The 16th annual Early Signs Health Fair is gearing up for an exciting event. Honorary Chair Dr. Kevin Kurohara and Life Care Center of Hilo Executive Director Ginny Schauls have been meeting in preparation for this free educational event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13.
Service providers, agencies and individual practitioners will be on hand to provide free services. Dr. Brian Sugai is providing free foot screens for the 14th year in a row. Dr. Patsy Fujimoto and Dr. Chris Igawa are providing free oral screens. Dr. Stacey Nagareda from Nagareda Chiropractic and Dr. Daniel Young will be providing free chiropractic screens. Gene Abraham is providing acupuncture.
Last year participants reported learning new things about their health and their body. Clinical Laboratories provided free cholesterol checks for 150 participants and gave participants a written report of their results. They provided education on cholesterol and encouraged asking questions.
KTA will provide bone density checks. Hui Malama Ola Na Oiwi along with Hawaii Community College Nursing Students will be providing free blood sugar checks; the University of Hawaii Nursing Program will provide blood pressure checks. PharMerica and Mina Pharmacy will review medications for the participants. Alzheimer’s Association, American Cancer Society, Arthritis Foundation, Services For Seniors, AARP, Big Island Nutrition Council, Hawaii Island Adult Care and Legal Aid will be available with information booths.
Back by popular demand, Dr. Gary Johnson (in-house geriatric physician at Life Care Center of Hilo) will offer a “What’s Up Doc?” booth. A geriatrician is a physician who has completed a residency in either Internal Medicine or Family Medicine with an additional one or two year fellowship training in the medical, social, and psychological issues that concern older adults. Participants will be able to ask questions of Dr. Johnson whose specialty is working with the older population.
Our local physicians are providing presentations every half hour and will stay around for individual questions. At 9:00 am Dr. Mary Nordling speaks on “Immunizations”, 9:30 am Dr. William Herrera on “Parkinsons”, 10:00 am Dr. Rodney Ono on “Diabetes and Medications”, 10:30 am Dr. Daniel Hudak on “Surgery Questions”, 11:00 am Dr. Charles Dundas on “Pain Management”, 11:30 am Dr. Grant Miyashiro on “The Aging Eye”, noon Dr. Kevin Kurohara on “Alzheimer’s and Dementia”, 12:30 pm Dr. Margaret Hu on “New Guidelines in Cholesterol”, 1:00 pm Dr. Gabriele Barthlen on “Sleep Disorder” and 1:30 pm Dr. Stefan Harmeling on “Hypertension”.
Activity demonstrations will be every half hour, including: 9:15 a.m. hula, 9:45 a.m. tai chi, 10:15 a.m. ballroom dancing, 10:45 a.m. rhythm and life, 11:15 a.m. zumba, 11:45 a.m. line dancing, 12:15 p.m. aikido, 12:45 p.m. gymnastics, and 1:15 p.m. tai chi.
Last year’s participants wrote evaluations including these comments:
“I rate this health fair ‘very excellent’…staff excellent and polite with smiles.” “Terrific.” “Thank you… I cannot believe all the great free services you offer!” “Every year it just gets better and better.” “It was so nice to be able to speak to a physician and get a good understanding about how to take care of my body”; “I never knew how many different ways there were to exercise our body and how many classes are available”; “The booth people were so helpful and full of information; I took flyers from each one and I am going to make a book of it”; “The Life Care staff helped me find everything, checked my memory and my balance!”
Project Vision Hawaii is returning this year to provide free retinal screens. Additional booths include, doTerra, Kyani, Hawaii County Office of Aging, Sleep Center, American Heart Association, Hawaii Health Connector, Sage Plus, Hilo Hearing Aid, HIV Foundation, Direct Link, Hospice, Hawaii Fire Department, HMSA and more.
