Summer survey for kids’ health needs

A team composed of members from the Department of Public Health, Northern Marianas College-Cooperative Research Extension and Education Service, and the University of Hawaii will be visiting villages on Saipan, Rota, and Tinian to survey some of the health needs of the children in the CNMI.

Patricia Coleman, Family and Consumer Sciences program coordinator, said the group from the University of Hawaii is part of a project called “Healthy Living in the Pacific Islands,” which works with the U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands, including Palau, the CNMI, Guam, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, American Samoa, and Hawaii.

Coleman said the project leader for the survey would be Dr. Rachel Novotny, who has been working for the past year in partnering with NMC-CREES and the Commonwealth Health Center to coordinate the survey effort.

The project is being coordinated with NMC-CREES staff so they could share their expertise in the collection of dietary information.

Nurses from the Department of Public Health would provide their skills in basic blood tests and the University of Hawaii staff members would be lending their knowledge in “anthropometrics” or body measurements, said Coleman.

She said the survey hopes to interview and measure about 420 children between the ages of six months to 10 years.

The survey will begin on June 20 until July 7. The team will go from house to house and talk to parents and caregivers whether they want to participate in the survey.

Before the start of the survey, there would be presentations and activities with teachers and parents to share information, answer questions, and address concerns about the survey activities and other queries.

Coleman said the activity is completely voluntary but the benefit of participating is free health screening for the children without them going to the health center.

In particular, the team would ask parents about their children’s eating habits. They would also measure the children’s height and weight to make sure they are growing properly.

An automatic blood pressure machine would measure their blood pressure, too, said Coleman, and a nurse would take a small finger prick of blood from the children to test for anemia and cholesterol levels.

Coleman said the advantage of the survey is that it could be performed in the respondents’ households, providing them the results instantly. If any problems are found, their children could be referred to the health center for a follow up visit.

Coleman said a similar survey was conducted in American Samoa in 2003, in cooperation with the American Samoa Community College Land Grant and American Samoa Public Health. Last February, the researchers went back to Pago Pago in American Samoa to share the results of their survey.

The team made their presentation to doctors, nurses, schoolteachers, and village leaders and made three evening presentations to the community members in Pago Pago.

The information gathered, Coleman said, would be used to design programs to improve children’s health in the villages. She said similar procedures would also be conducted in the CNMI.