{"id":100738,"date":"2019-08-01T13:51:41","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T23:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=100738"},"modified":"2019-08-02T08:47:56","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T18:47:56","slug":"us-surgeon-general-visits-uh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/08\/01\/us-surgeon-general-visits-uh\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S.<\/abbr> surgeon general visits UH<\/abbr> West O\u02bbahu, JABSOM<\/abbr>"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Adams
U.S.<\/abbr> Surgeon General Jerome Adams with UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu students, faculty and administrators.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Students and faculty at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>–West Oʻahu<\/span><\/a> and the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a> (JABSOM<\/abbr>) met the U.S.<\/abbr> Surgeon General during his recent visit to the state. Dr. Jerome Adams was in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> to address the National Medical Association conference.<\/p>\n

The surgeon general is known as the “nation\u2019s doctor” and oversees the commissioned corps of the U.S.<\/abbr> Public Health Service, which is made up of more than 6,000 uniformed public health officers. Adams was appointed surgeon general in 2017 and his motto is “better health through better partnerships.” <\/p>\n

UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span><\/h2>\n
\"Adams
Adams taking a selfie with students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Adams was welcomed to UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span> with a Native Hawaiian protocol and the singing of Mele Honouliuli<\/em> by summer bridge students. He thanked them for their greeting and took a selfie with the students from schools on Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island and along the Waiʻanae<\/span> Coast.<\/p>\n

“You guys are the right-now,” Adams said, explaining that he had attended a summer bridge program once and that they have the power to change the trajectory of healthcare.<\/p>\n

During Adams\u2019 visit, the campus highlighted its health science programs, which address community and workforce needs. UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span> will inaugurate new concentrations focusing on health careers in fall 2019, including Hawaiian and indigenous health and healing, health information management, long-term care and health professions. The campus has concentrations in respiratory care, healthcare administration and community health. <\/p>\n

“We are not trying to get a seat at the table,” said Ric Custodio<\/strong>, a long-time pediatrician and health science program chairman. “We are building the table. We believe that if we create new, innovative, health science bachelor-level degrees of the future, we can transition our first generation, low-income students into marketable and sustainable healthcare careers.”<\/p>\n

Kauʻi<\/span> Baumhofer<\/strong>, UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span> assistant professor of indigenous health science, also gave a presentation.<\/p>\n

For more go to E Kamakani Hou<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/h2>\n
\"Adams
Adams at a round table meeting at JABSOM<\/abbr> of health leaders and advocates whose work focuses on U.S.<\/abbr> Pacific Islander health. (Photo credit: Deborah Manog Dimaya)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At JABSOM<\/abbr> Adams spoke to Â鶹´«Ã½\u2019s<\/span> future doctors as though he was addressing his colleagues, instead of medical students. “Use your voice,” he urged them, emphasizing that doctors are among the most trusted people in America.<\/p>\n

He zeroed in on a rising local trend—the dangerous spike in the use of e-cigarettes by high schoolers. “Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is the second-highest state in the country for youth using e-cigarettes. One pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. We have a new generation of youth becoming slaves to nicotine,” said Adams.<\/p>\n

He voiced concern about the normalization of marijuana: “CBD<\/abbr> oil is not regulated. You might think you\u2019re getting this, but maybe you\u2019re getting a little of the oil and the rest is, I don\u2019t know what.” <\/p>\n

Adams addressed national issues as well. “Our poor health isn\u2019t just a matter of diabetes, cancer and heart disease. We\u2019re literally a less safe country now because we\u2019re not healthy. Oral health is one of the reasons soldiers get sent home from deployment.” <\/p>\n

He asked those in the JABSOM<\/abbr> auditorium to look at themselves, saying, “People don\u2019t prioritize health. How many times have you skipped a workout or skipped a meal for work? Then we turn around and look at patients and say, ‘What\u2019s wrong with you? Why aren\u2019t you prioritizing your health?’” <\/p>\n

Adams is a strong advocate for preventive care. He also knows the vicious toll substance abuse takes on individual health and families, citing his own brother\u2019s struggle with addiction. He said that, just by walking around Waikīkī during his brief Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> stay, he could see signs of opioid addiction, and he urged everyone in healthcare to have the overdose antidote Naloxone handy.<\/p>\n

After his talk, Adams listened to community health advocates in a round table discussion involving JABSOM<\/abbr> and other UH<\/abbr> faculty who are active in health locally and throughout the Pacific region, including members of the Pacific Islands Primary Care Association, Pacific Island Health Officers Association, Kokua Kalihi Valley Community Health Center and We Are Oceania.<\/p>\n

For more go to the JABSOM<\/abbr> website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students and faculty at UH<\/abbr>West Oʻahu<\/span> and the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a> (JABSOM<\/abbr>) met U.S.<\/abbr> Surgeon General Jerome Adams during his recent visit to the state. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[906,165,1389,31,9,59],"class_list":["post-100738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-e-kamakani-hou","tag-health","tag-health-science","tag-john-a-burns-school-of-medicine","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-west-oahu","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100738"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100795,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100738\/revisions\/100795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}