Thursday, April 5, 2012

UIS health fair draws exhibitors, public

The University of Illinois Springfield was the place to be Wednesday if you were concerned about your health, wanted to improve it or were just plain curious about health-related issues.

About 50 vendors set up in The Recreation and Athletic Center to offer information on health strategies and prevention as part of Health Awareness Day — an event for more than two decades at the university.

“We had 52 vendors seven years ago, but it usually averages 20 to 30,” said Jill Stoops, a certified family nurse practitioner at the UIS Campus Health Service. “We teamed with Springfield Health Check this year, and they brought in a majority of the vendors.”

Stoops said one of the aims of the health fair is to get people to “know their numbers” — cholesterol, blood pressure, bone density, body fat and others — by offering free screenings.

“It’s about getting them the information they need to stay healthy,” Stoops said.

The story was featured in an April 5, 2012, article in The State Journal-Register.

Read the article online