UH Hilo pharmacy students train their peers in screening and counseling patients

Community service is at the core of The ALOHA Project, an outreach program of the UH Hilo pharmacy college that offers free health screenings and counseling to the public.

Two students taking blood pressure of woman.
Students at the UH Hilo pharmacy college train their peers to become proficient in screening and counseling patients. Photos courtesy of The ALOHA Project Historian Joyce Tapuro.
Students standing and talking to each other, holding papers.
Pharmacy students review consultation protocols as part of their training for the ALOHA Project.

As the fall semester gets underway, students at the pharmacy college at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo have been busy training fellow student pharmacists to become proficient in screening and counseling patients. The students are part of The ALOHA Project, a student organization at the UH Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy where members do patient consultations and an awareness campaign throughout the state of Hawaii.

The goal of the ALOHA Project is to promote health and well-being by encouraging people to speak with pharmacists and other health professionals about diet, current medications, and lifestyle changes. ALOHA stands for “A Life of Health and Awareness.”

The students-in-training are learning about how to conduct diet and lifestyle consultations to community members (free of charge) in an effort to lessen the burden of chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol on individuals, communities and health services. Some of the screenings include blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose, A1c, and BMI.

Student taking blood sample from fingertip of "patient."
Pharmacy students train their peer in screening a patient.

“By educating our community about the benefits of lifestyle changes and optimizing medication usage, we hope to not only improve quality of life but also decrease the amount and cost of medications,” states the group on its website.

Students from UH Hilo’s School of Nursing also participate in the ALOHA project, along with faculty and several community pharmacists.

Services are open to all Hawai‘i residents, but are especially focused on members of under-served communities at high risk, especially Marshallese populations, senior citizens, and other populations who are most likely to benefit from this type of community outreach.

Consultations focus on foods to avoid when on certain medications, the best ways to take medications to improve efficacy, how to choose healthy diets that can help improve and reverse disease states, and support in making active lifestyle changes.

For more information, contact ALOHA Project faculty advisor Lara Gomez.

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