HMSA taps teens for community inspiration

@postaday 125; #postaday2011

Way before the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is now the Affordable Care Act, HMSA’s philosophy has been to inspire wellness and healthy living among its members. In our Hawaii community, there are several predominant health challenges: Diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and substance abuse, in particular the use of methamphetamine, or ice.

Ever since Cain and Abel, there has always been teen struggle and angst. Parents, teachers, law enforcement and governments have had a Sisyphean challenge to support teenagers, build up their esteem, keep them busy, keep them out of trouble, help them get to and through college, and to shuttle them to the portal of adulthood with as little wear and tear as possible.

But while we’re so busy trying to push and prod the young guns toward adulthood, we sometimes forget that they might have their own ideas and inspirations about how to proceed through life. Do you ever take the time to ask your kid or the kids in your realm what they might think about the way things are going, what they would like their futures to be, what struggles they and their friends might be having,  or what their favorite song is?

As a mom, I’m learning my children have a perspective and an approach toward solving their daily challenges quite differently from my own. I’m learning to get quiet and to listen. That’s what HMSA did last night at the Honolulu Convention Center, where we hosted the 8th Annual Teen Video Awards for Hawaii’s intermediate and high school students.

Students were invited to submit 30-second videos, public service announcements (PSAs), in a competition that was also open to public voting on HMSA’s YouTube channel.  Students from 37 schools submitted 224 videos in the categories of physical health, mental health and social health. Their videos touched on eating healthy, peer pressure, and drug and alcohol abuse.

The winners were announced at last night’s ceremony and can be found here.

An article online at The Honolulu Star-Advertiser website is here.

Click here to see the winning videos. The link will be live today. I will check to see if it’s live and give an update if possible.

Sponsors of the event includes HMSA, the Hawaii Department of Education, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Hawaii, and the Hawaii Meth Project.