Health fair benefits Scioto County employees [Portsmouth Daily Times, Ohio]

June 06--Scioto County employees were having their cholesterol screened, trying a special weight-loss nutritional shake, or getting an invigorating massage Wednesday. It was the fourth annual Scioto County Employees Health Fair in the rotunda of the Scioto County Courthouse.

"We just want to make the county employees aware of health and wellness," Norma Bradley, one of the organizers, said. "They come for their screenings. We have SOMC (Southern Ohio Medical Center) here doing all of the blood work, screenings, BMIs (Body Mass Index), and glucose. KDMC (King's Daughters Medical Center) has their bus here. They're doing prostate screenings and EKGs. We have respiratory therapy from Shawnee (State University). We have other vendors. We have Staker's (Chiropractic) and their massage chair. We have lots of snacks. We have fruits. And then we have hot dogs. Everybody likes the hot dogs. Everybody has a good time when they come, and we have had a lot of positive results."

Bradley said employees have told her they learned about health issues they didn't know they had until the went through the screenings at the health fair.

"Wellness is really a very important issue for all of our community and all of America," Gary Duzan of Portsmouth Insurance Agency said. "As you know, we're 88th out of 88 counties, and people need to take responsibility for their health care. They need to get a wellness exam. We want to be able to find things before they become major issues, which will have an impact on health care costs and health insurance premiums. So we want to do this every year to not only support the Scioto County Commissioners, but also to help our employees get healthier and take care of themselves."

Scioto County Health Commissioner, Dr. Aaron Adams, said screenings are an important part of health maintenance.

"It's going to save health care dollars. It's going to improve their quality and length of life," Adams said. "Many people are unaware that they have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol. What does that mean? I talked to one of the booths over there, and they said, 'we're not just doing cholesterol , we're doing HDL, the good cholesterol.' And that's important because a lot of people think that if their cholesterol is normal that they have no danger. And that's not always true, because you will ask them what the longevity of their family is. Then you find out their relatives died in their 50s and 60s, but they always had normal cholesterol. But they didn't have their HDL checked, and if that is low, you want that to be higher."

Adams said having your good cholesterol checked is a factor in projecting longevity. Adams also said the new Scioto County Health Coalition has been working to improve health rankings.

"Learning how to do more preventive care is what people need to do, and health screenings are a good way to do it," Adams said. "It's going to cut health care costs and it's going to prolong their length and quality of life."

Frank Lewis may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 252, or at [email protected]. For breaking news, follow Frank on Twitter @FrankLewisPDT.

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