Ke 'Ano Ola: Moloka'i's community-based healthy lifestyle modification program.

We evaluated a community-based 12-week healthy lifestyle program in Moloka'i, HI, called Ke 'Ano Ola, which was developed to decrease chronic disease risk through health education emphasizing weight loss, exercise, and risk factor reduction. Program leaders' strong commitment and positive role modeling, along with social and group support and community involvement, were key elements. A pre-post evaluation of weight, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and blood sugar showed significant improvements for weight (mean change [Delta] = -7.

Assessing health disparities in rural Hawaii using the Hoshin facilitation method.

Context: Health disparities between rural and urban communities are well documented. There are many suggested causes and many proposed solutions but no one-size-fits-all answer. The most successful community interventions have been introduced by communities themselves.