Roosevelt General to host seventh annual health fair

PORTALES — The Roosevelt General Hospital Health Fair is fun and good for you, too, according to the hospital’s planning director.

The fair, now in its seventh year, is scheduled from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, fully stocked with health information and services for the community, said Haylee Spence.

The service Spence has received the most calls about is a $35 blood screening panel. A $1,200 value, the panel is “a huge savings for people,” she said.

The panel checks for information including triglyceride, cholesterol and calcium levels, and must be completed before Friday to be picked up the day of the health fair. Anyone interested can undergo the panel at the hospital between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with no insurance required, Spence said.

Free flu shots will also be available for the first 300 adults and 100 children at the fair, she said.

The hospital will offer several activities for adults and children alike, including a “medication or candy” demonstration.

“They’ll be looking at different items and saying whether they think that item is a piece of candy or an actual prescription drug,” Spence said.

The RGH emergency department will hold a car seat clinic between 10 a.m. and noon, giving away car seats and demonstrating the proper way to install them in a vehicle.

The Portales Fire Department will also give away safety equipment. Kneepads, elbow pads and helmets will be free for children while supplies last.

A new feature at this year’s event is the amount of non-RGH affiliated organizations in attendance, according to Spence.

“”We have the (Eastern New Mexico University) speech and hearing clinic that will be joining us this year and doing free screenings, so that’s something different that we didn’t do last year,” she said. “The Pregnancy Resource Center, they’re going to be there with us this year, just kind of giving out information, letting the community know that they do now have an office here in Portales.”

Returning to the fair will be information booths by each of RGH’s departments, “giving information about their different services that they offer, just letting the community know that there are resources here that can help with all different types of things,” Spence said.