Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 12, 1 Kekemapa 1993 — Health project brings students and community together [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Health project brings students and community together

A project that sponsors a new way to educate health care students promises to help increase the number of primary care practitioners in underserved areas, and by doing so, give their residents a more personal type of 'ohana health care. Administered by Ke Ola O Hawai'i, the project links three O'ahu community health centers and the University of Hawai'i Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Public Heakh and Social Work into a community-based partnership. The project was initiated to help alleviate the shortage of heakh professionals in many areas, caused by graduates selecting specialized careers instead of

going into primary care practice. Several years ago, the Kellog Foundation became convinced that the trend could be reversed by changing the way health care professionals were trained. As a result, the Foundation funded Hawai'i and six other model projects across the U.S. to create "community partnerships" whieh resulted in medical. nursing, public health and social work students spending part of their week at community heakh eenters and in the community. With the cooperation of community members themselves, they are "leaming by doing." This way, students who train in the eommunity will be more likely to retum there after graduation.

This year, 56 Ke Ola students are training at Kalihi-Pālama Heallh Center (KPHC), the Queen Emma Clinics (QEC) in downtown Honolulu, and at the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center (WCCHC), leaming to work with classmates from different health professions. Theis training is very different from traditional classroom leaming methods in whieh students learn mainly through textbooks and lectures. An important feature of their Ke Ola training involves interaction with eommunity members, assessing their heahh concerns, and initiating programs for whieh they say they need. Their efforts are already benefiting Hawaiians, according to Ho'oipo DeCambra, a Wai'anae community leader and a member of the Ke Ola O Hawai'i board. DeCambra sees the community partnership as a way to improve the quality of life for Hawaiians who, as a group, have some of the worst heahh statistics in the nation. She is dismayed by the high incidence of diabetes, stroke and heart disease afflicting Hawaiians and is stunned by the high mortality rates from breast and cervical cancer revealed by a recent community study done among Hawaiian women. DeCambra, a former member of WCCHC's Board of Directors, actively supports the Wai'anae Community Mental Heahh Center and is associated with the

WCCHC Wai'anae Cancer eenter. She firmly believes that good health is rooted in the ty"I believe that you have to go where the people are. We know what we need, and we want programs that will be true to the community. That's why I'm excited about having Ke Ola O Hawai'i in Wai'anae," says DeCambra. This year's class of Ke Ola students has already started outreach projects in their communities. This includes work with the Kewalo Hawaiian Homestead Community Association, the Kūhiō Park Terrace community, and the 'Ōpelu Project in Wai'anae.

Students are enthusiastic about their experiences with eommunity health care. In describing their motivations for entering the Ke Ola program they use words like "sharing" and "serving the eommunity," and express hope they ean "make a difference." Nine students, who have Hawaiian background, aspire to work in health care careers that "help our people." But if students are happy to be working in the community, the residents are happy to have them around. Iulei Pei, president of the Kūhiō Park Terrace Residents Association, says, "We weleome these students in our community. We ean really use their help."

Annie Ah Hoon of the Kewalo Hawaiian Homestead Community Association discusses the health needs of her community with students.

Ke Ola students visit the 'Opelu Project taro patches.