Women 4 Wellness packs the house
Berl Tiskus
People flock to the Women 4 Wellness event held on May 15.
Berl Tiskus
Mr. Red and Mr. Orange walk through the crowds at Women 4 Wellness, raising HIV awareness.
Berl Tiskus
Janice Tate, left, and Pam Lockwood from Community Medical Center talk to people about diabetes and nutrition.
Berl Tiskus
Kinsley Albert is one of the smallest visitors at Women 4 Wellness. Women of all ages and even some men came to the health fair.
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
PABLO — With cutouts of women of all sizes and shapes lining the road, including Wonder Woman, the 6th annual Women 4 Wellness event drew a huge crowd.
Women 4 Wellness’ goal is to help women become involved in their health care and to help them take the steps necessary to live healthy lives, according to their website. The event offers on-site, free health screenings including mammograms, bone density ultrasound and EKGs that could cost hundreds of dollars elsewhere.
The parking lot at the Joe McDonald Health and Fitness Center on Salish Kootenai College campus was jam packed on May 15, even before the event began at 10 a.m. SKC Highway Construction students Justin Pease, Neal and Cordell Beaumont volunteered to direct traffic, helping everyone find a parking place.
With pre-registration, many women could walk right in but there was also a line of people registering before entering the gym.
Waiting at the entrance for a friend, Bonnie Clary said she has attended Women 4 Wellness for four years.
“It’s so informative. They give all the tests. ... It’s a great community service,” Clary said.
A table staffed with helpful ladies steered visitors with questions to the correct booth for bone density tests to EKGs to eyebrow waxing and HIV awareness or a voucher from St. Luke’s Community Healthcare for a lipid panel. Many venders have been with Women 4 Wellness since their first year, but the health fair is growing; this year there were 132 booths.
Women who didn’t want their names mentioned said they rely on Women 4 Wellness for an annual well woman check-up, and many headed for the glucose testing.
It wasn’t just visitors to the health fair that roamed the aisle. Clad in red and orange unitards, which covered them face and all, students from Kicking Horse Job Corps reminded people to use condoms and to get checked for HIV.
One student would soon graduate as a CNA and another was working to become a pharmacy technician, and promoting HIV awareness at Women 4 Wellness was a clinical experience for them.
Cristen Two Teeth and Marilyn Caye had a booth and were happy to talk about a new Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal program focusing on pregnant teens.
Near them a table touted honey-based sleep juice made from herbs called Care4Sleep. Joan Sandefer and Gerda Brobbel answered questions.
Attendees walked the aisles, stopping to look at jewelry, sign up for a free pelvic exam or a skin check.
Niki Graham, Center for Prevention and Wellness, said about 1,300 people took advantage of the health fair’s offerings last year, and she hoped for more this year.
Graham said the area hospitals really support the event. They send providers to spend the day at Women 4 Wellness and follow-up on patients.
Graham also thanked all the volunteers, from Job Corps students to children of workers to SKC staff.
“It’s a huge undertaking,” Graham said, adding that it’s been all hands on deck in her department for the last two and a half months.
This year, Graham said Women 4 Wellness is looking for stories from people who participate — why they come, if tests provided caught some disease or issue a person didn’t know about and what Women 4 Wellness means to them.
To share a story, go to the Women 4 Wellness website at www.prevention.skc.edu/w4w.
