Have you been wondering if you have high blood pressure, if you need new glasses or why your feet hurt? You can get answers to those questions and more at the School of Medicine’s health and wellness fair Friday, March 28, from 7 a.m.-5 p.m.
Health Happening ’08, sponsored by the School of Medicine’s Wellness Council, will be held in the first-floor atrium of the McDonnell Pediatrics Research Building on Children’s Place and is free to all School of Medicine employees. Attendees will receive giveaways, prizes and health information.
Physician faculty and full-time clinical staff from School of Medicine departments will offer a variety of screening tests, including visual acuity and glaucoma testing, blood pressure screening, glucose tests and hearing tests. Doctoral students from the Program in Physical Therapy will offer posture, fitness and foot screenings as well as screenings using the InBody scale, which reveals a person’s body mass index, composition, fat percentage and water balance.
In addition, School of Medicine specialists, including physicians, dietitians and nurse practitioners, will be on hand to answer individual health questions. Representatives from Siteman Cancer Center will work with participants to evaluate their risk for five major diseases using its YourDiseaseRisk tool, and occupational therapists will provide information on office ergonomics.
Also on hand will be representatives from fitness centers with which the School of Medicine has discounts and a reduced-cost “farmer’s market,” selling produce from a local supermarket. Participants will get information on ways to manage their own health, learn to make good food choices from registered dietitians, get stress-reduction ideas and a free 5-minute back massage. The school’s Bear Bikers cycling team will offer bike safety tips and recruit for its team. There will also be an opportunity to see how yoga and Pilates can work for you and to hone your golf swing via video feedback.
Legail Chandler, director of human resources at the School of Medicine, said representatives from the University’s health-care and dental insurance plans and from People Resources, which operates the Employee Assistance Program, also will be available with information about their plans.
Ashley Glade, a third-year doctoral student in the Program in Physical Therapy, said physical therapy students are helping to organize the fair and will also volunteer.
All School of Medicine employees are welcome.