Coco Talanoa — Health & Well Being / Page 1

Al Sagapolutele was always the “big guy.” As a result of poor eating and drinking habits, he weighed as much as 485 lb. after college.

A few years ago, Sagapolutele suffered a heart attack, and treatment left him with three stents. He also had sciatic nerve pain, a herniated disk and spinal stenosis in two parts of his lower lumbar region. After multiple doctors told him he needed to lose weight, a desperate Sagapolutele saw a gastric-bypass surgeon. When a good friend questioned whether Sagapolutele had done everything possible to lose the weight naturally, Sagapolutele admitted he hadn’t.

A year and a half ago, Sagapolutele started one-on-one sessions with Dorian Shockey, owner of CrossFit Resurgens in Atlanta, Georgia. Though Sagapolutele had tried other gyms in the past, this was like talking to a friend, he said. He eventually progressed to the affiliate’s beginners course, then regular classes.

More than anything, Sagapolutele was struck by the sense of community and supportive atmosphere at CrossFit Resurgens.…more

We join the Xtreme HipHop instructors as they host a lively and special step class to welcome the creator of the fitness class Phil Weedan.

Phil also known as "The Creator" is world famous steo instructor. He stumbled onto his love of fitness by accident when he started his own fitness journey to transform his body and to combat his depression. Phil became a certified personal trainer in 2008. Then in 2013, Phil stepped out on faith and opened his own gym, Naturally Gifted Fitness Center located in Cleveland Heights. This is where the idea for Xtreme Hip Hop was born. Members of the gym wanted a step class, but he couldn’t keep a step instructor. Phil decided to embark on the journey of teaching the step class himself, but his first order of business was to find music that motivated him to move, and that’s exactly what he did.

Phil’s step class is now a worldwide hit.…more

* Trigger warning - this article contains discussions about mental health issues & suicide. 

After having three of his close friends reach out to him during lockdown to let him know they were struggling, young Samoan/kiwi Steven Edgar decided he needed to take action and try to raise more awareness around mental health issues & suicide.

The 22 year old said it really hit home when one of those friends tried to take his own life.  "My mate ended up in a coma after attempting to take his life and after he woke up from the coma I was like that's it! I really need to do something to raise awareness.  

I'd come across this guy on instagram (dancer Dave Kuresa), who had shared doing a 12 hour staircase challenge to raise awareness around mental health in Brisbane and I thought 'I could do that here in Auckland and try raise awareness here'" he said.…more

via RNZ Pacific 

There is a call for Pacific peoples to rally around parents of newborns today, Safe Sleep Day.

My Baby's Village is an initiative led by the Pacific Infant Care Collective that aims to ensure Pacific parents of newborns have all the support they need to keep their baby safe.

The organisation said there has been a spike in unexplained deaths among infants across Auckland over the past two years.

SUDI, or Sudden Unexplained Death in Infancy, describes when a baby dies from an unexplained cause or through accidental and preventable circumstances.

About half of the Auckland region's SUDI deaths each year are Pacific tamariki.

Police National Partnerships Manager for Pacific Peoples Superintendent Fata Willi Fanene said the call "for more support follows stubbornly high rates of Pacific infant SUDI across Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland over the last decade."

She said Pacific people make up almost 15 percent of Tamaki Makarau's population yet Pacific babies make up 40 to 50 percent of SUDI deaths in Auckland each year, with most in deprived areas.…more

This week on Let's Talanoa, Dr Lesina interviews well known Pacific Youth Advocate and Educational Psychologist, Sonia Pope. 

Together they talk about the things that our young people are facing each day as they navigate through COVID-19, vaccine passes, different opinions and more.  Listen up for Sonia's practical tips!  

Via The Cause Collective 

Samoans across Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland are being encouraged to get vaccinated to increase the vaccination rate for Samoans, the largest population of  Pacific peoples. 

With Samoans being the largest ethnicity of the Covid-19 cases in the most recent outbreak of the Delta variant in South Auckland, local community leaders and Pacific health providers are encouraging Samoans to make the decision to get vaccinated. 

In Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, there are approximately 120,000 people that identify as Samoans, which makes up the largest population of 244,000 Pacific people in the region. 

“We are calling out to the Samoan community in Auckland, particularly South Auckland to make the decision to get vaccinated to protect the health and wellbeing of their aiga (family), loved ones, ekalesia (church) and community,” says Senior General Practitioner, Doctor Sirovai Fuata’i. 

“As we have seen with each Covid-19 outbreak, Pacific and Māori people are highly vulnerable to the virus given our social way of life and many live with pre-existing health conditions.…more

Royal Family Dance Crew member Kaea Pearce takes us through a hip hop based dance routine, starting with a warm up.

Follow along with Kaea as she breaks down the steps and then dance the full choreographed routine with her at the end!

Upload your videos and be sure to tag both us and Kaea in the videos - we'd love to see how you go! 

Our Pacific Dance teacher Charlene Tedrow of 'Ura Tabu' is back to get us moving while we're at home on lockdown.

Be sure to try out her first two classes in the links below.

Get fit and learn these beautiful Pacific dance moves at the same time!

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Island Dance Class Pt1

https://www.thecoconet.tv/coco-talanoa/health-well-being/island-dance-classes/

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Island Dance Class Pt2 

https://www.thecoconet.tv/coco-talanoa/health-well-being/island-dance-classes-pt2/

A group of young Samoans at the centre of one of the AOG clusters in Auckland have been working hard to break down information to their aiga and community who have tested positive for the virus.

They made this video to help the many elderly people who had tested positive to understand the process. Many of the older Pasifika members of their community were traumatised by the positive test and anxious about what would happen to them.

The young students who put the video together to help them based on Ministry of Health information, hope it may help other people with the testing, social distancing and isolation process as well.

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Click here for Covid-19 information translations in all Pasifika languages 

Click this link here for an interactive map on where to find a vaccination clinic near you https://karawhiua.nz/all-clinics/

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Made by Marcus Savelio, Tali Meavale and Ullrich Von Reiche.