February 16, 2025, Peace Winds Japan, Palau Office concluded a 7 days Health Screening outreach program to the Southwest Islands. The health screening was conducted at Sonsorol State, Pulo Anna Island, and Hotohobei State and Helen’s Reef.
For this outreach program, Kensing II set out on a journey from February 10 – 16, 2025 with a team of one doctor, two nurses and three PCC Nursing Students – Dr. Mototaka Inaba, Nurse Hirono Sasaki, and Nurse Tamayo Haraguchi from Peace Winds Japan, assisted by PCC Nursing Students, Ms. Tiara Chinn, Ms. Braelyn Sambal, and Ms. Shania Rally. In collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Human services, Peace Winds Japan, Palau Office have been continuing these health screening outreach to the outlying states for the past 4 years with the purpose of preventing and reducing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the Republic. The health screening implemented, included body weight measurements, height, waist circumference, blood pressure, urine testing as well as HbA1c for sugar levels to detect any sign of NCDs. With available time on an island visited, the team would also provide health education and awareness counseling on healthy eating and lifestyle choices.
The health screening outreach journey began from Sonsorol on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 and finished at Helen’s Reef on Friday, February 14, 2025 with a total of 44 people screened, more than 90% of our targets. Interacting with the community during these health screening, we noticed the same challenges we faced and tried to address before which we do believe need urgent attention. For example, on one of the islands, a person who already has NCDs complication was screened with a very high blood pressure but haven’t had her prescription for the past two months due to lack of trips to the island. With good coordination and collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Human Services, Peace Winds hope that these situations could be remedied as soon as possible for the benefit of the people in these outlying states. We believe that a special consideration to lengthen the time given for prescription medicine for at least three months, for these outlying states, would contribute greatly to the health of these communities. Peace Winds will work more closely with the National Hospital in coordinating and combining future health screening with their outreach program.
The people on the islands were very welcoming, hospitable and expressed their appreciation for the health screening outreach we did. We at Peace Winds would like to thank them for taking the time to participate in the screening despite the inclement weather at the time. We would like to express also our deep appreciation to everyone who helped us to accomplish a successful outreach voyage, especially to the Governors and Lieutenant Governors of Hatohobei and Sonsorol states and their staff. Furthermore, a special thanks to the PCC Nursing School for allowing their nursing students to assist us on this voyage. Peace Winds is very grateful for the support received from Marine Law Office and its Officers on duty.
Peace Winds will continue the operation of the ship for the transportation between southwest and Koror, requested by the president, expectedly starting from March.