Yearly festival hosts series of panels on local wellness

Almost everyone seeks health, prosperity and freedom from suffering for ourselves, our loved ones and the world around us. Yet, there are myriad obstacles to achieving sustainable health through balance ranging from the stress we might encounter in our workaday lives to unproductive lifestyle patterns to poor relationship choices.

Are you ready for another boost of inspiration? Is it time to hit the reset button?

This year the Hawaii Book and Music Festival, with support from Hawaii Medical Service Association, will be offering a full-day of panel discussions on “Living Well in Hawaii.” Athletes, community leaders, politicians, farmers, health providers, academicians and insurers will offer insights and guidance on a series of seven panels:

“The Price of Wellness” looks at the national effort to increase access to affordable, quality care, the objective of Obamacare. Is it working, and what are the prospects following the presidential election? What is happening on a local level to ensure food sovereignty and food security, and how can island residents manage to eat well despite the cost of groceries?

“Deadly Lifestyle Choices” showcases what happens when caution and care are thrown to the wind. The myriad illnesses that arise from eating to excess, habitual sodas, vaping, alcohol, prescription drugs and meth have their way of creeping up.

“Healing Recipes for Misery” presents ills of the modern day in light of traditional cultural models for health. Connection, relationship and community are the salve for isolation and alienation, and key to resolving health disparities.

“Proactive Wellness” addresses how people achieve wellness literacy by accessing social networks empowered by information technology. How do millennials learn to exercise autonomy by asking the right questions? How can baby boomers use innovative technologies combined with care coordination to age in place?

“Blue Zone Project Hawaii” presents a new pilot community health program introduced by HMSA in Windward Oahu, based on the longevity factors found common to a half-dozen communities around the world, identified by National Geographic and popularized by Dan Buettner in his New York Times best-selling book, “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who Live Longest.”

“Achieving Health Through Balance” explores the challenges faced in resolving tension between demands of work and family so that both can thrive. Is it possible to win in competitive sports without sacrificing health later in life?

“Successful Aging” looks at a delicate process that includes the best of modern medicine and knowing when and how to let go. The burden too often falls on unpaid family caretakers. How do palliative care and hospices optimize grace and comfort along the way? What is the difference?

The Hawaii Book and Music Festival draws as many at 30,000 participants each year. Check out the “Living Well in Hawaii” panel discussions, which I will be emceeing, as an opportunity for healing in paradise.

Ira “Kawika” Zunin, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., is a practicing physician. He is medical director of Manakai O Malama Integrative Healthcare Group and Rehabilitation Center and CEO of Global Advisory Services Inc. His column appears the first Saturday of every month. Please submit your questions to info@manakaiomalama.com.