Ephrata Health Fair draws big crowd

EPHRATA — Columbia Basin Hospital employees performed healthcare services for about 500 people a day at a health fair last week.

“This was a great community event,” said Gail Michael, fair organizer. “Our goal is not to make money, but to make the population healthy.”

Dressed head-to-toe in western gear, employees answered health-related questions and handed out “Find Your Health Age” pamphlets. Testing and screening were offered, which included blood analysis tests, bone density tests, colon cancer screening and Carotid Doppler screening.

“This is such a good service because lots of things come up in a blood test the people didn’t know about,” Michael said. “Every year we do this, someone learns something about their health they didn’t know before, which means they can take proactive steps to get better.”

Michael has organized the event for 20 years. It originally was a week-long event, but was shortened to three days this year so participants could receive testing results quicker.

“We run all tests at the hospital right away and get results back the day they are drawn now,” Michael said. “It’s important to have events like this for the community, because it lets people know how healthy they are and gives them tools to stay healthy over time.”

Columbia Basin Job Corps students came to help out with set up, clean up and promotion.

“They were such a huge help,” Michael said. “I wouldn’t want to do this without them now.”

Anyone interested was invited to attend the event. There were promotional flyers displayed throughout Ephrata in English, Russian and Spanish.

“We wanted to bring in as many people as we could,” Michael said. “We had a great turnout and even had some people come from outside the community, telling us they had driven as much as two hours to come here because their communities didn’t offer resources like this.”

New businesses came together this year at the fair to showcase their products. Along with screening and testing, participants could receive massages and sign up for doctor appointments.

The Grant County Health District administered immunizations to children for free.

“This event is really about education as well as health,” Michael said. “We want them to walk away knowing more about what’s available in their community and how to take care of their bodies.”

Hospital workers are coming together to discuss the fair and plan for next year.

“We always get together for a meeting after the health fair ends,” Michael said. “We talk about what went right, what went wrong and how we can do better, because one can always do better.”