Ka‘ū News Briefs, Tuesday, March 2, 2022

     Dr. Susan Mercado, Director, Food Systems and Resiliency at the Hawai'i Public Health Institute where she has been part of a multi-stakeholder initiative called, Transforming Hawai'i's Food System Together. Mercado has more than 25 years of experience in public health, working 15 years with World Health Organization and three years with Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Asia Pacific Region. In the Philippines, she served under four Presidents and on the Board of the Philippine Health Insurance Corpo. In 2018, she was designated an honorary position as Special Envoy of the President for Global Health Initiatives and the position of Co-Chair of the National Panel of Technical Experts, Climate Change Commission Philippines. She has a medical and a masters’ degree in public health from the University of the Philippines.

    Dr. Fermin D. Adriano, Undersecretary of Policy, Planning and Research at the Department of Agriculture of the Philippines. He served as Information Director of the UP System, Vice-Chancellor of UP Los Banos, and was affiliated with the Manila Chronicle. He writes a weekly column for Manila Times and published books and articles on rural development, agriculture, and agrarian reform. He was policy adviser to successive administrations in agriculture matters. He serves as member of the Advisory Council of the Asian Development Bank Institute, Human Security Advocates, NEURON Comm group and Madre de Amor Hospice. He has an AB Journalism degree from UP, two masters’ degrees and a PhD.

Transforming Hawai'i's Food system is one of the efforts of Dr. Susan Mercado, Director, Food Systems and Resiliency at the Hawai'i Public Health Institute. She joins a zoom meeting this Friday on the effect of the Ukraine War on food distribution in Hawai'iand the Philippines. See https://transforminghawaiifoodsystem.org/about/

    Dexter Kishida, Food Security and Sustainability Program Manager, City & County of Honolulu. As Honolulu’s Food Security and Sustainability program manager in the Office of Economic Revitalization, his mission is to connect communities to high quality locally produced food that connects them to Hawai’i. For the past eight years he has worked for the Department of Education's School Food Services Branch most recently as farm to school coordinator. Seeing the economic, social and health benefits of eating closest to the source, much of his work includes supply chain development and increasing access to locally grown and raised food for Hawai’i communities.
    James Rarick, who is on Board of Directors of Moloka'i Community Health Center. He has worked for more than 30 years around the Pacific and in Asia as a public health nutritionist, and as program manager for variety of non-communicable disease prevention and control programs. He works as public health consultant with MonEval International and serves as a Co-Chair for the Hawai'i Opioid Initiative’s Work Group on Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral Treatment for Tobacco, Alcohol and Substance Use. He served for two years (2020 and 2021) as a Board Member for the Hawai'i Primary Care Association and is an avid backyard gardener.To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar/. See latest print edition at www.kaucalendar.com. See upcoming events  at https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8771374960502262788/6752152917357728426. 

KA'U RURAL COMMUNITIES WANTING BETTER INTERNET CONNECTIVITY can apply through USDA's ReConnect Program for funding. USDA has announced it has extended the deadline to March 9.

     U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Under Secretary Xochitl Torres Small said the funding is to expand access to high-speed internet for millions of rural Americans nationwide. See the  ReConnect Program at ReConnect Program: