Please join us on Wednesday (4/29) and Thursday (4/30) to support our students at the Spring 2020 Summit offered via Zoom. Contact Dr. Nelson-Hurwitz via email for complete schedule and Zoom links.
Hawaiʻi healthcare workers surveyed in 2020 were primarily concerned about contracting COVID-19 at work and transmitting it to their families, according to a recently published University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa public health study.
Undergraduate students at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Office of Public Health Studies of the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work had the opportunity to volunteer with the Hawaiʻi Department of Health through Oʻahu’s Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout this challenging time, students were able to complete their spring semester gaining valuable public health experience while giving back to the community.
Students worked in the call center for Aloha United Way and Hawaiʻi Department of Health Disease Investigation Branch, and helped assemble personal protective equipment. Volunteers also provided daily wellness checks on individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 who were in quarantine. These individuals did not have a social support system and were primarily visitors who became “stranded” in Hawaiʻiafter becoming ill.
Volunteering with Oʻahu’s MRC gave students the opportunity to complete their APLE (Applied Learning Experience) hours, which are required to graduate with a BA in public health. Once the COVID-19 pandemic began, only volunteer telework hours could count toward students’ APLE hours.
Continuing to make a difference
Tiffany Marquez, a public health undergraduate student, became the liaison between student volunteers, UH Mānoa’s Public Health Practicum Coordinator Lisa Kehl and Oʻahu’s MRC Coordinator Marjorie Tayao. Due to Marquez’s outstanding leadership and attention to detail, she was hired as the COVID-19 Surge Assistant for Oʻahu’s MRC after completing her APLE internship.
“COVID-19 has definitely made us find creative ways to complete our APLE hours,” said Marquez. “I am forever grateful for the learning experience I have attained while interning with the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Oʻahu’s MRC. They accepted me with open arms and lots of aloha. It is a great honor and privilege to serve the community, especially during a pandemic.”
Public health undergraduate students Anna Davide and Dallas McCulloch were both volunteers with Oʻahu’s MRC. Through this experience, Davide and McCulloch have been able to observe the day-to-day work of public health nurses, contracts and administration, and have been given the opportunity to continue their volunteer work after completing the semester.
“I am having a good experience volunteering for the MRC,” said Davide. “It helps me gain experience in my chosen career path and gives me a venue to be useful in a stressful time. The people who run MRC keep us well trained, and I intend to stay on as long as I am on island.”
“While COVID-19 is a tragic situation around the world, this is exactly what aspiring public health professionals are training for,” said McCulloch. “I have been given a rare opportunity to be in the thick of everything during a global pandemic.”
The Public Health Undergraduate Summit, a much-anticipated biannual event that highlights student projects, went virtual in April at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. From living rooms across the islands, students, faculty members, alumni and public health community members joined via Zoom to watch students explain their completed, or proposed, projects.
This spring semester, 37 students presented posters of their literature reviews (an early step of the capstone project), and nine others shared research findings or policy analyses based on completed service-learning experiences.
The capstone projects are completed over three semesters, where students familiarize themselves with a public health topic and apply it, either in a community or research setting while working with a community mentor or faculty advisor. Then students spend a semester linking the academic preparation to their field experiences and presenting their work.
“We’re so proud of these students,” said Vanessa Buchthal, an assistant professor with the Office of Public Health Studies, who helped coordinate the summit. “We moved to online education while the students were in the middle of working on their projects, and they’ve come through.”
Many students focused their projects on public health issues facing Hawaiʻi. Yongqi Ou investigated ways to prevent opioid misuse in Hawaiʻi, Taryn Furman studied access to water sports for children with disabilities and Kaitlin Tilitile researched how to increase suicide prevention awareness among teachers in Hawaiʻi. Samantha Harper looked at policies to increase access to after school programs for youth in Hawaiʻi and Christine Quiaoit examined ways to prevent falls in older adults.
“We’ve received some wonderful feedback from alumni and community members who were excited to participate via Zoom this year,” said Denise Nelson-Hurwitz, the undergraduate chair for public health.
