After a two-year hiatus from the pandemic, the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy will be returning with its free health screening opportunity for members of the community.
“We are happy to be able to again offer these services to the public after taking a two-year break from in-person community-based events during the pandemic,” said Aloha Project Chair Carly Bell in a release. “Participants can choose the types of screenings and consultations they want, and our student pharmacists will provide screening results and helpful information, answer questions and can help to connect them with other resources, such as smoking cessation or nutrition management support groups.”
The free event will take place on Saturday, Sept. 17 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the DKICP Hale Kiho‘iho‘i, Classroom A.
Services will range from blood pressure and glucose screenings to consultations on topics ranging from nutrition to lifestyle changes.
“The students will also be providing counseling on any medication questions, whether its prescription or over the counter,” said DKICP associate professor Dr. Jarred Prudencio. “They will also be doing patient surveys to assess anyone who has respiratory conditions such as asthma or COPD, as well as a counselor for smoking cessation for any patients who are thinking about quitting.”
A variety of resources will also be available to direct community members to additional help based on their results.
“For example, if someone was found to have extremely high blood pressure or extremely high blood sugar, we’d walk them through the process of how to connect them to the necessary resources to further follow up on this,” said Prudencio.
The event will be mutually beneficial for the community and for students as they learn how to navigate the role of the community in pharmaceutical work.
“When people think of a pharmacist, they think of medications, but we really like to look at patients comprehensively,” said Prudencio. “Over the last two years, they continued to try to give back to the community through webinars and virtual outreach, but we’re really looking forward to being able to do these outreach events moving forward and our students are really excited.”
Roughly 20 students will participate in the event and faculty will be on hand to supervise and consult.
“Anyone in attendance will really get to have individual attention and get to talk about their specific health needs,” said Prudencio. “We don’t have a cap, we will take as many patients or community members as we are able to.”
Resources will also be provided related to COVID-19 vaccination and testing as well.
“We will have fliers and resources for patients who are interested or have questions about where they can go to get tested or get their vaccinations,” Prudencio said.
Masks are encouraged but not required.
“All of our students and faculty will be in masks, but masks will not be mandatory,” said Prudencio. “We’ll have additional masks for people who don’t have one and would like to wear one when they show up.”
Events are expected to continue throughout the year.
“Our students are really looking forward to getting back into the community,” said Prudencio. “This is the first event, but we’re likely going to have one in either late October or November.”
No appointments or reservations are required to attend the event.
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com