Rota Health Center, partners host Health Symposium

The Rota Health Center hosted a Health Symposium on March 28, 2015, at the Sinapalo Elementary School on Rota. In these photos, parents and youth participate in a physical activity. (Contributed Photo)

The Rota Health Center, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.’s Public Health Programs, and the Let’s Move Marianas Alliance partnered to conduct the Rota Health Symposium, Let’s Move Marianas and Week of the Young Child Rota Expo on March 28, 2015, at the Sinapalo Elementary School grounds.

The event offered a variety of positive, health-related information and activities to support the community of Rota as they continue to be proactive in making changes toward living a healthy lifestyle.

The Rota Health Symposium aimed to provide preventive health services and to educate the community on the prevention and/or control of non-communicable diseases and address behavioral health that would empower the island’s community to make healthy lifestyle choices and by knowing what services and resources are available on the island of Rota.

Through the Let’s Move Marianas and Week of the Young Child Rota Expo, the event was also able to promote healthy childhood development for families of all sizes and cultures.

By coordinating the Rota Health Symposium with Let’s Move Marianas and Week of the Young Child Expo, the event catered to over 250 participants on Rota.

The collaborative event offered session topics on Diabetes and Nutrition. Women’s Health, Tobacco Use, and Mental Health. It also provided various sports activities, nutrition demonstrations, and early childcare programs to gauge and educate the community.

In addition to the informative sessions conducted, staff of the Rota Health Center were available to provide outreach and/or screening services such as blood sugar, blood pressure, and pregnancy tests; measles and flu vaccinations; collection of expired medications; and information sharing from the Bureau of Environmental Health, H.O.M.E Visiting Program, Medicaid and Sliding Fee, and Non-Communicable Disease Programs.

In the CNMI, seven out 10 deaths are due to non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer and risk factors associated with NCDs such as high blood pressure, physical inactivity and tobacco use to name a few. In a nutrition cluster survey performed in 2008, data collected showed that 45 percent of the CNMI’s 7-to-10-year-olds are either obese or overweight. Children and teens who are obese have been found to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and abnormal glucose tolerance.

Collaborating programs and agencies of this event include the Rota Health Center, CHCC’s Non-Communicable Disease Bureau, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Women, Infants and Children, Immunization Program, Women’s Clinic, Community Guidance Center, and Hardt Eye Clinic with LMMA and its partners.

LMMA include agencies such as the Northern Marianas Athletics, Northern Marianas College, Childcare and Development Fund under the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, Joeten Kiyu Public Library, Motherread and Fatherread Program under the NMI Humanities Council, and the CNMI Head Start program under the Public School System.

Evaluations submitted by participants of the health symposium have shown that the island’s community is requesting for more health information and outreach services for all ages. As a result, health care employees will continue to reach out to provide preventive care services to keep our community healthy and become productive citizens. (CHCC)