Changes in lifestyle can help prevent the onset of diabetes and improve overall health. To assist prediabetic island residents make those changes, faculty and students at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy (DKICP) are offering a free year-long diabetes prevention program for a second year. Anyone interested can complete a short online questionnaire to determine eligibility. Applications will be accepted through April 10, 2023, and space is limited.
The program includes several in-person meetings each month on the UH Hilo campus, where participants will receive regular health monitoring and personal counseling to assist in making lifestyle changes, achieving weight loss and learning to maintain healthier habits. The first required informational session is April 10, 5–6 p.m., at DKICP in Hale Kihoʻihoʻi, Lecture Hall B.
Practicing pharmacists and DKICP assistant professors, Aryn Meguro and Bryce Fukunaga, will facilitate the program. Both are also lifestyle coaches who are certified through the American Association of Diabetes Educators. The program will include student pharmacists operating the Pacific Island Mobile Health Screening Clinic.
Past participants have said that being part of a cohort and feeling accountable to and supportive of them was a major benefit of this program, and last year’s cohort of 20 participants lost a total of 278 pounds, explained Meguro.
“Participants said that the connections they formed with each other throughout the year were very valuable, along with the lifestyle coaching and informational support,” she said. “They also ended the program with an overall better understanding of their health, how to make lifestyle improvements, and how to create plans to assure they continue in those healthy habits.”
Check eligibility online or email Meguro at arynm@hawaii.edu.
