WILMINGTON — On Saturday, April 2, CMH Regional Health System and the Health Alliance of Clinton County are teaming up for an unbeatable April Fools’ weekend duo: a health fair and free screening event and a 5K fun run/walk. Both events will be hosted at Clinton Memorial Hospital — the health fair from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the 5K beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Kelsey Swindler, Marketing and Communications Coordinator at CMH, emphasized the importance of this second-year event (CMH hosted a community free screening event in May 2015), this time in conjunction with the Health Alliance’s 5K.
“We had an incredible turnout for our Community Health Screening Event last May, and we knew we wanted to do it again this year,” Swindler said. “When we learned that the Health Alliance was planning their first annual April Fools’ 5K, we saw a great opportunity to bring the two events together for a bigger and better health offering for our community.”
Health fair attendees will be able to get height, weight, and blood pressure measurements, as well as three free direct lab tests — basic metabolic profile, lipid panel, and complete blood count.
Attendees will also be able to register for the patient portal, learn about primary care providers accepting new patients, and get information on new medical staff specialists at CMH.
Greg Nielsen, CEO of CMH, highlighted the recent growth at CMH and the timing of this particular event. “We’re excited for another opportunity to invite our friends and neighbors to CMH, because the last few months have been really exciting here — we’ve added a number of new providers and physician leaders in emergency and hospitalist medicine, primary care, and general surgery,” Nielsen said. “We host this event each year because we want to make sure community members know the many resources available to them at CMH, and because it’s our opportunity to provide free screenings, which are so essential to health and wellness. In doing this with the Health Alliance, we really wanted to emphasize the importance of prevention and education in healthcare.”
Louanne Blumberg of The Health Alliance echoed Nielsen’s enthusiasm for the event. “We were so excited that CMH wanted to sponsor the April Fools’ 5K and we think tying in the health fair is a great fit and really emphasizes the importance of exercise and preventative medicine to all of those our two organizations serve,” she said. “We’re looking forward to a great turnout on Saturday, and can’t wait to kick off this inaugural event!”
It’s suggested that attendees interested in blood work fast eight hours prior to coming in. For more information about Saturday’s screening event, please call 937-382-6611 or visit facebook.com/CMHRegionalHealthSystem.
For those interested in taking part in the Health Alliance’s 5K fun run/walk, you can register online at healthallianceclinton.org. Registration begins Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and the run at 9:30 a.m. This is a chip-timed race. There will be a bag pick-up on Friday, April 1 in the CMH atrium from 3-7 p.m. for runners who are pre-registered.
