Running up That Hill

Kaleolani, born and raised in Wai‘anae, had competed in track and field in high school and enjoyed running. But after she started smoking in her early 20s, she says, “I could barely even walk up a hill … it was bad.” What started as a way to fit in with her friends turned into an addiction that impacted every aspect of Kaleolani’s life.

“When I woke up in the morning, I was looking for a cigarette,” she says. “Before I went to sleep, I was looking for a cigarette. If I got mad … cigarette. Mentally, it was overwhelming me.”

After becoming a mother for the first time, she soon realized she couldn’t run or actively play with her child because of the impact of smoking on her physical health. She made numerous attempts to quit—around 10—in hopes of regaining physical activity, but it wasn’t until she became pregnant again, at the age of 33, that she decided to seek the help of experts.

Kaleolani knew that the tobacco treatment team from Wai‘anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center’s E Malama I Kou Ha program, which means “care for your life—giving breath,” attended the local farmers’ market each week. She approached them there and was met with resources and a welcoming team ready to help her. Using a combination of counseling, nicotine replacement therapy, and other activities, Kaleolani was able to gain the skills she needed to quit smoking, all at no cost to her.

At one point during her quit journey, Kaleolani ran out of nicotine patches while at work. “I started panicking because I just started my eight-hour shift.” She called up an E Malama team member, who personally came down to her workplace to bring a refill.

This level of attentiveness was critical to Kaleolani’s ability to stay quit. “Usually in the past, I would end up relapsing back to a cigarette,” she says. “But [they] came down, and that wasn’t the first time [they] came down.” Because of the support of the E Malama I Kou Ha team, as well as the support of her husband, Kaleolani has been able to stay off cigarettes.

Since quitting, Kaleolani has felt a weight lifted and is proud to no longer be passing the impacts of smoking to her children. She has also noticed an improvement in her physical health. She recalls a hill near where she lives: “I would bring my cigarette up there before and just go halfway, smoking it halfway up the hill and just go back home walking. I always wanted to run up that hill, and I’d get teased for not being able to. And, since I quit, I’ve been running up that hill. Just this morning, to test it out again, I ran up the hill this morning,” she proudly says.

Wai‘anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center is one of 15 nonprofits receiving funding from the Hawai‘i Community Foundation’s Hawai‘i Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund, under a contract with the Hawai‘i State Department of Health, to provide tobacco treatment services to the community.

To learn more about HCF’s initiatives and grant programs, visit hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/strengthening-hawaii-communities.