Students offer free health screenings at Waimea KTA

Blood pressure and glucose screenings were just some of the services recently offered by five DKICP students at a free health screenings clinic at the Waimea KTA Pharmacy on the Big Island. On Saturday, February 17, 15 community members took advantage of the opportunity to get more personalized health information, including body mass index readings, atrial fibrillation screenings and medication reviews.

The event, staffed by KTA pharmacists and DKICP student pharmacists who are members of APhA, provided valuable health and medication information for community members, while giving the students practical, professional experience.

“Most community participants were interested in receiving blood pressure, blood glucose and body mass index (BMI) screening,” says P3 Rosalind Wong, one of the student organizers. “We got a lot of questions about what those test values mean for their individual health status, as well as the impact on any chronic conditions they may have had, such as hypertension or diabetes.”

For P1 student Charlotte Powell, it was her first screening event, and she was excited to shadow and learn from other students. “I got to witness the clinical skills that we are currently learning being used to help people. I learned how to use a BMI testing device and got to explain BMI and its associated risks to some community members. Everything I learned and observed from this event is essential to building my knowledge and pharmacy toolkit.”

Other students participating were P3s Nielsen Gazo and Akiho Uno, and co-organizer and P2 Anuhea Sonnenberg.

As part of the APhA’s ALOHA project, this screening event was the first of the spring semester. The group will offer additional screenings at the KTA Puainako Pharmacy in Hilo on Saturday, March 9 and Saturday, April 13.