Health Fair a great resource for the community

By Lindsey Turnbull

Year one students at UCCI’s School of Nursing organised a successful health fair for the community on Wednesday, helping everyone who attended to ‘know their numbers’ when it came to Body Mass Index (BMI), blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose and hearing. All readings were taken by year two students.

Quida Johnson-Shirley Programme Director at UCCI’s School of Nursing said she was incredibly proud of the students for producing such an excellent service for the community.

“The health fair helps the students with their organisational skills, planning, how to execute a health fair,” she advised. “It’s a total health and well-being event, looking at both mental and physical health. This event helps the community to realise that, as an institution, we’re not just here for the academics, but we also want our community to be healthy.”

Ms Johnson-Shirley said it was hoped people would know what their numbers and come and get screened. It was important to know these vital statistics, she said.

“When you know your numbers – is it high, is it too low, is it normal – you know if you need to visit the doctor or what you are doing is on the right track or if you need to improve,” she advised.

Year one nursing student Kareisha said: “I hope that people learn from the fair. A lot of people are not aware of their health; they might have high blood pressure but haven’t had many symptoms and don’t think much of it. I hope this health fair will raise awareness for people in the community so they can take their health more seriously.” 

Jada White is also a year one nursing student. She said: “People need to be more aware of their health, especially the younger people. Young people tend to overlook the fact that their health is very important and they don’t take it seriously until they reach an older age, so it is very important that they come to the health fair and understand that their health matters.”

Jada mentioned that lifestyle choices of young people, including eating fast food and vaping, could cause long term health problems for them, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and lung issues, so a health check to know their numbers was vitally important.

“People are becoming more aware of their health and the important role knowing your numbers plays due to health fairs such as this, she advised.

“People are seeing the importance of it. More and more initiatives are being put in place to improve the awareness for people in the community,” Jada said.