Reporter for The Canyon Weekly
The Canyon Service Center is hosting the Santiam Canyon Community Health Fair on Thursday, April 11.
The event runs 2 to 6 p.m. at the Canyon Service Center, 844 S. 1st Ave., Mill City and all area adults are welcome.
The event is organized and presented by the Mill City Lions Club, Santiam Hospital and Clinics, and the Canyon Service Center.
A wide range of health screenings, educational materials and resource information will be available at the fair. Organizers said it will be especially helpful for Santiam Canyon residents who have limited resource access or who have limited income, for people who don’t get routine health care, and for those who are caregivers or support persons for others.
“I am really pleased with the large number of skilled and knowledgeable partners who are making themselves available for our event,” Canyon Service Center President Joanne Olson said in a news release. “We really do have something that will benefit attendees from all sorts of backgrounds, including super giveaways and the opportunity to meet great people.”
Health and wellness gifts and prizes will be provided throughout the event, along with a meal kit for a family of four to attendees who visit the stations at the health fair.
Here is a look at some of the services that will be on site:
• The Knight Cancer Institute is providing a “walk-through colon,” along with other cancer screening and prevention information.
• Three additional vans in the CSC parking lot will include Capitol Dental (dental screening, fluoride treatment, and dental health information).
• Linn County Public Health working with the SCOPE lab of Santiam Hospital and Clinics for confidential screenings for gonorrhea, chlamydia, rapid HIV and hepatitis C along with resource assistance for those with positive results; and Linn County Mental Health on substance use disorder resources and information.
• Screenings for high cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure; decreased memory; and altered mood.
• Dr. H. Frank Storey of Stayton will be on hand to conduct vision checks.
Kim Klotz of Santiam Hospital and Clinics’ integrated health and outreach department said “we are thrilled about the robust collaboration among our partners, aiming to deliver health screenings and resources precisely where our community members require them the most, right in the area where they live, work and play. Moreover, we look forward to actively engaging with attendees to identify social and health related needs beyond the offerings of the health fair.”
Klotz added that the hospital’s community health worker team will be working closely with attendees to provide “follow-up as needed.”
After visiting the stations attendees will receive a bag with meal recipes and ingredients to prepare a meal for a family of four that is both heart-healthy and diabetes-friendly. The recipes and meal ingredients are being provided by medical students through a program sponsored by Oregon Pacific Area Health Education Center in Lebanon and paid for with grants from Oregon Community Foundation.
Nutrition-related resources and information also will be provided by a Linn County OSU Extension Service master food preserver and their food hero program manager.
There will be a variety of educational and resource material about cardiovascular health, diabetes, dementia, vision, avoiding physical injuries, use of 211 telephone lines for health and social service referral information, and health insurance from the Oregon Health Plan, the Oregon Health Authority Marketplace and Medicare.
Shelley Dougherty, a Mill City Lions Club member and one of the key organizers of the event, serves as director of the Oregon Pacific Area Health Education Center. She noted that for the students “this health fair is an opportunity to connect with community members as part of the Nourishing Change service-learning project and as volunteers at the health fair.”
The Oregon Community Foundation is sponsoring the student service-learning project, which targets nutrition in under-serviced populations as a preventive health measure.
For information on the health fair call the Canyon Service Center at 503-897-4176 or email [email protected].
