Health

Helping Your Mind’s Health

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

Life is stressful. Maybe you want to quit smoking or the economy is getting you down. Maybe you’re having a tough time talking to your spouse, or your keiki moved out and left you with an empty nest.

Stephanie Napoli understands, and she wants to help.

Napoli took over as Molokai Community Health Center’s (MCHC) Director of Behavioral Health Services (BHS) July 1, replacing Darryl Salvador. With master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from Argosy University in Atlanta, she has lived all over the country practicing at community health centers, including in Honolulu in 2006 as a foster care program supervisor and most recently at Ventura County Behavioral Health in California.

Health Plan Up in the Air

Monday, July 4th, 2011

Duplication of health services is not an issue for Molokai, said Loretta Fuddy, state Director of Health, last week. That announcement comes after health providers on Molokai have been concerned about duplication for the past two years, and have participated in several meetings mandated by the state to hash out a comprehensive health care plan for the island.

Health care providers and concerned residents gathered one more time at the Mitchell Pauole Center last Wednesday, to try and agree on a plan where health care professionals would form partnerships for services, as well as collaborate on funding.

Keep Kupuna From Falling

Sunday, June 26th, 2011

Maui Adult Day Care Centers News Release

Maui Adult Day Care Centers and Maui County Office on Aging are inviting members of the public to a free caregiver workshop, “Fall Management Training for Caregivers.” The workship, held on June 29 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Kulana `Oiwi Halau, is open to both professional caregivers as well as those caring for family members, 

Ted Anderson, Doctor of Physical Therapy and member of the Hawaii Chapter of American Physical Therapy Association, and his assistant Jonathan Bucki will offer presentations. They will cover fall statistics and solutions, why falls increase with age, recognizing the warning signs, protection during a fall (demonstrations), fall recovery and Tai Chi for balance.
 

Molokai Drop In Center to Stay Open

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

UPDATE: Althea Childs was hired back on Tuesday, June 21, and Joe Childs also received an extension and will be re-hired when his contract expires on June 27, according to DOH officials. Business will continue as usual with no interruption in service.

State Prescription Assistance Discontinued

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

Department of Human Services News Release

The State Pharmacy Assistance Program (SPAP), which subsidizes the co-payment for Medicare prescriptions for low-income seniors, will be discontinued due to a lack of funding, announced the program’s administrator, the Department of Human Services (DHS). This change, effective July 1, 2011, will affect 43,500 eligible Hawaii residents enrolled in the program.

Hospice Hawaii Molokai is a Way of Caring

Sunday, June 19th, 2011

Community Contributed

Quality hospice care can make the difference between unbearable pain symptoms, overwhelming stress and living peacefully and as pain free as possible to the very end of life.  Hospice Hawaii Molokai is a way of caring; not a place. We are home-centered and have a team approach in our focus on the patient and their family.  We promote living with dignity and caring for one another.

Community Health Center Receives AlohaCare Funds

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Local, nonprofit health plan AlohaCare recently awarded Molokai Community Health Center (MCHC) $72,000 to enhance and increase patient screening and care through the MCHC’s Early Intervention Program. MCHC was one of 14 community health centers and clinics statewide that received AlohaCare funding, totaling $1.62 million in incentive awards.
 

The Business of Health Care

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

Two opinions on a plan for health care on Molokai emerged last week: residents want a patient-centric, easy-to-navigate system with choices, while providers are concerned about finding funding to keep their services available.

“I would like it if our current health care providers would stop squabbling,” said Jeannine Rossa, a Molokai resident, via the Dispatch’s Facebook page. “We need them all. We like them all. We want them all.”

Former Molokai Resident Receives Nursing Award

Monday, May 30th, 2011

Former Molokai Resident Receives Nursing Award

Brigid Mulloy, a certified nurse midwife (CNM),  has been named the 2011 Distinguished Alumna for the Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing at the University of Wyoming.  Mulloy was the featured speaker at the School of Nursing Convocation Ceremony on May 7, where she spoke to an audience of 500 people about her experiences as a midwife on Molokai. She was also honored at that ceremony for her excellence in clinical practice as a CNM and for her outstanding community contributions.

Brigid is well known on Molokai where she lived from 1994 to 2010, and practiced for 13 years as a nurse midwife and was the director of the Molokai Women’s Health Center. She delivered over 250 babies during her time on Molokai, the oldest of which have now graduated from high school. Brigid and her husband Claud Sutcliffe are now living in Waimea on the Big Island.

In 2007, she was recruited to work at the North Hawaii Community Hospital’s Family Birthing Unit, where she joined a practice with JoAnn Johansen, another CNM who worked many years on Molokai. This opportunity gave Brigid the chance to grow professionally as a midwife, and to pursue other interests, such as taking Elderhostel groups to experience Easter Island. She continues to be involved in the work her father, the late University of Wyoming anthropology professor, Dr. William Mulloy, began with the support of the University of Wyoming in the 1950s. She was instrumental in the creation of the William Mulloy Library, a research facility for archeologists and the people of Easter Island. Brigid was also invited by the University of Wyoming in 2007 to represent her father at the opening of the new anthropology building on the Laramie campus.

For more information, visit uwyo.edu/NURSING/alumni/alumni-distinguished/2011-mulloy.html

Health Providers Talk Collaboration

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

In a historic move, the island’s health care providers gathered last week to discuss how to co-exist peacefully.

The meeting – the first of many – was called by the Department of Health (DOH), stemming from concerns over duplication of services between Molokai General Hospital (MGH) and the Molokai Community Health Center (MCHC).