By Larry Kidder | Ruben Chipuli, who is completing his doctor of public health (DrPH) at Loma Linda University, works with LLU students, faculty, employees, and community members as a preventive care specialist and health coach at LLU Drayson Center. On Saturday, February 17, 2024, he was awarded a Student Scholarship during the annual Weniger Awards ceremony held at LLU Church in Loma Linda, California.
Ruben Chipuli is nearing the end of his studies at Loma Linda University School of Public and will soon graduate with his DrPH in preventive care. He has been working at LLU Drayson Center as a preventive care specialist and health coach for more than a year.
"I was taught by my mother to seek a profession where I could help lots of people," he recalls from his childhood. "At Drayson Center, I see a wide variety of clients—students, faculty, staff, and community members."
His efforts have been noticed by his professors, who nominated him for a Weniger Student Scholarship for 2024—the only one awarded to an LLU student. Each Seventh-day Adventist school of higher education within North America selects one student to receive the scholarship, based on excellence in four criteria: spirituality, academics, civic service, and leadership. Ruben is president of the LLU Student Association for the 2023-2024 school year, requiring leadership in organizing a variety of spiritual and community service activities for LLU students as well as fun and fellowship.
In March, Ruben will sit for his exam to become a certified health coach with the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching. Research for his doctoral project involves preventing ocular traumas for children in sports, with emphasis on pickleball.
Fortunately for Drayson Center, Ruben is practicing his skills right here, serving as a preventive care specialist and a health coach. In both cases, he begins by asking patients why they've been referred by their primary care physician or another health professional as well as their current lifestyle habits in regard to nutrition, physical activity, stress management, sleep, relationships with others, and use of risky substances.
Some clients prefer him to "wear the hat" of a preventive care specialist, being more prescriptive in guiding them toward healthy behavioral change. Others prefer to fashion their own plan for change. In both cases, Ruben serves as a motivator, cheerleader, and guide in helping them plan and implement sustainable change.
Ruben relies on a number of tools to measure where clients currently find themselves health-wise, establishing a baseline with which to compare their progress. "My clients are on a continuum of change—from gathering information to being ready for change," he explains. "My task is to determine where they are on that continuum."
Ruben illustrates use of Drayson Center's InBody assessment by having Lori Langford, events and senior wellness manager, step onto the machine and grip the handles.
Three tools used by Ruben are available for Drayson Center clients. The InBody assessment tool produces a comprehensive report on water ratio, dry lean mass, body fat mass, weight, percent body fat, segmental lean analysis, segmental fat analysis, body composition (body mass index or BMI), basal metabolic rate, visceral fat level, and total body water. Hand-grip strength and flexibility are also measured with other assessment tools.
Ruben illustrates the use of the grip assessment tool.
"My primary goal is to educate my clients and motivate them to change," he details, "moving them from extrinsic motivation (by me) to intrinsic motivation (themselves)."
To schedule a session with Ruben, email him at rchipuli@students.llu.edu.