Maui Health System cares about your health care — and also your neighbor’s
Check out one or all of this year’s free community health fairs
Dedicated to providing high-quality, affordable health care to the people of Maui and Lanai, Maui Health System is a not-forprofit organization affiliated with Kaiser Permanente that operates Kula Hospital, Kula Clinic, Lanai Community Hospital, the Maui Memorial Medical Center Outpatient Clinic and Maui Memorial Medical Center.
In the spirit of kakou, or “all of us,” MHS offers services through their facilities to all patients regardless of their health coverage or ability to pay.
As part of its commitment to offer award-winning care, MHS began hosting annual health fairs several years ago — the first of which for 2020 is the Heart Failure Event from 4 to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
“We often find that people don’t come to the hospital unless they’re a patient themselves or are visiting someone,” explains Leslie Lexier, BSN, RN and organizer of next month’s event. “So five years ago, a small committee got together with the idea of encouraging people to come to the hospital and have an educational experience in a positive atmosphere.”
The result of this think-tank was three community health fairs addressing heart failure, stroke and diabetes held throughout the year that are free and open to the public.
While initial attendance to the health fairs was sparse, Lexier notes how attendance has grown since the event’s inception.
“Five years ago, there was only a small group of people that would come, but it’s growing every year,” she says. “We’re delighted to put this on for our community and showcase a lot of wonderful exhibitors to help you stay as healthy as possible.”
For Lexier, the heart failure community event holds special meaning as her father, who lives in Canada, suffers from heart failure.
“I know first-hand how important education and prevention are,” she says. “Maui Memorial Medical Center participates in the quality improvement initiative, Get With the Guidelines, put on by the American Heart Association, and we are presently the only hospital in the state of Hawaii to have the top-level award, the Gold Plus Target Heart Failure Honor Roll, for the care that we give to our heart failure patients.”
This prestigious award prompted U. S. News & World Report to feature MMMC as one of the best
hospitals in the nation.
“We want our community to know that when they walk through these doors, especially if they have the diagnosis of heart failure, they’re getting award-winning care,” Lexier adds. “We lead the country in providing more than 60 minutes of one-on-one patient education on heart failure before the majority of patients are discharged.”
It’s important to recognize as well that the term “heart failure” may not be as ominous as it sounds.
“Heart failure can be brought on by many conditions. It consists of less blood flowing to the heart because the heart muscle is not pumping properly — it’s not necessarily that your heart is actually failing, it’s just not functioning as well as it should,” Lexier explains. “The best way to stay ahead of the game is through regularly scheduled doctor’s appointments and maintaining good heart health.”
In general, all three health fairs follow a similar format: Exhibitors and informational booths featuring various health and wellness organizations; low-impact exercise classes; entertainment and hula demonstrations; complimentary refreshments; drawings and prizes; and an in-depth panel of guest speakers followed by a question-and-answer session.
One of the most valuable offerings at the community health fairs is educating participants on how to read food labels to ensure that they are purchasing and consuming the healthiest nutrition possible.
“This helps people learn to read ingredients for sodium, sugars and other additives that might compromise their overall health,” Lexier says.
Jolly Uclaray, MSN, RN, CDE with MHS, and Tess Hermanson, RN and diabetes educator, agree. As organizers of the sixth annual diabetes health fair in November, they says it’s critical that individuals take proactive measures and be aware of their risk factors in order to prevent or delay diabetes.
“Among the 460,000 people in Hawaii who have pre-diabetes and are at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, 90 percent of them don’t know that they have it,” Uclaray explains.
This is particularly relevant in the islands where one in nine people will be impacted by the disease, with Pacific Islanders three times as likely to have diabetes than other ethnic groups.
Uclaray, who began her career as a cardiac nurse, says she saw many patients with heart attacks and strokes before realizing that often these health issues are complications of diabetes.
“Diabetes is a very serious disease,” she advises. “Being in an in-patient acute-care setting, most of our patients are coming in with hypertension, heart failure or kidney disease as their primary diagnoses, but most are comorbidities with diabetes. That was eye-opening for me, and that’s why it’s so important to spread awareness to our community that the progression of many of these complications can be halted or delayed by managing the underlying diabetes.”
“A lot of these life-threatening conditions are a result of having high blood sugar,” Hermanson adds. “So teaching people how to keep their blood sugar at a normal level through education about diet, exercise and healthy lifestyle choices is crucial.”
In May, the health-fair focus turns to stroke awareness —an invaluable community event in that approximately 80 percent of strokes are preventable. As the No. 3 cause of death in Hawaii with a stroke rate higher than the national average, recognizing the signs and symptoms are imperative in minimizing damage. Recognized by the Joint Commission as a Certified Primary Stroke Center, MMMC is the 2019 Get With the Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus with Honor Roll Elite Award recipient.
A common theme among these health fairs is community education on staying healthy, preventing complications, and improving longevity and quality of life.
Advocating effective selfcare, participating exhibitors run the gamut from American Heart Association, the American Kidney Foundation and United Health Care to local organizations including Maui hospice groups, the YMCA, Maui Lions Club, Office on Aging, Roselani Place, Malama I Ke Ola Health Center and many others.
You don’t need to be suffering from or have a family member with heart disease, diabetes or stroke to benefit. All are welcome.