Hoping to address the current crisis in health and social services available in rural areas, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa students banded together this summer to work in health centers in rural communities.
Since 2000, the Hawai‘i Quentin Burdick Rural Health Interdisciplinary Training Program has offered students an opportunity to learn about critical health issues facing the neighbor islands.
For six weeks during the summer, six interdisciplinary teams made up of health science students were trained and sent to live and work in Honoka‘a and Pāhoa on the Big Island, Hanalei and Waimea on Kaua‘i, Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i.
In Hanalei, public health studies graduate student Alejandro Campos learned the importance of teamwork.
"The number one thing I took away from this experience was learned through team work, (which involved) being humble and learning to compromise," Campos said.
Some of this year's activities included updating a resource binder toolkit to make a college education more accessible to rural teens, job shadowing, giving nutrition and exercise lessons to help prevent obesity, and having discussion groups to address drugs, teen pregnancy and sex.
Health challenges facing rural areas include limited access to services, a shortage of health care professionals, far distances to emergency care facilities and limited educational opportunities in health. Each community has its unique health issues and figuring them out can be a challenge. However, students learned that there are ways to address these problems.
"If you just talk story and listen, the community members will tell you what the issues are," said Melodi Wynne, a community and cultural psychology graduate student who worked in Moloka‘i.
The four neighbor islands are federally designated as medically underserved areas, meaning there is a shortage of medical services available. To improve access to healthcare in rural communities, Sen. Daniel Inouye and former senator Quentin N. Burdick co-wrote and sponsored legislation that now funds interdisciplinary rural health training programs like the Hawai‘i QB Program.
The program has trained a total of 168 students from 11 disciplines. Students typically come from nursing, medicine, social work, public health, psychology, medical technology, nutrition, dental hygiene, education, speech/audiology and speech communication disciplines. The program has helped its participants to find jobs, with former students now working in rural areas with underserved populations.
More importantly, participants of the Hawaii QB Program gain understanding and educational training about rural communities that could not have been learned in a classroom.
"This experience has had a big impact on my future career path," said Princess Pizo, a graduate student in speech pathology who worked in Waimea. "I never really thought about living in a rural area and now, because of this experience, I hope to work there (Waimea)." Learn more by visiting http://hawaiiqbprogram.com.
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