Students and faculty learned about health awareness and promotion at the annual Health and Wellness Fair last Tuesday.
The event, hosted by Student Health and Wellness and Healthy for Life, was held in Room 401 of the Student Union from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Scott Thompson, Student Health and Wellness Administrator, expressed Student Health and Wellness’s goal for the event.
“The overall purpose is blending student health and employee health. It covers a lot of health promotion and prevention as well as health awareness,” Thompson said. “It’s just a mish-mosh of all good health prevention and promotion needs that people don’t often think about.”
The booths catered to both students and faculty, providing information concerning the promotion of health, preventative health practices and awareness.
One of these booths represented Be the Match, a national registry for bone marrow donors. Students and faculty interested in donating could do so there, simply by filling out an application and medical survey. The application also required each applicant to take mouth swabs so their DNA could be matched with a recipient. Be the Match hopes to raise the number of registered donors, helping patients fighting leukemia, aplastic anemia and sickle cell find positive matches.
The Office of Student Involvement hosted a booth promoting the Kangaroo Food Pantry, a recent program sponsored by UMKC. The Kangaroo Food Pantry is a food pantry available exclusively to students, faculty and staff located at 4825 Troost Ave.. The pantry seeks to help students having difficulty paying for food in addition to school expenses. The booth also hosted sign-ups for volunteers seeking to get involved with work at the pantry, as well as collecting donations around campus.
El-Centro, a non-profit based in Kansas City, Kan., attended the event as well. El-Centro offers bilingual services concerning financial, health and medical applications. They also seek to assist students with health insurance—enrolling in Health Marketplace Plans and avoiding tax penalties incurred for a lack of health insurance. El-Centro also provides emergency assistance with medicine, glasses prescriptions, SNAP or food stamps and disability applications. They are also a Medicine Cabinet site, providing one-time emergency assistance for the uninsured with the filling of medication and purchasing of medical equipment.
Sodexo Dining Services, Weight Watchers, AARP, Express Scrips, UMKC Women’s Center, Cleveland Chiropractic College and The Transgender Institute were among the other organizations in attendance. UMKC also hosted booths concerning the Swinney Recreation Center, Financial Aid and Counseling among others.
UMKC student Rian Sanders enjoyed the variety of booths that filled the room..
“I love it,” Sanders said. “I think it’s really interesting. I like how it’s a good mix of health—mind, body, physical. I like it, I think it’s beneficial.”
Much like Sanders, UMKC student Jasmine Donley enjoyed the many booths in attendance.
“I actually really love it because I’m a health care major, and being able to access the resources on campus is really a good opportunity for me to get more into my major,” Donley said. “And to find out what I can do in terms of community and outreach programs, opportunities to help out with different organizations.”
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