Student Health fair provides healthy opportunities for students

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University of Iowa Student Health and Wellness

March 1, 2017 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Student Health fair provides healthy opportunities for students

IOWA CITY – For students striving to better their personal health with spring around the corner, University of Iowa Student Health and Wellness provided a health fair with multiple vendors on March 1 at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center to help students learn about their personal health.

Trisha Welter, Senior Behavioral Health consultant said the fair “Provides students with education on a lot of health topics, in a non-threatening, fun way.” 

Attendance was planned to be about 2,500, she said.

Nearing the mid-point in the semester, students are stressed and may be looking for relief. The fair comes two weeks before students leave for spring break, each of those factoring in to the decision to have the fair at this time, Welter said.

The fair was a good idea in the mind of Sadjad Anzabi-zadeh, a 1^st year graduate student in the business school.

“Health is a concern for people, and this provided an opportunity to see what the university can provide for us students,” Anzabi-zadeh said.

The fair included different health screenings for free, notably: HIV, body composition, cholesterol and blood pressure testing. Each of these relevant to a college student’s health.

The cholesterol testing was performed by a professional who would prick an attendees finger to draw a small amount of blood and then that blood was tested in a machine. High cholesterol can lead to heart attacks, so it is important to know what levels are.

Blood pressure could be taken automatically or manually. Attendees took advantage of the two professionals who were on hand to perform this. Having high or low blood pressure can be a detriment to anyone’s health and many are now conscious of that.

Another activity involved how well attendees wash their hands. The leader of the booth had a substance that the attendee put on their hands and then had them place their hands under a special light. Under that light the germs would show on their hands. Even after applying hand sanitizer the germs will still be present. It showed the importance of washing hands thoroughly.

As new topics arrive in the health field it is Welter’s hope that they expand the fair to bring in what students are interested in as it changes year to year. But the goal stays the same, to provide students with information necessary to stay healthy.

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