Aloha and Welcome

 Funded by the State of Hawaii Department of Health’s Healthy Hawai`i Initiative (HHI) through a contract with the University of Hawai`i at Manoa’s Office of Public Health Studies, John A. Burns School of Medicine, the Maui County Nutrition & Physical Activity Coalition (NPAC) first reconvened in March, 2008.

 The NPACs throughout the state (coalitions are in place in every county) are charged with improving health in the areas of physical activity and nutrition through systems and environmental changes, based on the social-ecological model. Research has shown that it is through these types of changes that long-lasting health benefits are gained.

The priority areas of the Maui County NPAC’s work are:

 The Maui County NPAC worksite wellness committee implemented a pilot worksite wellness program at the Maui Family YMCA (a collaborative effort between Maui Memorial Medical Center and the Maui Family YMCA).  In addition, members of our group have testified in support of the development of active living communities (mixed use areas with safe access for bicyclists and pedestrians, including complete streets) before the General Plan Advisory Committee, Maui Planning Commission and Maui County Council.  Our schools committee is interested in starting a Safe Routes to Schools program and is also very much interested in working with the Department of Education in their soon-to-be-implemented wellness policy. And, other collaborations are in place with an emphasis on promoting local agriculture products and reaching out to specific populations.

 The Maui and Kaua`i county offices of the Department of Health (DOH) are recipients of an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant and the NPAC coalitions in both counties are actively working with the DOH and other community partners.  The grant will create new job opportunities and will expand the work of the coalitions.

 Objectives and strategies for all task forces are driven from the Department of Health PAN Plan. A copy of that plan can be found at www.healthyhawaii.com

 We look forward to working with you in the future to improve the health of our community.