MONTE VISTA— SLV Health held its annual health fair at Monte Vista High School on Saturday morning, April 13. The fair was an informative, educational event that also promoted healthy living and disease prevention. Several departments from the hospital, community organizations and health-related organizations contributed to the fair and had booths for the public’s consumption.
The fair was held from 7-11am. “We had a good turnout. We are thankful for our volunteers who are local community members, and help make this event successful every year. We also gave away scales to the first 100 attendees,” stated Donna Wehe, director of public relations and communications for SLV Health. The scales and the first 100 attendees were seen within the first hour of the four hour fair.
Volunteers at the fair commented that they enjoyed assisting the community. Some volunteers said they had attended and helped for a number of years, and always felt a sense of pride in an event that can truly save the lives of attendees. The sense of community pride offered was also mentioned as a draw to volunteering for the SLV Health Fair.
One of the most popular items of the fair is always the blood screenings. Most attendees were spotted having blood drawn to check on their health. The chemistry work took a look at things such as vitamin D, hemoglobin, iron and testosterone. There were also prevention tests such as a colon cancer screening kit, prostate specific agent for men and tests for hepatitis c.
A “vendor” area saw health related organizations such as Valley-Wide Health Systems, Alamosa Public Health, Rio Grande Public Health, SLV Behavioral Health Group, Monte Vista Estates, many departments from within the SLV Health system and a lot of others providing information to attendees. Most tables had free information and items that health fair attendees who visited the booths could take home for their perusal.
Throughout the morning doctors also offered “mini doc talks.” They presented information on their specialty and answered questions from the engaged audience. Topics included podiatry, dementia and stroke.