Senior Health Fair set for Thursday
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 7, 2012 1:46 PM
For the past decade, the Wayne County Senior Health Fair has provided the county's senior citizens a place to fellowship, receive free health screenings and information about services available to them.
This year, they will be able to learn hundreds of ways to improve their health and extend their life when they attend the fair, scheduled for Thursday from 10 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at the Herman Park Center, said Eryn McAuliffe, Wayne County Services on Aging director.
"They can participate in a full line-up of activities to keep you entertained, educated, and informed," she said. "Walk through the exhibit hall and learn about nutrition, health, anti-aging programs, as well as a variety of other topics.
"This will give people an opportunity to meet with a pharmacist, have a skin cancer screening, blood pressure checks and even get a free therapeutic massage. There will also be a place where people can drop off their expired medicines."
Lunch is provided at no cost.
In addition, the event kicks off the Senior Games registration period. The Senior Games will run April 29-May 4. The Silver Arts Follies will be May 8 at 6 p.m. at the Paramount Theater.
"This is the first time that the registration forms will be available," she said.
Private rooms will be set up where people can be screened for skin cancer by the Goldsboro Skin Center and for dementia and/or depression by Family Works.
Other screening include: Blood pressure by employees of Home Health and Hospice care; spinal checks by Goldsboro Spine Center; retinal checks by Prevent Blindness; and blood sugars by the Wayne Area Diabetes Education Center.
There are 33 vendors signed up to participate.
"I have more vendors that want to come than I have room for at Herman Park Center," Ms. McAuliffe said. "Add 130 senior citizens and the center is very crowded."
That is one reason that Ms. McAuliffe is excited about the new and larger senior center that could be ready by fall.
The proposed new center includes a large open room capable of seating more than 210 people. That will provide space for more vendors and more senior citizens, she said.
One of the more popular Senior Health Fair activities is the expired medication drop-off administered by the Goldsboro Police Department, she said.
Often, seniors have leftover medicines when doctors change their prescriptions, Ms. McAuliffe said. They can bring those medicines to the center, she said.
This allows people to safely disposed of those medications, she said.
Also popular is the "brown bag" event in which senior citizens can have consultations with a pharmacist concerning medications and possible drug interaction, she said. A Walgreens pharmacist will be on hand to talk with senior citizens about their medications that can be brought to the event in brown bags, she said.