“The students have done a lovely job, and we’re excited to see some of them graduate and join the community of public health workers in Hawaiʻi,” Buchthal said. “A strong public health workforce is needed now more than ever.”
Public Health Undergraduate Summit now online! Please join us today (4/29) and tomorrow (4/30) to support our students at the Spring 2020 Summit offered via Zoom. Contact Dr. Nelson-Hurwitz via email for complete schedule and Zoom links.
Public Health Undergraduate Summit now online! Please join us today (4/29) and tomorrow (4/30) to support our students at the Spring 2020 Summit offered via Zoom. Contact Dr. Nelson-Hurwitz via email for complete schedule and Zoom links.
Meet Blue Zones Project – Mānoa-Maikiki-McCully-Mō‘ili‘ili (4M) intern Lauren Smithers! She is an undergraduate student at University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in the Public Health program, works at Banán, is a trainer at F45 Training, and practices real estate.
What's your dream job?
I don’t necessarily have a dream job, but I would love to find a way to encompass all of my passions into a career. I want to combine health, nutrition, exercise and sustainability into one field. I would love a career that allows me to travel often and learn about the different people and ecosystems around the world.
What is your favorite Power 9® longevity lesson and why?
My favorite Power 9 is Right Tribe. I love to surround myself with friends that are going to push me to be the best version of myself. I am easily inspired and a huge people person. This brings me the most joy in life and is essential to my personal well-being. I am so grateful for the amazing humans I have surrounded myself with and know that they can provide laughs, love, and endless support whenever I need it.
What inspired you to become a vegan?
I have been on and off vegetarian since around 2014. I have never been a huge fan of meat and only ate chicken. Playing sports my whole life, I feel very in tune with the way my body feels after consuming food. Around my senior year of high school, I started training a bit more seriously in my sports and noticed the sluggishness brought on by meat and decided to test out the way my body reacted to cutting out dairy and a vegetarian diet. I felt my strength and stamina begin to improve and decided that it was time to really pay attention to what I put in my body. Being a health nut, vegetarian was an easy option in college. Often the school cafeteria only offered unhealthy options, leading me to consume mostly vegan. Upon moving to Hawaiʻi, I started working for Banán. Being surrounded by such like-minded people, I noticed how simple it would be to go fully vegan. I had already cut out so many harmful foods to my health leaving me with only eggs to cut out. I also started to learn the very real environmental impacts animal products have and decided that I did not want to contribute to that. Also, the benefits it has had on my body and energy feel so good I can’t imagine going back.
What is your favorite recipe and why?
My favorite recipe is vegan chickpea bites. They have a really delicious fresh basil flavor and have a hearty texture to them.
Vegan Chickpea Bites
INGREDIENTS
1 can of chickpeas
1½ cup rolled oats
1 cup zucchini
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper
Handful of fresh basil
½ a lemon (juiced)
DIRECTIONS
Blend all ingredients in a blender
Scoop into muffin tin
Bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes
Why is eating plant-based important to you?
Eating plant-based is important to me because it is how my body functions best. My energy is much better and I hardly feel sluggish. I also realize the impact it has on our Earth. There must be a harmonious balance of care for the Earth and the Earth caring for us.
Any advice for folks who are trying to eat healthier and add more plant-based foods into their diet?
The best advice I have is do what you can. Any bit will help and will only provide positive impacts. Also, just try it, I promise you can change your mind at any point, but give it a shot. I can almost guarantee that if you give it enough time to reset your body, you won’t want to go back. You can also make it a fun activity. Try cooking a vegan meal once a week and if anything use it as a time to switch up your typical menu.
What have you learned so far as a Blue Zones Project intern in the 4M area?
Being a intern with BZP has shown me the push for healthier lifestyles. It seems that everyone wants to be healthy, it is just a matter of how. I really loved seeing how much interest there is and being able to provide resources that making these choices easier. Support systems are the best way to make change and creating a whole community of healthy choices allows this possibility to grow.
Congratulations to Madisyn Uekawa, BA '17 who has published a novella originally written for her Applied Learning Experience and Undergraduate Honors Thesis! Her novella focuses on youth suicide prevention and she plans to donate any proceeds to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
