February 18, 2011
The Colorado Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus hosted a booth at the January 2011 National Western Stock Show in Denver, offering free health screenings to all 644,000 attendees. Health screenings at the stock show have been an ongoing project for Colorado AHEC. 2011 represents the fifth year of providing this valuable service to the public.
Through the support of many volunteers, this project provided health screenings to over 2,000 individuals to include blood pressure screenings, glucose tests and cholesterol tests.
This year, oral health screenings were offered for the first time through the efforts of the Cavity Free at Three Program. The oral health addition proved to be a huge success in expanding services offered to rural ranchers and farmers in the region. Oral health screenings were provided to over 300 individuals, and education was provided to over 800 children and their parents. As part of the expanded oral health services, tobacco cessation information and counseling was offered to those individuals identified as tobacco users. The success of this oral health outreach will pave the way for inclusion of oral health education in future Colorado AHEC Program efforts.
We encourage your participation in future events. Contact Karen Savoie, R.D.H., B.S., at karen.savoie@ucdenver.edu or 303-724-4750.
Photo Caption: Jennifer Goodrum, CDA Director of Governmental Relations, provides oral health education to children visiting the Health Screening booth.
