Previous Story
CHCC and PSS partner for youth health summit
|
Posted on Feb 13 2017
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. partnered with the CNMI Public School System to conduct the first ever 2017 Youth Health Summit last Thursday at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan.
Students from all over CNMI came together for the summit, which focused on health and wellness, such as mental, emotional, and physical health. There were also teambuilding exercises.
“Our focus is on providing education, information, and some skill building for our youth,” said Heather Pangelinan, Maternal and Child Health Bureau administrator.
According to Pangelinan, information on healthy eating and increasing physical activity was provided so as to prevent the development of health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.
Speakers included Aaron Tomokane of Saipan Gold’s Gym, CHCC chief executive officer Esther Muña, Education Commissioner Cynthia Deleon Guerrero, and Non-Communicable Disease Bureau diabetes program coordinator Amber Mendiola.
Talks on mental health issues were available as well.
Melisha San Nicolas, Personal Responsibility Education Program coordinator for PSS, wishes to see the summit become an annual thing.
“This is the first time we are doing this, in coordination with [Division of] Public Health. We wanted to get their support and services out to the students, so we are starting this off gradually and hopefully it becomes an annual thing for each school,” she said.
Crystal Pangelinan, health coordinator with the Office of Curriculum and Instruction, agrees with San Nicolas in setting up an annual youth health summit.
“We have hundreds of other [students who were] not able to attend, so we are just seeing how the event plays out,” she said.
“The partnerships are turning out really well. They are willing to work with us so we can bring this to schools again, possibly next year and see that all the other students can avail of these services because all of these can be very beneficial [to the students].”
