Health Fair Promotes Good Living

Health fairs can be informative and fun, but sometimes the medical screenings offered during these free events can even save lives. This past week on the Ole Miss campus, organizers promoted prevention and awareness methods of maintaining mental and physical health.

This was no ordinary health fair. Most health fairs mainly deal with physical issues of the body but this health fair had a booth for just about any concern a student could have: counseling, addict recovery, violence prevention, and organ donation were among some of the topics.

"The goal of this health fair is to let students know what resources are available to them on the Ole Miss campus and in the community and where they can find them, "said Erin Murphy Cromeans, Assistant Director for Health Promotion.

She and six graduate assistants helped organize this event to promote wellness and nutritional awareness for all students especially new students from out of town. She even wants to make the next health fair extraordinary, "we eventually want to get an OBGYN, vision screening and dental services, "said Murphy enthusiastically.

Health promotion is the art and science of helping people discover the connection between their core passions and their motivation to strive for good health to balance a more physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual health, thereby improving their health by focusing on changing certain behavioral risks factors.

Many students took advantage of the screenings offered at this weeks' health fair and some even won door prizes. Many others took advantage of the free counseling and giveaways. "We don't necessarily have a goal that we would like to reach but so far, over 200 students have received screenings and we anticipate up to 500 students will stop by and take advantage of this opportunity, "said Jerome Pope of Mississippi Tobacco Free.

"We are excited to be here today, my grad assistants and I, we would like for more and more students to become educated on all the normal everyday health matters that many students don't necessarily think about, "said Murphy.

The lounge area of the Student Union was filled with organizers who each had their own sessions ranging from counseling, violence prevention, mental and physical health. Students were getting their blood pressure checked along with their BMI index and more, as well as, enjoying the samples of dried fruit and recipes on healthier meals.
"We have some bigger plans for the next health fair and we hope we have helped someone in need of any of these services, "said Murphy as she gazed at the crowd.