Health research focuses on Wai'anae
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer
WAI'ANAE — Winona Uahinui works out twice a week at the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center and has pushed aside her fried rice, eggs 'n' Spam breakfasts in favor of oatmeal with skim milk and juice.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
She's trying to lose 30 pounds and gain better control of her diabetes, and is getting help through the center's integrative medicine program. This week, the center learned it was selected for a four-year, $800,000 federal research grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture designed to link the center's health and nutrition programs to area farmers, fishermen and aquaculture.
Winona Uahinui, 61, a patient with the Integrative Medicine Clinic on the grounds of the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, exercises under the direction of cardiac rehabilitation specialist Jasmin Galicinao.
U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, announced the grant as part of the federal government's effort to improve residents' health while supporting local agriculture. He said the money recognizes that nutrition-related conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease have become epidemic in the nation.
Case said preventive medicine will save lives and money. The Wai'anae health center got the grant, he said, because of its track record of innovative programs that work. "What's been missing is the connection back to food production," he said.
Uahinui, a 61-year-old Wai'anae resident, thinks making healthier foods available and accessible will help her and her neighbors and friends lose weight and live healthier. She said she put on weight since 1999 when she retired as a state worker and went over 200 pounds after vascular surgery.
Now, she's trying to change her habits. She's getting help from cardiac rehab specialist Jasmin Galicinao and others at the center. Her weight fluctuates, but she feels she's attaining habits that improve her health. "If I didn't come, I would weigh 500 pounds," she said.
Dr. Stephen Bradley said the center focuses on finding practical ways to help people rather than expecting them to overhaul their lifestyles.
The center's Sheila Beckham will be the principal investigator for the program, looking at what programs help the center's patients to lose weight. "We're trying to network within the agricultural community to increase production and availability of healthy food," she said.
Beckham is excited that the research money went to a community program. "That's where the problems lie," she said."Rarely are these funds used at the community level."
Uahinui would like to see a Hawaiian fishing village supported, where people could buy akule and other native fish. She said a lo'i, or taro-growing area, would also help encourage healthy eating.
"We're all overweight; we're all Hawaiians," she said.
She said there are 10 pizza businesses near her house but no health-food stores.
Hortensia Lee, also of Wai'anae, said she stopped smoking and gained 15 pounds, so she's just starting to try to lose weight with the center's help. Lee said high prices for fresh fruits keep people going back to meals of meat and rice with brown gravy.
Lee said she is frustrated to find papayas costing $2 and watermelons that sell for $4. "Sometimes, I buy a piece. If it were cheaper, I might buy two," she said.
The center's associate medical director, Dr. Stephen Bradley, said the center focuses on finding practical ways to help people rather than expecting them to overhaul their lifestyles.
For example, a 15-year-old boy who weighed more than 300 pounds went to the center for help. It turned out he was drinking 12 sodas a day. Bradley said he and the boy set a goal of cutting back to nine sodas. When the teen returned for his next appointment, he proudly told Bradley that he was drinking seven sodas a day and had lost 3 pounds.
Since then, the teen has lost 10 percent of his body weight and is continuing to set and reach goals.
"He's doing really well," Bradley said.
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
