycra group."

Frances Anetone, a 10-year resident at Kuhio and a team leader, sees a difference for people taking part and one that's needed in a community that has a problem with obesity and diabetes. Anetone said little things like handing out water bottles can help to make a difference for people who've become accustomed to grabbing a can of soda.

Anetone finds that people want to learn to prepare healthier foods for their families but have fallen into the habit of buying what's cheap and ready to eat: rice and canned meats. "We try to educate them to eat more fruits and vegetables," she said.

As part of the incentive in the challenge, Marukai Market is providing participants with 5 pounds of fruits and vegetables for each two weeks completed in the program.

Anetone said the program aims to increase exercise and healthier eating and encourage people to stop smoking, a habit that's still popular among many residents of the state housing development.

And she even saw an interest in exercise in her teenage daughter because of the pedometer. "She wouldn't move a muscle if she didn't have to," she joked.

Yolanda Ambrocio, a VISTA coordinator at Linapuni School, recruited the principal to work out, lost 5 pounds herself and is leading others to lose.

Without the group support, she wouldn't have done it, she said. "I didn't have the push."

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.