Mother Nature smiled with sunny skies upon Porter County’s Inaugural Kickoff to Summer Health & Wellness Fair Friday morning at Central Park Plaza in Valparaiso. Under the Urschel Pavilion, 45 community partners enjoyed the shade while blaring music set a lively tone.
“We would love to have something like this annually to highlight all the health and wellness services that are available to everybody,” said Porter County Health Officer Dr. Maria Stamp while folks dressed up like a virus, syringe, and prescription bottle did a conga line of sorts behind her.
The fair was organized by the Porter County Health Department and aimed to offer something for everyone in the community, from the Tobacco Education & Prevention Coalition for Porter County to veterans’ services.
Porter, the 14-month-old Aussiedoodle comfort dog now on duty with the Porter County Sheriff’s Office, made the rounds and toddlers squirmed while getting free haircuts. The Indiana University School of Dentistry offered dental screenings and Northshore Health offered vision screenings.
In the air-conditioned portion of the pavilion, sports physicals were offered courtesy of HealthLinc and the family medicine residency program at Northwest Health Porter. The Zac Mago Foundation offered free cardiac screenings for athletes ages 10 to 25 that included blood pressure checks, EKGs and echocardiograms.
“In Indiana, and most states, of course, there are a lot of asymptomatic heart conditions that young people can have that are not easily detectable on a sports physical,” Stamp said.
Brandi Morlan, of LaPorte, brought her fifth-grader Dylan for the screen.
“I’m a registered nurse so I know about the sudden cardiac (arrest) and now that he’s eligible we thought we’d do it,” Morlan said.
In the open-air pavilion Lorra Dyer, of Chesterton, and her mother Mary Wireman, of Wheatfield, were getting haircuts for Dyer’s 3- and 5-year-old grandsons Parker and Carter Howes, of Valparaiso. “Just something to do with them,” Dyer said. “I watch them five days a week.
“He is amazing with them,” she added of Denmark College barber student Joe Gajewski, of Schererville, who managed to successfully use clippers on Parker, who’s always been afraid of them.
The Northwest Indiana Chapter of the American Red Cross was focused on pool and water safety, as well as fire prevention at its booth. Account manager Trish Cochran said many people aren’t aware that the Red Cross will send out professionals to assess your home and install smoke detectors free of charge.
“For example, my neighbor actually had them and she needed five,” she said. “A lot of times the fire takes over the whole house because people don’t have a working smoke detector.”
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
