When Dr. Craig Kadooka worked as a physician in Hilo, he would encourage his patients to do two things: ask questions and go for walks.
While enjoying retirement, Kadooka continues to advocate for both through his Walk With A Doc weekly events hosted at Lili‘uokalani Gardens, where community members walk and talk about health and wellness.
“The way I see it now, walking is like a gateway drug — once you start walking, then you start improving, you get more active, you get hooked on exercise, stop smoking, eat better, a whole bunch of things happen,” Kadooka said. “The best part of my practice was not dispensing pills or giving injections, but giving advice and having people ask me questions.”
Kadooka was born and raised in Hilo, attended Hilo High School, and went on to study medicine on Oahu. He returned to the Big Island in 1982 and opened his own practice in 1990.
Just a few years before retirement, Kadooka discovered the Walk With A Doc program after reading an article. It inspired him to launch his own nonprofit, and he reached out to the official Walk With A Doc organization.
They provided him with the proper paperwork, shirts, bumper stickers and everything else he needed to get started.
“On the first walk, which was May 18, 2014, 37 people came, and it just grew and grew,” he said, adding the walks eventually consisted of nearly a hundred participants.
“Until we had the pandemic,” he said. “Then everything fell apart.”
During the novel coronavirus pandemic, numbers dropped to just half-a-dozen people participating as concerns about COVID-19 and exposure spread.
“A lot of activities have had trouble coming back,” Kadooka said. “I’m also involved in teaching karate, and at one point, we had a class of 30-something students, and we’ve had trouble getting seven or eight now.”
But those who did attend took advantage of the opportunity to learn about COVID-19.
“For a while, there were lots of questions about COVID,” he said of the walks.
The group is finally growing again thanks to a recent partnership between Walk With A Doc and AARP Hawaii.
“Now, we’re back to around 15 or 20 people on a crowded day,” Kadooka said. “We get some AARP members now who come to the walk, and they also help sponsor and bring some materials and snacks.”
AARP members set up an information booth at the walks on the first Sunday of every month, although members tend to walk every week.
“Post pandemic, it’s been hard to get people back to doing things outdoors and in groups,” said AARP Hilo volunteer Pam Bruce. “But every Sunday, there’s a few more people that come, and it’s just getting the word out that they’re back, that we can walk outdoors, and enjoy the good Hilo sunshine and fresh air.”
Bruce knows a big part of the draw is Kadooka’s engaging personality.
“I was a former nurse, so I knew Dr. Kadooka when he was working as a doctor,” she said. “It’s been a really nice arrangement, and the talks that he gives or has other medical staff give are so good and so helpful to people.”
Each week the walks kick off with a short discussion during which local physicians, medical residents and even Kadooka himself will give a brief talk about a medical topics like diabetes, colon cancer, kidney stones and other subjects.
“We’ve coordinated with the Family Medicine Residency Program, too, at (Hilo Medical Center), and the residents give talks,” Kadooka said. “It’s usually 10 to 15 minutes followed by questions, and when the crowd disperses, some people approach the doctor to ask additional questions.”
Kadooka often brings a special guest with him — a 15-year old rescue and therapy dog named Laka, Hawaiian for calm and peaceful.
“My dog and I go to hospice, and we still go to Hawaii Island Adult Care center to visit, so I try to keep active,” he said. “I suggest people bring their dogs, too, if they’re reasonably behaved and, of course, on a leash.”
Kadooka is now 74, and although he still does CrossFit asix days a week, he has rheumatoid arthritis and is looking to eventually have someone else take over as leader of the group.
“I’ve been pretty much running the ship myself,” he said. “Next year is our 10-year anniversary, and I’ve been looking forward to finding someone else willing to take over.”
The group meets every Sunday morning at 8 a.m. in front of Hilo Bay Cafe at Lili‘uokalani Gardens, and all are welcome. Smaller groups break off after the talks, and different routes are walked each week to keep things fresh.
After a decade, Kadooka has enjoyed the conversations, meeting new friends, sharing key information about health and wellness, and staying in shape with the Hilo community.
“It’s been very gratifying,” he said of the walks over the past decade. “I just wish people would start coming back again.”
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com.