It is wonderful to see every jurisdiction in full tilt in every CHL domain, notably in “intervention” activities in this phase of CHL. Thank you for your work and passion!
Our 22 CHL trainees are all actively pursuing their degrees at the University of Alaska, University of Guam and the University of Hawai‘i. They are our future. As they take the responsibility to blend the CHL messages with the practical realities of their jurisdictions, they need all of our help. We aim to build Pacific-wide partnerships as well as within jurisdiction partnerships. Thank you to those who support our trainees- their families, teachers, advisors and community members.
Please enjoy reading about our connected, yet varied, CHL program activities in each jurisdiction.
Aloha, Rachel
Professor Rachel Novotny, PhD, RD
Principal Investigator and Program Director, Children’s Healthy Living Program
From the Editor
We think it is important to share with our readers what our 22 CHL trainees are doing in their advanced degree programs in Hawai‘i, Alaska, and Guam. These young people will return home soon to impact their communities. Part of their training has them giving presentations, including this one by Guam’s Tanisha Aflague. Tanisha’s abstract titled, “Adaptation and Evaluation of the WillTry tool for Use among Children 3-12 years in Guam,” was accepted for an oral presentation at the University of Hawai‘i East-West Center’s 13th annual International Graduate Student Conference (EWC-IGSC). The conference took place at the Imin International Conference Center on the UHM campus from February 13-15, 2014. The EWC-IGSC provides an opportunity for graduate students from around the world to present their work in a formal, international setting. More than 80 graduate students from 34 universities comprised the 24 themed panels on areas affecting the Asia Pacific region. Tanisha presented as a part of the “Food Production and Consumption” panel.
Alaska
CHL Team Alaska
CHL Alaska kicked off intervention activities in December by arranging for the Women’s Basketball Team at UAF to visit Thrivalaska Head Start to promote an active lifestyle among the children. The athletes taught students how to stretch, pass, dribble, and shoot hoops! Staff created activity spinners with suggestions for summer and winter activities, as well as certificates of achievement with week-long activity trackers. These materials were distributed to parents after the athletes’ visit to encourage children’s physical activity at home, especially during the cold winter here in Alaska.
December also saw an end to baseline data collection in three of our four communities. With a goal of recruiting 200 children in each community, our final numbers were 203 children in Fairbanks, 196 children in Mat-Su, and 169 children in Anchorage. Staff will return to Kenai at the end of February for one last baseline recruitment event.
Additionally, the past few months have seen significant progress in organizing a physical activity and nutrition training for early childhood educators in Fairbanks. This train-the-trainer workshop, created by Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services, is titled “Creating Healthier Lives: Good Nutrition, A Classroom Mission” and is scheduled for Saturday, February 15, at Fairbanks’ Thread office. Topics include why weight matters, nutrition in the classroom, and physical activity in the classroom. The training will be delivered by Rachel Hanft, a Family Support Specialist at Alaska Center for Resource Families, a non-profit that supports and trains foster and adoptive families. She is also the Chair of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Early Childhood Development Commission, and is President of Enep’ut Children’s Center. Her extensive experience in the community makes her the ideal person to deliver this training.
We have continued to develop our relationship with the UAF Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program. Several volunteers have reached out to CHL to express interest in earning their 40 community service hours by delivering nutrition and/or garden education to preschoolers. We have also created a preliminary binder of nutrition/garden education curriculum for the Master Gardeners to develop and use in the future. During the next few months, we will work with Head Starts and preschools in Fairbanks to gauge their interest in this initiative.
Below, UAF Nanooks visit Thrivalaska Head Start to kick off CHL Alaska’s intervention activities.
American Samoa
CHL Team American Samoa
American Samoa’s CHL program, having completed its measurements, is now on the roll increasing intervention efforts. One major activity has been multiple visits to schools (Head Start, K-5 and grades 1 – 3) in the intervention villages. There, CHL nutritional staff conduct workshops and physical activities using the LANA (Learning About Nutrition through Activities) preschool program while also targeting all six CHL behavioral changes. Learning materials are adapted linguistically and culturally to the Samoan context. So far there have been ten school visits in five different intervention sites involving participation of 305 children.
