Seat Pleasant Health Fair a Great Success

Over the past month or so, we’ve been following the efforts of Dr. Desmond’s Community Health class as they prepared and planned for the Seat Pleasant Health Fair, which is part of an ongoing collaboration between the university and the city of Seat Pleasant. Now that the fair has come and gone—the event took place May 2nd—the Healthy Turtle checked in with many of the students who worked the fair.

We talked with quite a few students in putting this post together, so we'll be putting up an extra post on Friday with more pictures and more thoughts from students. Until then, here's the wrap-up article.

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After months of preparation, Dr. Sharon Desmond's Community Health class recently held the Seat Pleasant Health Fair, which sought to inform community members about a variety of health issues. The fair, which is held annually as part of an ongoing collaboration between the university and city of Seat Pleasant, featured informational booths, health screenings, door prizes and even a moon bounce—which Seat Pleasant Mayor Eugene W. Grant was one of the first to enjoy.

Despite rain throughout the day, over 100 people came out for the fair, and the group of students running the event called it a success. Amy Hillman, who worked a booth addressing the health care needs of infants, children and teens, saw the benefits of her work in the responses of the residents.

“Many of the adults who came to our poster said that they did have kids and that our information was interesting,” Hillman said. “Some said that they had never heard some of the tips that we gave for parents, so we considered this a success since we were giving them new information.”

Student Rebekah Joseph worked a booth emphasizing the importance of physical activity—even small steps like taking the stairs instead of the elevator—and believes that attendees walked away with a new perspective.

“After visiting the health fair, I believe the attendees left with a little more knowledge about health and what they should be doing to better care for themselves,” Joseph said. “I am sure that a lot of them learned things about health that they were unaware about previously.”

The opportunity to interact with residents was a highlight for many students, as after a semester of logistics and research, the fair gave them an opportunity to put all those ideas into their conversations.

“I wasn't sure how people would react to all of the information being thrown at them,” student Jennifer Howard said, “but when people would come up to me and ask me sincere questions about their health, I realized that we were there for a very good reason and we were making a positive impact. It also gave me a taste of what being a health educator is like.”

As for the future, Amy Hillman thinks that the positive reaction of residents and the overall success of this fair will carry over to next year.

“We got compliments about the material we were delivering, the giveaways from the organizations, and how organized the fair was as a whole,” Hillman said. “I think that this positive attitude about our fair was important for the residents to take away from the day, because this will encourage them to return to the health fair next year.”