Entries Tagged 'Health' ↓
July 29th, 2009 — Education, Family, Health, Island Life
Hawaii ranks number 18 nationally in a new state-by-state study on the well-being of America’s children. The 2009 Kids Count Data Book reveals that since 2000, Hawaii improved on six of the 10 measures affecting child well-being. Yet on four other measures, conditions worsened for Hawaii’s kids.
The 20th annual Data Book also contains the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s essay that takes stock of the country’s progress in keeping track of children’s well-being.
This year’s Data Book is complemented by the expanded Kids Count Data Center that contains hundreds of measures of child well-being covering national, state, county, and city information. To access information for Hawaii go to datacenter.kidscount.org/hi.
Hawaii ranks in the top 10 on four of 10 indicators.
Hawaii ranked among the ten best states in the nation on four of 10 indicators of child well-being. Hawaii ranked 2nd on the percent of children in poverty, 3rd on the percent of teens who are high school dropouts, and 10th on both infant mortality rate and the percent of children in single-parent families.
Teen birth rate increases for the first time since 2000.
Between 2000 and 2005, the teen birth rate in Hawaii decreased from 46 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19 to 36 births per 1,000. However, Hawaii’s teen birth rate climbed back to 41 per 1,000 in 2006, a 14 percent increase from 2005. In 2006, there were 1,619 births to teens ages 15 to 19 in Hawaii.
Percent of teens ages 16-19 who are high school dropouts remains low.
Hawaii ranked number 3 nationally in the percentage of 16- to 19-year-olds who were high school dropouts in 2007. The percentage of teens ages 16 to 19 in Hawaii who were high school dropouts decreased from five percent in 2000 to four percent in 2007. Nationally, seven percent of teens ages 16 to 19 were dropouts in 2007.
Percent of children in poverty remains low.
With only 10 percent of children living in poverty in 2007, Hawaii ranked 2nd among the 50 states. Between 2000 and 2007, the percentage of children in Hawaii who were poor decreased from 13 percent to 10 percent. Hawaii’s child poverty rate was well below the national average of 18 percent in 2007.
May 13th, 2009 — Health
As uncertainty over the H1N1 ‘swine flu’ virus spreads around the world, a Hawaii-based project is resorting to an innovative strategy to engage people in protecting themselves and their communities: online gaming.
Designers at the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies (HRCFS) are staging a collaborative game called Coral Cross, using game techniques to encourage participants across the islands, and beyond, to become better informed and share their views about the health crisis, including priority groups for an eventual vaccine.
“The only thing that spreads faster than a virus is information,” said project lead Stuart Candy. “Players will take concrete action trying to outpace swine flu, by spreading pandemic-preparedness knowledge faster than the disease can travel.”
Commissioned by the Hawaii Department of Health in 2008, and funded by the US federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Coral Cross was originally intended to simulate the effects of a near-future global influenza outbreak on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, and to collect critical public feedback. At the time, would-be players were generations removed from the experience of a pandemic, so the designers chose to create a ‘playable scenario’ to immerse people in a hypothetical global flu pandemic.
However, in late April, just weeks before the game was scheduled to launch — and with other parts of the Hawaii Health Department’s pandemic preparedness effort already live — an astonishing coincidence occurred. The real flu crisis struck. “The day after our production team filmed a mock pandemic press conference set in 2012, we were watching a real one,” said Candy, “It made our alternate reality premise redundant, and called for an urgent change of strategy.”
HRCFS is now retrofitting Coral Cross to ‘game’ the current swine flu crisis, and although the launch date remains unchanged, the project now aims to support real-life pandemic preparedness against the backdrop of current events. In late May, the public will be able to decode pandemic-related health information, collaborate around emergency preparedness — and potentially influence policy. Although the strain of H1N1 currently circulating is less deadly than feared at first, the World Health Organization and CDC have cautioned that it is infecting people of all ages, and a mutation in the fall or winter could see a fiercer strain take hold in a subsequent pandemic ‘wave’.
The genre of so-called ‘serious games’ offers an increasingly popular way to engage and inform participants around hypothetical situations, and to prepare for alternative futures. In recent years, ‘Alternate Reality Games’ like After Shock and World Without Oil have proved effective in helping people imagine how their lives could be affected by large-scale systemic changes, such as an earthquake or oil crisis. Building on this genre, and with years of experience consulting on alternative futures, the HRCFS team spent months of research and development creating a plausible scenario, with accompanying media and artifacts from their hypothetical pandemic.
In the spotlight was the Coral Cross of Oahu, a fictional emergency preparedness and response agency, which was established in September 2011 after a category 5 hurricane hit the island. “The Coral Cross of Oahu was imagined as a grassroots network, a product of Obama-era public service and web savvy, organizing community responses ahead of large-scale government intervention,” explains designer Matthew Jensen. “It also played on current trends in social media and gameplay to encourage vigilance in the face of a long-term pandemic threat – perhaps an idea ahead of its time.”
