HANAPEPE — The WE Portal Project, a hui for health to motivate individuals to make better health decisions, opened its two-weekend run Friday. Project Vision van, a part of the WE program, was parked in the Salvation Army, Hanapepe Corps
HANAPEPE — The WE Portal Project, a hui for health to motivate individuals to make better health decisions, opened its two-weekend run Friday.
Project Vision van, a part of the WE program, was parked in the Salvation Army, Hanapepe Corps parking lot, greeting people arriving for the Kokua Soup Kitchen lunch.
“This is really good,” said Naoko Ho, a volunteer with the West Kauai Lions Club. “The last time we weren’t that busy. Today, we have a lot of people because they’re coming for lunch.”
Lt. Nayomia Anderson of the Hanapepe Salvation Army said it turned out to be a pretty busy day.
“We have the health testing people here, it’s the weekly Kokua Kitchen lunch, and Lt. Austin Anderson is getting ready to take some kids to camp.”
WE will be offering 40 individual days of free screenings, including more than 10 specifically for Native Hawaiian homeland sites, states a release.
The program will cover all six major Hawaiian Islands in efforts to reach 8,000 individuals in lower-income, rural and under-resourced areas to advise residents on how to take control of their health.
“The WE team is eager to reach out to individuals in need of health screenings and to educate them that you don’t get health from the doctor,” said Elizabeth “Annie” Hiller, co-founder of WE, and also a member of the Lions Clubs. “You give health to yourself.”
In addition to the retina screening being performed at the Project Vision van where Hiller serves as the executive director, she said they are also distributing reading glasses.
A new addition to this year’s tour is the inclusion of Body Mass Index for preschoolers by the University of Hawaii.
The BMI testing team will join the WE program at Kukui Grove Center from 10 a.m. through 2 p.m. today.
“Obesity is a major problem,” said Anne Chipchase of the Ohana Health Plan, one of the WE collaborators. “By having the younger children screened for BMI, we get an early start in combating obesity, one of the leading causes of diabetes.”
The WE team and Project Vision van will next be at the Princeville Shopping Center on June 28 from 4 to 7 p.m., at the Hanamaulu Kalepa Community Center on June 29 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and at the Kapaa Shopping Center on June 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Project Vision van will also be at the Kilauea Neighborhood Center on June 27 from 3 to 6 p.m.
WE events on Kauai are made possible through the support of the Lions Clubs on Kauai, Young Brothers, the Anne Sinclair Knudsen Fund, and Ohana Health Plan.
Visit www.projectvisionhawaii.com for more information.
• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