Another major achievement was bringing together 16 ministers of various denominations from churches within the intervention villages to the CNR Wellness Center to develop intervention strategies through the churches. CHL lead site Co-PI Aufa’i Apulu Ropeti Areta presented a PowerPoint on the CHL program objectives and strategies and generated group discussion on the role theministers can play in facilitating healthy behavioral changes in their congregations. It was an engaging discussion and many ministers expressed strong intentions to integrate health messages into future sermons. CHL American Samoa is planning continued follow up and documentation.
Other intervention activities are also developing. Lead site Co-PI, Aufa’i, Tuna’i Alfred Peters, CNR Manager of Agricultural Extension, and Ian Gurr, CNR Horticulturalist, have begun scouting the intervention villages and discussing sites for establishing vegetable gardens and hydroponics. Dr. Don Vargo gave a brief presentation on the CHL program to nine members of the America Samoa’s “Obesity Study Committee”. Intervention Specialist, Agnes Vargo has been communicating with key community partners in developing other types of intervention activities. Designing and producing social marketing and media to stimulate and reinforce the six CHL behavioral changes also continue.
The issue of obesity is gaining increasing attention throughout American Samoa. The Governor recently appointed an Obesity Task force to guide policies and strategies to reduce obesity, of which CNR Director/Dean Tapa’au Dr. Dan Aga is a member. Obesity is an environmental, social, cultural, political, and economic issue that must be addressed at all fronts.
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
CHL Team Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Sidewalk Art Painting Project
Special to CHLNews by Ms. Thelma Cing, Kagman Role Model
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “An ounce of action is worth a ton of theories.” How true and encouraging this saying is, as I reflect on our journey to advocate for healthier habits in our community. Not too long ago, the community role models for the Children’s Healthy Living Program agreed to make low maintenance and cost effective playground accessible to promote playing and movement across all ages. Kagman Elementary School is the priority because it serves a little bit over four hundred students and it does not have any playground equipment to foster organized and purposeful playing. The plan is to design and paint variety of art on the sidewalk that would attract students and encourage interactions and playing in certain areas. The planning process was lengthy, but the outcome makes it all worthwhile.
The planning team first solicited and secured student volunteers from Kagman High School since funding is minimal and limited to supplies and materials. The volunteers helped finalize the plan and brought the sidewalk art painting project to its fruition. The student volunteers measured, outlined and painted all of the different designs of hopscotch, flowers, caterpillar and many more. It is true service learning for these students, as they used the skills and knowledge they learned in the classroom to participate and craft such beautiful art. The creation serves dual purpose, to beautify and to promote purposeful movement for our students. The effects of this project will sure leave a lasting impact not just with our children, but the community as a whole. After all, the outcome is indeed a testimony of our children’s potential and their sense of responsibility for their community.
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Freely Associated States of Micronesia
CHL Team Freely Associated States
A lot has happened since we last reported. Two regions of the FAS have since completed the data collection phase of the CHL Prevalence survey. The inaugural CHL prevalence Survey took place in Pohnpei from October 21-November 7, 2013. Four sites in Pohnpei were visited (Nett, Sekere, Wenik, Mand). Two hundred and three children were anthropometrically measured, while 102 received Actical acclerometers. All Acticals were successfully recovered from Pohnpei and the majority of the parents returned to the recovery days with completed Food and Activity Logs. The local Pohnpei team has since completed scanning of all the forms and has begun data entry. The CHL FAS Team is thankful to our local partner, the Island Food Community of Pohnpei as well as the local staff, parents and children whose involvement made the survey a success. Special thanks also to Mrs. Emihner Johnson, our outreach education assistant in Pohnpei, who worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the Pohnpei survey.
More recently (January-February 2014), the FAS CHL team worked alongside the Marshall Islands Single State Agency and local community groups to complete the Prevalence survey in this jurisdiction. Over 200 Marshallese children were anthropometrically measured (height, weight, waist circumference), as well as assessed for Acanthosis Nigricans. Some of the FAS team were able to witness life in the outer Marshall islands, as children were recruited (and measured) on Ebeye (Kwajalein Atoll) and Airok (Ailinglaplap Atoll). The majority of the children were recruited from Majuro atoll; the capital and main urban center of RMI. About 75-80% of parents in RMI returned to “recovery” days with completed food and activity logs as well as wrappers, labels and packages of items the child consumed during the 2 day log period.
