Health Fair hosts vendors to raise awareness, provide tips
April 16, 2009
UW-River Falls hosted its annual Health Fair Wednesday, April 15. This year’s Fair was sponsored by Greg Peters—State Farm Insurance and River Falls First National Bank.
The Health Fair is a time to promote overall health and wellness on campus, and it gives students, faculty and staff the opportunity to learn about the different aspects of health in an interactive manner.
“The Health Fair gives students, especially health and human performance students, the opportunity to have a hands-on learning experience. This year, students in the wellness class are responsible for creating a booth on a health topic of their choice,” Stacy Dekkers who works for Student Health and Counseling Services said. Dekkers is also a health educator at UWRF.
In addition to each of the student groups having a demonstration throughout the Fair, students of the wellness class had booths arranged.
Amongst these booths were wellness students Taylor Dressen and Bill Scholz whose booth was about over-the-counter drugs. Students McKenna Richards and Kyle Lechleitner had an arrangement about the hazards of smoking.
“We brought in a petition for students to sign for a smoke-free campus. We also have a healthy pig’s heart to represent a healthy human heart as well as an unhealthy one to represent the ‘smoker’s lung’,” Lechleitner said.
In addition to displays, different vendors and organizations put on demonstrations.
“One of the highlights from last year was the demonstration put on by the River Falls EMS. Another yearly favorite is the push-up and wall-sit competitions,” Dekkers said.
Those competitions were back again this year, and door prizes were given out to the winners. In addition to contests and prizes, the Fair offered snacks.
UWRF Dining Services donated a fruit and vegetable tray. Individual booths handed out individual refreshments as well.
Both on-campus and other vendors hosted the other booths. Some vendors included the Hastings Beauty School, who were doing manicures, and groups giving hearing, screening and body composition tests.
Other new vendors showed up for the Health Fair this year.
“Also new this year, Pierce County Reproductive Health is offering free HIV testing,” Dekkers said.
Free massages were given by the St. Croix Center for the Healing Arts Student Massage Clinic. Students from the Clinic will be coming back to UWRF on May 11 pre-finals week.
“We’re hoping to bring about four or five practitioners back on the 11th to give out some free massages,” Dwayne Collis, a graduate student at the Clinic, said.