Written By Cornell Hampton: Miami District COGBF Women Ministry
On Saturday, April 2, 2016 the Miami District COGBF Women’s Ministry in collaboration with Zion Rest COGBF and Nova Southeastern University School of Pharmacy held a Community Health Fair in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The fun-filled day began with health awareness, screening, demonstrations and healthy eating.
This initiative was a great opportunity to bring together the diverse institutions and organizations that work to protect and improve the health of the surrounding communities. The health fair allowed the community the affordability to have basic access to health information in spite of persistent socioeconomic and knowledge barriers, we have worked to develop and sustain culturally competent health education and outreach interventions.
Brittany Smith a Pre-Pharmacy student and member of the Zion Rest Church of God by Faith sees the community health fairs as a way to bring needed health screenings and health information to low-income and medically unwarranted communities through informal community settings offering a broad spectrum of health services.
Individuals don’t always talk freely in the office, nor for that matter do they like to be seen by a physician. The relaxed and mutual nature of a health fair allows more time for the health professional to openly communicate with the individual. It allows conversations into their opinions on taking medications, their reasoning behind not seeing a physician and lots of misconceptions about their health status. Many had to be addressed! This led to an impromptu platform to correct these misconceptions, in a non-confrontational setting that lead to positive discussions.
The health fairs simply cannot replace the care provided in conventional clinical settings. The encounters are typically one-time interactions with no opportunities for following up or developing a rapport.
For those who attend a health fair, bring the results of any screening tests to your health care providers to review with you, or to get further checkups or treatment.
Set a goal that you can reach to be a healthier you. Plan to learn something new.