MONTE VISTA—San Luis Valley Health hosted their annual health fair this past Saturday at Monte Vista High School, implementing new options and design changes that patients and attendees took full advantage of, including expansion of vendors into the cafeteria area.
About 200 people came to get the results of their pre-draws, blood tests that they had completed at other participating businesses in the last month, and between 300 and 400 people were walk-in attendees, according to Mary Rice, director of laboratory services with SLV Health. “The online registration option was very popular this year,” Rice stated, “Our patient portal department and our doctors have been very busy.” Six practitioners participated in the event, setting up in the high school offices for the “ask a provider” screening section. The patient portal sent fair patients an email as soon as the lab had finished the requested tests on their blood draws. “This makes it easier for patients, who like having the information on hand as quickly and easily as possible” said Rice.
The SLV Health Fair offered a variety of lab tests from the blood draws, including a Blood Chemistry test, a Complete Blood Count, Vitamin D, HgA1c, Blood Type, Prostate Specific Antigen, Iron and Iron Binding, Hepatitis C, Vitamin b12, testosterone for men and women, and a colon cancer screening kit. Free screenings were available from providers as well, including women’s health screening, physical therapy, dental, vision, audiology, podiatry, skin care and vision. About 25 vendors lined the cafeteria offering a variety of health products or services, including residential assisted living, in-home healthcare services and pharmacies among others. There were also several informational booths in the vendor section about diseases like diabetes, nutritional information, behavioral health, stress relief and blood pressure screenings.
Kelly Gurule, director of the SLVH Foundation, discussed how positive the event was for volunteers. “It’s a win-win situation; our volunteers got to survey patients for feedback about what they like about the health fair and they informed a lot of people about our ambassador program at the hospital.” The volunteers also assembled the prize drawing— a picnic cooler full of local foods— and they put together a similar basket with a gardening theme for the La Jara Health Fair as well. Gurule stated that the health fair was also a great way to bring attention to the foundation and the projects that they choose every year. Recent projects that the foundation has successfully taken on include the Lids for Kids bike helmet program, chairs in the waiting areas of the OBGYN department and a TV in the oncology department.
About 100 well-informed and dedicated non-medical volunteers were seen in orange shirts throughout the event. Attendees first encountered their assistance when treated to escorts in golf carts, donated by the Monte Vista Golf Club, from their vehicles to the doors of the health fair. Volunteer Coordinator Nancy Mason stated that roughly seven people put in about 20 hours of preparation work in planning meetings and coordinating lists of volunteers. Altogether, it took about 700 volunteer hours to put the event together. “Many of our volunteers have been doing this for years, and many of them will still do it again next year” said Mason, while praising the hard work that all of the smiling volunteers brought the health fair.
Site coordinator and volunteer Marcia Swanger stated that the participants liked how the event was spread out more. “It allowed for more informational vendors who also liked the turnout. The school, Safeway and Monte Vista Co-op were wonderful community participants and we couldn’t have done it without them,” Swanger said. Safeway gave sandwiches at a discounted price, as well as free chips and water and the Monte Vista Co-op donated water bottles for all of the volunteers to stay energized and ready for the event. “The high school was wonderful to work with, giving so much of their time and of course the gym and cafeteria. Some of our volunteers were new; some have been doing it for 25+ years; we absolutely couldn’t do it without the volunteers,” added Swanger. Both Mason and Swanger also praised and thanked all of the student nurses from Adams State University and Trinidad State Junior College volunteering throughout the event at several different booths, screening tables and directing people to the tests they needed to complete.