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Ka Wai Ola, August 2010
By Lisa Asato ALU LIKE, Inc. is expanding its free Chronic Disease Self-Management Program to a younger Native Hawaiian audience after finding successful results with kūpuna who took the six-week class. The program focuses on setting achievable goals among peers and a leader who all face the same problem - managing chronic disease. "What this workshop is really good at is telling people how to achieve goals in small steps," said Elizabeth Meahl, Director of ALU LIKE, Inc. Kumu Kahi Department. Meahl is diagnosed pre-diabetic and also participates in the classes she leads. People with chronic disease don't have to accept that they're parents had the disease, now they have it and there's nothing they can do about it. Meahl said. ''There are things you can do to make life a little better," she said. 'We've had some kūpuna who were told by a doctor to 'Go home and lose weight," she said, but when you're not told how to do it or given encouragement, the results aren't going to happen. "When people come to this class, everyone is asked to make an action plan every week - and it has to be achievable goals and something you want to do." Some kūpuna will say they will walk to the mailbox "and at the end of the week, when they've done it they realize what they can do and that they can take steps from there." The Chronic Disease Self Management Program also covers nutrition, stress relief, exercise, muscle relaxation and depression. It was developed at Stanford University Patient Education Research Center as a collaborative research project between Stanford and Northern California Kaiser Permanent Medical Care Program. It was tested on people of different ages, ethnic groups and cultures. Meahl said the program has been offered to kūpuna here since 2007 and has led to improvements in exercise, decreased days in the hospital and improved feelings of well-being. ALU LIKE, Inc. has received a grant from OHA, which helps the Non-profit offer the workshops for free. On O'ahu, trained leaders are Regan Krantz and Bernie Kaopio. The program may expand to Moloka'i, where Kaui Manera and Debbie Benjamin are trained to lead the program. Chronic disease includes cholesterol, hypertension, thyroid issues, asthma, cancer, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes and fibromyalgia and encompasses anything that "keeps you from feeling as good as you think you ought to feel, said Meahl. Two years ago Victoria Vicky Midado, a 63-year-old with 11 grandchildren, took the class and said she feels better than ever. Midado was already on a path toward improving her health, including taking health and recreation classes for kūpuna at Papakolea, but she what she liked about the self-management program was setting her action plan. Over the long-term Midado, who has diabetes, has been losing weight from a high of 300 pounds. Most recently she lost 50 pounds and her goal of reaching 160 pounds by Aug. 7 is possible, she said. "It's a really good program," she said. "I hope most other people who have a health problem or obesity problem would look into this. They can learn a lot – I did." The free program is offered to Native Hawaiians 18 and older. New workshops start monthly. All participants receive a copy of the book "Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions." For information, call 535-1327 or 535-6763. This article originally appeared in the August 2010 issue of Ka Wai Ola, the newspaper of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. |
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