Saline Area Senior Center Hosts Community Health Fair

Image

The Saline Area Senior Center hosted a community health fair and flu shot clinic on Friday, with over 150 attendees meeting vendors and speaking to nurses, health care providers, and local agencies.

“This is an annual event for us,” said Andrea Lewis, Program Coordinator. “We did at least 75 COVID boosters and I’m sure well over 100 flu shots. I think it’s really important to get everybody in the city who wants to be vaccinated vaccinated,” she said.

“Last year, we did it outdoors and it was much smaller. We felt that if we were masked and we had people coming in, we could do it safely. It was nice to have the building alive again.”

Lewis was happy to see attendees walking around the booths and getting information from the many vendors who participated.

“I think there are a lot of hidden gems in the community, and people don’t know that these resources are there. So to have people like the Alzheimer’s Association, or St. Joe’s with the bike helmets, or Hospice...I think it’s good to get that out in front of people. You don’t always know what’s hidden in your city or the area,” Lewis said.

Catherine Mitchell, regional business development specialist for StoryPoint, would agree.

“It’s been great because people have been engaged and wanted information about our community, asking good questions,” Mitchell said. “I think people have missed being in person, being able to talk. I talked to a lot of people that didn’t know about StoryPoint, so it was good to be able to share with them.”

Saline City Council member Dawn Krause was on hand to get resident feedback for the Saline Area Health Care Improvement Task Force.

“We started in March with a goal of trying to bring back more health care options to Saline,” Krause said. “We are working on surveys, we are trying to query residents to find out what they feel is lacking, what they feel is needed, how the quality of their lives would be if they had x, y or z.”

Krause said the goal will be to present the information next March to the local health care organization CEOs.

“We want to see what the interest might be in them partnering with Saline, and coming back to Saline or coming to Saline new if they’ve never been here and offering services to our residents.”

Krause would like to make Saline a medical hub for nearby communities and their residents. The task force is hoping to make a brochure to let residents know what services are available.

“The one thing I heard from a lot of people today is that it’s good to be together again at a function, and health care is such a big part right now, especially because of COVID,” Krause said.

Lindsy Mamp, business development liaison for EHM Senior Solutions, was happy to hear stories from family and friends of residents in their care communities.

“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback with experiences with EHM and Brecon Village, some very happy family members that are here in the community,” Mamp said. “A lot of people are getting back out in the community to see what’s available with assisted living, independent living, or staying in your home and using in-home services.”

Pandora Hall, with Homewatch Caregivers, was impressed with the event.

“The turnout was great. The nurses that were putting shots in arms were really quick, and everything flowed wonderfully. A great turnout,” she said.

Andrea Lewis was thankful that the event was such a success.

“I’m so appreciative of all the vendors who came. We had a lot of volunteer help, so thank you to all the volunteers and to everyone who came and were patient while they waited for the vaccines.”

More News from Saline
I'm interested
I disagree with this
This is unverified
Spam
Offensive