Message from the CHL Director
Greetings! As the Program Director for the Children’s Healthy Living Program for Remote Underserved Minority Populations in the Pacific Region (CHL) I would like to thank all of the Land Grant Directors, CHL Co-investigators, CHL Staff members, and Community partners from across the U.S. Affiliated Pacific for joining CHL as we work toward increasing healthy, active living and preventing childhood obesity. We look forward to the relationships that we will be building and strengthening as we work to foster an environment of active play and healthy eating across the Pacific.
I would also like to take this time to welcome you all to the CHL Newsletter! The CHL Newsletter will be issued quarterly (October, January, April, and July) and will be a venue to keep our partners across the Pacific updated and informed on the CHL program – a vital point of connection and documentation across the great Pacific. The CHL Newsletter will also be archived on the newly launched CHL website (www.chl-pacific.org). We welcome you to visit and peruse the website from time to time.
I am happy to report that Local Advisory Committees (LAC) have been established in a majority of the CHL participating regions and relationships are being established with partnering programs and communities across the Pacific. Details on the CHL Training program in child obesity prevention, as well as application forms for CHL funding for degree training, are posted on the CHL website (http://www.chl-pacific.org/trainingeducation).
I look forward to continuing this journey with all of you.
Professor Rachel Novotny, PhD, RD
Principal Investigator and Program Director, Children’s Healthy Living Program
All About CHL
The Children’s Healthy Living Program for Remote Underserved Minority Populations in the Pacific Region (CHL) is a partnership among remote Pacific states and other jurisdictions of the US: Alaska, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, Hawaii, Republic of Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. All of these jurisdictions have US Land Grant Colleges, which have united in the Pacific Land Grant Alliance. These Pacific US Land Grant Colleges are combining efforts to train a public health nutrition work force, conduct public health nutrition research and communicate nutrition and health related information to the public. With no US National Nutrition monitoring (i.e.,National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) in these jurisdictions, the CHL project will provide valuable insight and guidance to children’s obesity prevention programs and policies of the region through a food, nutrition, and physical activity data management and evaluation system and dissemination of information. The goal of this Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) Coordinated Agricultural Program (CAP) among Pacific Region USDA-defined Experimental Program for Stimulating Competitive Research (EPSCoR) states/jurisdictions is to engage the community, and focus on capacity building and sustainable environmental change to build social/cultural, physical/built, and political/economic environments that will promote active play and intake of healthy food to prevent young child obesity in the Pacific Region. CHL will serve as a model for other regions with remote underserved Native populations at risk for obesity. We thank you all of our collaborators for being a part of this venture! Meet our group, in the picture below from our June meeting, and on this page of all employees.
CHL-wide News
The CHL program celebrated the success of its first annual meeting this past July 10-1,2011. Thank you to all of the CHL team members who traveled from across the US and the Pacific to attend the annual meeting. This meeting facilitated the relationship-building of CHL personnel, allowed for the CHL program structure to be determined, and for goals, objectives and values to be refined.
Aside from the discussions and brainstorming, there were other activities incorporated into the meeting such as attending Ka’ala Farm for Cultural Learning on the West Coast of Oahu for an educational session on traditional Native Hawaiian agricultural practices, as well as a community networking session hosted by CHL at the East-West Center. The networking session also included a pro bono performance by the local band, Kolohe Kai. Other notable activities included cultural presentations by each of the teams from American Samoa, Alaska, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the Freely Associated States of Micronesia. However, the most memorable part was the healthy and delicious meals and snacks served to us the final day of the Annual Meeting at Kapiolani Community College (KCC). Thank you to CHL Co-Investigator Ron Takahashi and the Culinary Arts Department at KCC for that wonderful close to the meeting.
Many things were accomplished at the First Annual CHL Meeting and although the to-do list was expansive, the CHL team members left motivated and impassioned to develop a program that will sustainably impact the communities across the Pacific to improve healthy living in our children. We look forward to the Second Annual CHL meeting in Honolulu in June of 2012!
Alaska
Alaska is preparing to start the CHL Physical Activity Pilot in the coming weeks. Staff are being hired and Head Start locations have been identified. The Alaska Local Advisory Committee development is in progress and partnerships are being established.
American Samoa
American Samoa hosted its inaugural Local Advisory Committee (LAC) meeting at the American Samoa Community College’s Department of Community and Natural Resources on August 17, 2011. Fifteen community and health care leaders were invited by Chairman Dr. Daniel Mageo Aga. Their backgrounds included church ministers, a food importer, a grocery store owner, a representative of the Territory’s largest private employer, and staff from the Veteran’s Administration, LBJ Tropical Medical Center, and Departments of Agriculture, Education, Health, and Human & Social Services.
