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Bringing healthy back

Health fair offers preventive health care at reduced rates

Brian Smith

Michelle Moore, 9News Health Fair lab supervisor, said attending a health fair this weekend in Craig is a wise way for residents to use their time.

“Take yourself in and get a check-up,” she said. “You do it with your cars, you do it with your animals, you might as well do it with your body.”

Craig residents will have an opportunity to get that check up and receive other information about personal and mental health and nutrition during the 9News Health Fair, scheduled for 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Sunset Elementary School, 800 W. Seventh St.



The health fair provides a variety of screenings and other preventative care to residents at a reduced cost from a normal doctor’s fee, said Kristi Shepherd, health fair site coordinator.

Basic screenings offered at the fair include blood chemistry, blood count, vision, pulse, blood pressure, prostate, colon and breast cancer. Attendees will also be able to speak with health professionals from several local agencies.



A blood draw for seniors older than 65 will be offered from 7 to 11 a.m. Thursday at Sunset Meadows II, 595 Ledford St.

The health fair has been conducted in Craig for 33 years and is an integral part of community health, Shepherd said.

“It’s a really big thing,” she said. “People look for it every year.”

About 450 people a year attend the main fair and about 180 people attend the senior blood draw, Shepherd said.

Over the event’s history in Craig, attendance has slowly risen and about 50 volunteers help organize and staff the fair each year.

Shepherd said growing attendance is mostly due to word of mouth, but the bad economy has recently played a factor.

She said the fair is appealing to residents because it offers the same preventive screenings a doctor offers, but at a reduced rate.

Results from the blood test usually take about four to six weeks to be sent back to residents who are screened. If the test turns out to be abnormal, however, the resident will get a call within 24 hours, Shepherd said.

Shepherd, in her sixth year as site coordinator, said she enjoys helping put on the event because it is a “community effort” that gives her a “sense of belonging.”

Moore, who has been volunteering at the fair for more than 20 years, said it is her “opportunity to give back to the community.”

“It is my one day that I don’t get paid … and I find it to be a very heart warming opportunity to see the community come out and get tested and take care of their own health, take it into their own hands and do something about it.”

According to a news release, the 9News Health Fair sees about 90,000 people per year and visits about 160 communities throughout the state.

About 19,000 people volunteer with the fair, with more than half being doctors, nurses or other medically trained residents.

It is Colorado’s largest, non-profit, volunteer driven health fair program.


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