Health briefs
Advertiser Staff
St. Francis re-accredited
The St. Francis Medical Center Institute of Cancer was recently re-accredited as a Community Hospital Comprehensive Program by the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons.
Paul Ross, administrative director of the St. Francis Medical Center cancer program, said the program received the highest possible rating. Of more than 1,000 programs evaluated in the United States each year, he said only about a quarter receive that rank.
"This recognition confirms our commitment to an integrated program that includes a broad spectrum of services ranging from community screening and prevention education to the best of hospice care," Ross said.
Movie critiques win awards
Five O'ahu teenagers recently won a movie review contest for motion picture critiques that also analyzed the smoking content of each film.
Kathleen Koga of the Tobacco Prevention and Education Program said the winners took part in the "Thumbs up! Thumbs Down!" project, which aims to increase awareness of the effect of tobacco use in movies, videos and on television.
The winners were Antonio Arevalo of Campbell High School, Jon Valdez and Philamer Felicitas of Waipahu High School, and Mirina Kim and Raquel Gushi of Roosevelt High School.
The Hawai'i project is a collaboration among the state Health Department's Tobacco Prevention and Education Program, Consolidated Theatres, Signature Theatres, Wallace Theatres, the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawai'i, REAL Hawaii Youth Movement Against Tobacco Use and the state Department of Education.
Actress to give health talk
Actress and producer Alicia Silverstone, who starred in such films as "Clueless," will speak in Honolulu on Thursday about "Vibrancy and the Spirit of Living."
She will talk on Thursday from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hawaiian Mission Academy on Pensacola Street.
The Vegetarian Society of Hawai'i is sponsoring the talk, which is free and open to the public. The society will offer free food samples. Silverstone will discuss her path to beauty, good health and success, and talk about ways to control your weight, look and feel better and reduce illnesses.
Midwife service applauded
The American College of Nurse-Midwives recently recognized the midwifery program at Moloka'i General Hospital's Women's Health Center with the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai'i's 2004 President's Award.
The honor recognizes the center's commitment to excellence and leadership in improving perinatal care for Hawaii's women and infants.
Susan Jacoby of the American College of Nurse-Midwives said the midwifery program at Moloka'i General Hospital is the first of its kind in the Islands and has helped in the delivery of more than 900 babies since 1985.
She said the number of nurse-midwife-attended births in Hawai'i has increased more than 500 percent since 1990, now accounting for 4 percent of vaginal births statewide.
