Health fair draws local residents

More than 200 Orange County residents had their cholesterol, vision, blood sugar and other vitals checked Sunday, April 7, at a free community health fair organized by UCI Health's Interprofessional Education & Practice Collaborative.

Held at Santa Ana's Second Baptist Church, the oldest African American congregation in the county, the event also offered nutrition counseling, educational booths and other resources.

It was the first of what collaborative members hope will be an annual clinic, says Nana Entsuah-Boateng, a UC Irvine assistant professor of clinical pharmacy practice who coordinated the fair with Stephanie Au, an assistant clinical professor of nursing.

The 55-strong UCI Health team - which included 43 medical, nursing, pharmacy and public health students - manned the booths, Entsuah-Boateng says, and no arm-twisting was needed to recruit volunteers. "The student sign-up sheet was 75 percent full a few minutes after it was posted," she notes.

The goal of the event was twofold: The first aim was to help disadvantaged and at-risk residents improve their health and "plug them into free resources," Entsuah-Boateng says, while the second was to "expose UCI Health students to charitable work and using their knowledge to impact the underserved."

On both counts, she adds, "this health fair was a major success."