Everett Focuses on Health, Fitness and Safety

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Sonja M. Chambers, Navy Public Affairs Support Element, Det. Northwest

May 23, 2010 - EVERETT, Wash. (NNS) -- Naval Station Everett (NSE) held its annual Health, Fitness, Recreation and Safety Fair May 20.

The fair featured booths and demonstrations highlighting safe and healthy activities for Sailors and their families.

Julia Krassin, Seismos Fitness Center fitness manager who organized the event, said the fair gives Sailors a chance to see what's available in the Pacific Northwest.

"We have such a variety of activities in this area," she said. "You can hike, ski or boat. We tried to bring all of those aspects together to give people a taste of what's available."

Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class (SW/AW) Keashia Gardner, Naval Branch Health Clinic Everett Health Promotions assistant, manned a booth at the fair. She said the booth makes people aware of healthier lifestyles.

"We give out information on healthier lifestyles, so people can make better health choices," she said. "We highlight some of the services we offer at Health Promotions at the clinic such as tobacco cessation and diabetes management."

Children from the NSE Child Development Center participated in a variety of activities and exercises and cooled down with yoga stretching.

"We're really trying to reach the family environment, not solely the individual Sailor," Krassin said.

Alan Sprouse, fire inspector for Navy Region Northwest (NRNW) Fire and Emergency Services, had a booth set up with items retrieved from house fires. He said the number one cause of fire in (NRNW) is unattended cooking. Sprouse also said people should keep fire extinguishers in a location just outside the kitchen.

"Number one; have a plan. Number two; keep your cooking and your heat sources attended. That covers fireworks, camp fires and kitchens," he said. "Wherever there's heat, you have to attend it. If you do those two things, you're going to cut down on your dollar loss and injury loss."

NRNW Fire and Emergency Services also had a firefighting station set up and a jaws of life demonstration.

The fair gave Krassin an opportunity to get healthy ideas out in front of Sailors.

"More often than not, it's hard to get this next generation Sailor to positively recreate because we're up against things like electronic games," she said. "The fair gives them the opportunity to talk to some subject-matter experts and conversely, it gives us an opportunity to see what people are interested in because we can get a lot of good ideas back."