These core principles, part of the narrative pre-design, now guide the redesign process. “Coral Cross switched from being an Alternate Reality Game to an Emergent Reality Game when the pandemic emerged as a real threat,” adds Jensen. While the design team has aimed to make this a fun, rewarding play experience, they also see it as an opportunity to provide real service to communities, families, and health authorities, spreading knowledge and responsible behavior in the midst of an actual health crisis.
“The Coral Cross suddenly went from being a future story element to a prototype for what a real, bottom-up emergency response could look like,” says project consultant Jake Dunagan. “So, as the future invaded our present, we found ourselves asking ‘What would Coral Cross do?’”
According to experience designer Nathan Verrill, the Coral Cross would motivate citizens through whatever means possible. “Even in the face of a real threat, gameplay influences behavior in a fun and engaging way,” says Verrill. “We believe that gaming principles will help keep participants focused over a longer period of time, helping spread useful knowledge, while we crowdsource ideas and feedback that can influence public policy.”
Though the H1N1 pandemic may not yet evolve into the global catastrophe that the 2012 ‘alternate reality’ narrative originally related, the designers are confident that their Emergent Reality Game will expose citizen-players to key possibilities, encouraging the kind of collaboration and skills that will help to keep them safe, whatever the future may hold.
Time will tell.
Participants can pre-register for Coral Cross at coralcross.org.
September 21st, 2007 — Health
The Hawaii State Department of Health is warning consumers not to drink apple flavored Baby’s Bliss Gripe Water, which is distributed by California-based MOM Enterprises. Health officials say the fluid — advertised as a herbal supplement to treat colic, gas, teething, and other ailments — may contain cryptosporidium; a parasite that can cause intestinal infections.
The most common symptom of infection is watery diarrhea, but other symptoms include dehydration, weight loss, stomach cramps or pain, fever nausea and vomiting. Symptoms generally begin two to ten days after becoming infected and generally last one to two weeks.
Infants, children and pregnant women are susceptible to dehydration resulting from diarrhea, which can be life-threatening. Parents of children who have recently consumed this product and have these symptoms should seek immediate medical attention.
MOM Enterprises, Inc. is fully cooperating with a Food and Drug Administration investigation into the cause of the contamination, according to a release from the health department. For more information, visit the FDA website at www.fda.gov.
July 3rd, 2007 — Health
The Hawaii State Department of Health is warning isle residents about counterfeit Colgate toothpaste, which may contain harmful bacteria and may also contain a poisonous chemical. Consumers are advised to check labels carefully, as the fake toothpaste may contain diethylene glycol, or DEG.
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October 25th, 2005 — Health
Nurses at St. Francis Hospital ratified a one-year contract that calls for pay increases of up to 12 percent, as well as other benefits. It is the first contract negotiation to close among Honolulu’s five largest hospitals. “Negotiations are ongoing at the other facilities, and we are hopeful that they too will result in timely and very positive agreements,” said Aggie Pigao Cadiz, director of the Hawaii Nurses Association (HNA). In addition to the hourly pay increases, the St. Francis contract offers on-call pay and shift differentials.
November 9th, 2004 — Health
When it comes to the treatment of homeless people, Honolulu has been named one of the top ten “meanest cities” and the state of Hawaii named the third “meanest state,” according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. In its 2004 “Illegal to be Homeless” report, released today, the coalition cited overcrowded shelters, harsh park policies, and a May 2004 Hawaii law it says makes it “illegal to live on public property.” Honolulu has gotten relatively poor marks every year since the annual survey debuted in 2002.
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November 9th, 2004 — Health
When it comes to the treatment of homeless people, Honolulu has been named one of the top ten “meanest cities” and the state of Hawaii named the third “meanest state,” according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. In its 2004 “Illegal to be Homeless” report, released today, the coalition cited overcrowded shelters, harsh park policies, and a May 2004 Hawaii law it says makes it “illegal to live on public property.” Honolulu has gotten relatively poor marks every year since the annual survey debuted in 2002.
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November 8th, 2004 — Health
Hawaii has jumped from the 10th to the 4th healthiest state in the nation, according to the 15th annual “America’s Health” survey by the nonprofit United Health Foundation. In the 2004 survey, Hawaii had the lowest prevalence of obesity, the lowest rate of death due to cardiovascular health and cancer, and the lowest mortality rate. Overall, the islands came in behind only Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
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October 15th, 2004 — Health
Hawaiis highest priority for the distribution of publicly-held vaccine are the frail elderly confined to long-term care facilities, the state State Department of Health (DOH) announced today. “They are our most vulnerable to complications from the flu and should be protected,” said director Dr. Chiyome Fukino. The state had met with local health care providers, pharmacies, and federal agencies to discuss a strategy for allocating Hawaiis limited supply of publicly-held vaccine. The vaccine supply was originally designated for public clinics.
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September 16th, 2003 — Health
Hawaii’s fight against the crystal methamphetamine — or ice — epidemic will get a shot in the arm this week, with the presentation of $3.6 million in federal funds on the Big Island. Gov. Linda Lingle, in Kona today for one of her statewide Town Hall meetings, will meet with Charles Curie, administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). On Thursday, Curie will present Hawaii County mayor Harry Kim with a $900,000 grant, which will go toward creating residential substance abuse treatment programs for local youth addicted to methamphetamine over the next three years.
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