The Site Co-Investigator, Dr. Don Vargo, presented a slide show describing the Children’s Healthy Living Program and the LAC’s role. This was followed by a lively discussion supporting the need for such an in-depth, sustained project focused on obesity intervention. This would complement disparate activities conducted by other government departments targeting the obesity epidemic. As a timely example, several LAC members joined other representatives from both the executive and legislative branches of government who attended a bilateral health summit between the Independent State of Samoa and American Samoa held in Apia, Samoa, August 18 & 19, to combat non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In their joint bilateral resolution, participants recognized NCDs as a national emergency. Obesity was identified as a common denominator to nearly all NCDs.
The LAC meeting concluded on the need to implement policy that makes the healthy choice the easy choice for all residents. The participants pledged their full and continual support to help guide the CHL team’s efforts in conducting the intervention project.
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
The CNMI Local Advisory Committee (LAC) chaired by the Northern Marianas College’s Cooperative Research, Extension, and Education Service (NMC – CREES) Director Ross Manglona convened for the very first time on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at the Pacific Islands Club (PIC). The CNMI LAC members are comprised of governmental and non-governmental agencies, community-based organizations, faith-based groups, and a parent representative. The purpose of the meeting was to inform LAC members about the CHL Project. After a comprehensive presentation given by the CNMI CHL Team, LAC members expressed enthusiasm about the project. Each member affirmed their commitment to ensuring the success of the five-year endeavor. With the CNMI LAC now in place, the CNMI CHL Team is confident that all aspects of the project will be successfully implemented. The partnership established with the LAC members is reassuring and a key component of carrying out the mission of the CHL grant.
Freely Associated States of Micronesia(FAS)
Dr Jonathan Deenik and Dr Ashley Stokes traveled to Pohnpei from August 8 – 13, 2011. During their trip they had the opportunity to meet with the Land Grant Director, Acting Secretary of Health, Chief of Preventive Health Services, nurses at the State Hospital, nursing instructors at the College of Micronesia, Acting Director of Island Food Community, and Chief of the Department of Agriculture. Deenik is currently working on hiring research assistants for the Freely Associated States region. Deenik was in the region from October 5 – 14, 2011 (Republic of Palau, Pohnpei and the Republic of the Marshall Islands) organizing meetings to focus on establishing a Local Advisory Committee in the region and carrying out initial needs assessment.
Meetings introducing the CHL program were also held in Koror (Oct. 7), Kolonia (Oct. 11), and Majuro (Oct 14). The meeting were well attended with a broad representation from governmental agencies, education, NGOs, and traditional leadership. Our Land Grant partners in the region (Thomas Taro in Palau, Jim Currie in FSM, and Biuma Samson in RMI) are currently assisting in the establishment of LACs in each jurisdiction.
Guam
The Guam CHL team held its first Local Advisory Committee (LAC) meeting on August 11, 2011 at the Mangilao Golf Resort. The Director of Cooperative Extension Service of the University of Guam, Dr. Lee Yudin, chairs the Guam LAC. Other members represented various sectors of the community. The following individuals were present at the meeting.
31st Guam Legislature
– Aline Yamashita – Senator
Guam Department of Education
– Anita Enriquez – Education Policy Board
– Janice Yatar – School Health Nurse
– Jesse Rosario – School Food/Nutrition Program Coordinator
– Kathy Schroeder – Guam HeadStart Director
Sarah Vinch – Parent and Creator of Fudooboards
Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services
– Charlie Morris – Coordinator of WIC Program
Mayor’s Council of Guam
– Carol Tayama – Mayor of Agat Village (for Chair of Mayor’s Council, Mayor Melissa Savares)
University of Guam
– Helen Whippy – Senior Vice President of Academic/Student Affairs
– Victor Artero – Associate Director of Cooperative Extension Service (for Director Lee Yudin)
Hawaii
Hawai‘i launched the CHL Physical Activity Pilot in August. The pilot aimed to test the feasibility of three methods of collecting physical activity data for preschool-age children. We recruited participants from selected Head Start classrooms. We enrolled 51 children and their parents to participate in order to reach our goal of 40 participants to complete the pilot. We have found the teaching staff and parents to be supportive.
For the first method of physical activity, children wore accelerometers on their wrists for two one-week periods. An accelerometer is a device the size of a wrist watch that measures physical activity. The second method included physical activity logs where parents wrote their child’s activities for three days. For the third method, a CHL staff member trained in a method of observing children’s physical activity (SOFIT), observed one child each school day at Head Start who was wearing an accelerometer. Using the SOFIT method, CHL staff documented if a child was sitting, standing, lying down, walking, or very active at frequent intervals. We will analyze the data from each of these three methods for children as a whole. We will also analyze the performance of the measures by linking the results from each source for each child.
We have completed the data collection in two of the sites and the third site will be complete in mid-October. Working with the site staff, the children, and the parents on this pilot has been a very rewarding experience for our team. We have learned many lessons that will help us for next year’s full study.