Help stamp out rat lungworm disease

Six months before my son contracted rat lungworm disease I was a public school teacher on Hawaii Island.  When he got sick I was volunteering with a small non-profit organization that works with communities near Tanjung Puting National Park in Kalimantan Indonesia. I left the Borneo forest to live in a hospital for three months, helping my son to do the seemingly impossible.  Live.

 Three years after my son was released from the hospital he had recovered well enough that I could enroll at our local university and get involved with research on this parasite that  can cause such great damage.  Along the way I have met wonderful people whose lives have been changed by rat lungworm disease, and generous and caring people who are working to help prevent the disease.  These people, along with my children, family, and friends, provide the support and inspiration that makes this work possible.

I am now returning to work with students and teachers in the classroom.  Five public K-12 schools with school garden projects on Hawaii Island that are in or near to areas where infection has been confirmed are partners in this project.  We will evaluate invasive slug and snail populations, determine their infection levels, and test control methods to reduce slug and snail numbers in the gardens.  In collaboration with teachers and students we will develop academically challenging activities that will help improve student success in difficult subjects, such as science, technology, engineering, and math.  These knowledgable students will then become educators for their families and communities.

The management plan for invasive slugs and snails, and the curriculum developed, will be made available to school garden projects throughout the state.  This project supports school gardens, the grow local eat local movement, Hawaii's small farmers, and a food secure and sustainable Hawaii.  Mahalo to all of you for your support for this project.  Aloha.