LIHU‘E — Rev. Cheri Dennis of the Lihu‘e Christian Church said the Downtown Lihu‘e Health Clinic Pop-Up held on Monday is a means of getting more involved with the community.
“I’ve only been at the church for about a month,” Dennis said. “I heard about the Rice Street Business Association and spoke to Addison Bulosan. We agreed that a community health clinic offers something the community would benefit from. Hopefully, we can continue to do this at least once a month.”
The pop-up was visited by spurts of people, primarily residents of the nearby housing project that came to check out the offerings anchored by the Ho‘ola Lahui Hawai‘i mobile medical clinic, which also visited the YWCA of Kaua‘i open house last week.
Project Vision brought its mobile shower unit, as well as a team of professionals offering free eye examinations, and the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i offered a variety of food, including meat, fresh fruits and produce. The food bank also had more specialty family needs, such as pet foods and accessories, and feminine hygiene kits.
The UnitedHealthcare team offered information on its community health plan and Department of Education outreach program, and information and resources on getting access to education with the emphasis on getting children from the homeless population schooling.
The Rice Street Business Association provided a tent dispensing hot meals with other tents offering a place to sit and enjoy the meal while talking story with the available health care workers and food bank team, as well as neighbors and friends.
Wes Perreira, the Hawai‘i Foodbank Kaua‘i manager, said the food bank hasn’t received any indication of need following the storms last week.
He said he’s heard of several of the food pantry programs that had to throw out everything they had, and are probably assessing what they need to continue filling their community’s food needs.
Tisha Remigio and Caitlin Fowlkes showed off the Mai Movement feminine hygiene product kits that were available through a county program, while Michelle Panoke was busy replenishing the pet supplies, including canned food that was snatched up even before human consumables.
On the recipient side of the counter, a lot of visitors to the event were reluctant or hesitant about accepting the overflow of items because the load was more than they were capable of handling while walking back to their homes.
Rev. Dennis is still hopeful the event can continue at least once monthly.
