USNH Guam Health Fair Educates Community, Families

By Shaina Marie Santos, Joint Region Marianas Public Affairs

SANTA RITA, Guam (NNS) -- Service members, civilians and families learned about several health subjects during a health fair at the Charles King Fitness Center (CKFC) on U.S. Naval Base Guam April 14.

The event was sponsored by U.S. Naval Hospital (USNH) Guam, CKFC, Navy Exchange Guam, the American Red Cross, Fleet and Family Support Center (FFSC), and Airman and Family Readiness Center (AFRC). The fair included learning stations, fitness demonstrations, a food demo and giveaways.

Luis Martinez, USNH head of health promotion, said the emphasis of the fair was maintaining a healthy lifestyle that can also prevent some health issues.

"The family health fair is our effort to get the word out to our beneficiaries about the importance of health promotion, prevention and wellness," he said. "The truth is, the vast majorities of diseases we suffer from can be prevented. So the emphasis today [is] on all of those things that we can do as well as some of the things we shouldn't be doing is just live better, be healthier, live longer, be happier."

USNH Guam Nurse Manager Lt. Serena Darity echoed Martinez' sentiments and added the need to concentrate on family health as previous fairs were focused specifically on women's health.

"We had a women's health symposium back in October of last year and realized that after talking about the event that we really needed to get the rest of the families involved to talk about what keeps family healthy and talk about preventative measures," she said. "It's important to get the family involved in learning about their health."

Darity said the fitness demonstrations were designed to encourage patrons to add new elements to their fitness routines.

"Maybe we can bring a different routine into their schedule for eating healthy, and doing things healthy and getting together as a family and doing healthy things," she said.

36th Medical Group Airman 1st Class Casey Kosbiel manned the women's health booth.

"Everyone seems really interested," she said. "Everybody knows about breast exams, but nobody really knows what they're looking for. We have models; you can come and feel the [breast] lumps."

Kosbiel said she enjoyed the atmosphere of the fair.

"Everybody's really welcoming and fun," she said. "[Presenters] try to incorporate games into [presentations] so everybody gets interested and for the kids, there's little given away stuff."