Pictured: Attendees at the event included community physicians and medical students from each of the four JABSOM classes.
By Emily Jones, JABSOM MS2
On April 27th I had the privilege of joining a group of fellow John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) students and practicing primary care physicians for an evening of discussion and dining at the new ʻEkahi Health System clinic at Restaurant Row. The event was organized by student and physician leaders of Primary Care Progress (PCP), a national grassroots network aimed at revitalizing primary care through advocacy and coalition-building. This event marked the one-year anniversary of the Hawai’i chapter of PCP, which over the last year has connected students and providers through workshops, lectures, and one-on-one mentorship opportunities.
The evening began with a delicious vegetarian buffet, reflecting ʻEkahi’s commitment to preventive health through diet and nutrition. The center is one of a handful in Hawai’i dedicated to implementing a nine-week heart disease reversal program developed by Dr. Dean Ornish. Ornish’s program incorporates personalized exercise training, nutrition education, stress management and group support.
After dinner we settled around a table in one of the center’s multi-purpose rooms to discuss real-life pediatric and adult cases presented by Dr. Theresa Wee and Dr. John Houk.
I especially enjoyed the case presentation of an adult patient with multiple chronic conditions, including obesity, hypertension, chronic kidney disease and pre-diabetes, who had been unsuccessfully trying to lose weight for ten years. After distributing his labs and medication list, Dr. Houk asked the physicians in the room how they would manage this patient. Each doctor had a different approach, but all expressed their compassion for the patient and agreed this this was a challenging but common problem in primary care. It was fascinating to hear the physicians engage in the type of collaborative problem solving that we do in our Problem-Based Learning curriculum at JABSOM.
After hearing the responses of the physicians, Dr Houk revealed that this patient had been referred to ʻEkahi Health System. After participating in their nine-week program, he improved his blood pressure, lipids, and blood sugars, and, most notably, reversed his kidney disease.
I was initially interested in this event because of a family friend who went through the Ornish program at ʻEkahi after suffering a heart attack last spring. I watched the program transform his life as he began to prioritize his health while enlisting family and friends to do the same. I am grateful to PCP for the opportunity to learn more about such resources and to connect with passionate primary care advocates in our community. I’m looking forward to what the second year of PCP at JABSOM will bring.