The RMI team has also begun completing the CAT (Community Assessment Tools) forms for their region. During the visit to Ailinglaplap, inventories and forms were completed for the atoll. Local partners and volunteers were involved in this effort. We extend special thanks to our partner KIJLE in RMI for their tireless efforts in making the survey a success.
Guam
CHL Team Guam
Social marketing
During the Christmas season, the Guam CHL team worked in collaboration with businesses and village groups to decorate medians on the main roads. The CHL team was able to secure an area across the St. Francis Catholic Church and St. Francis School, close to the crosswalk for the decorating event. A sandwich board was created to display the CHL objectives and was visible to the public for a month.
CHL mini-grant seed fund
As a pilot to the mini-grant seed fund program for target villages, the Guam CHL associates had opportunities to gain experience in the grant writing process by submitting proposals of their own. The associates will then become technical advisors as the mini-grant is made available to the community. This program aims to create lasting partnerships through the development of sustainable programs that exemplify one or more of CHL’s target behaviors. The mini-grant program will fund projects in amounts up to $1,000.00 in the villages of Yona, Talofofo, and/or Yigo.
Healthy hearts fair
As a means of continuing to promote the CHL objectives at M.U. Lujan Elementary, the CHL team participated in the Healthy Hearts Fair for students and parents. The team conducted SPARK activities, Organ Wise nutrition education, and distributed CHL social marketing coloring sheets. Parents were also given the opportunity to sign-up for gardening, nutrition, and parent training workshops.
Hawai‘i
CHL Team Hawai‘i
Featured CHL Team Hawai‘i Partner – Active Hawai‘i Organization (ActiveHI)
Two of the biggest “losers” of all the CHL Hawai‘i partners has to be brothers Cedric and Benjamin Gates, founders of the Active Hawai‘i Organization (ActiveHI) on the Wai‘anae coast. Biggest losers because together they have lost over 150 pounds of excess body weight! As Cedric puts it, it was part of a transformation, which was literally a matter of life and death: for his family. Their entire family was obese and the effects of poor health were devastating. Their mother died of cardiovascular disease at age of 46. Their dad had diabetes and suffered his second stroke at age 46, meanwhile, Cedric and his two brothers were well on the same path. After dropping out of school at 15, “Cedric refused to become another negative statistic of the Wai‘anae Coast” as his older brother Ben described and was able to turn his life around. A life of health advocacy began by first starting with himself and then his family. With the help of his brothers and father, Cedric later founded the ActiveHI organization which focuses on childhood obesity prevention and whose mission is to have the Wai‘anae Coast youth live long lives as healthy adults through nutritional education, physical activity, and community wellness advocacy.
Cedric and Ben graduated from our first CHL Role Model Workshop in Hawai‘i last year and ActiveHI has been an “active” community partner with CHL ever since.
With community partners like CHL, the organization has held many events and classes in schools and out in the community including cooking seminars, family events, sports clinics, physical activities, and nutritional education lessons in keeping with part of its mission statement that “by providing our services to the youth, we give them the power they need to make the best healthy decisions to improve the quality of their life, while instilling healthy habits that last a lifetime.”
In January, CHL was a sponsor and participant at ActiveHI’s 2nd Annual Family Fun Fest in what was the organization’s largest community event thus far.
Ben has seen the difference ActiveHI has made with the youth in the community. “Our job is to empower the youth to take responsibility of their own health and well-being, so it’s a sign of progress when we have multiple parents telling us that their kids have started to make healthier decisions on their own,” he said proudly.
Last October, after being nominated by ActiveHI president/brother Ben, Cedric was selected by Governor Neil Abercrombie and the State Legislature as a 2013 Outstanding Children and Youth Advocate award winner.
CHL is proud to support ActiveHI and its remarkable founders for their tireless work to improve the health of Wai‘anae Coast children in their quest to make the children and families of the Wai‘anae Coast the healthiest in the state.
Find ActiveHI Org at: www.ActiveHI.org and on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/ActiveHI