UGA students coordinate free healthcare event

A team of medical and pharmacy students at the University of Georgia did not let the dark clouds stop them holding the third annual Pinewoods Health Fair Saturday morning.

The Health Fair, a free health care event for HIV and hepatitis C wellness research and testing, was held at the Pinewood Estates North Athens community entrance on February 8th. .

Chantal Sharp, a young biologist and nutritionist, was the main coordinator of the event this year, a role she endorsed because she has the gift of providing health care to communities struggling to find reliable care.

"I think it's so important that all people are properly trained by professionals on what is best for their bodies, no matter where they live," Sharp said.

About 20 people received medical tests and advice from students and other health professionals who volunteered at the fair.

The volunteers were students from the College of Pharmacy, the American Medical Student Association, the Shifa Clinic and the Specialty Care Clinic.

"The pharmacy school is happy to help," says Brielle Scutt, a student and board member of the American Pharmacists Association of Student Pharmacists.

According to Scutt, pharmacy students are certified to do wellness screening and have helped during the three years of the event.

Volunteers were talking to patients all morning and doing tests for the vital and diabetes. There were also volunteers who tested and counseled for HIV.

"We are here because we really want to ensure that free HIV testing is available to all people and communities in the Northeast Health District," said Patrick Reilly, HIV Testing and Education Coordinator. at the specialized clinic.

If patients are HIV positive, the treatment is funded through the Ryan White Care Early Intervention Grant, Reilly said.

Cree Escalera, a recent UGA graduate and original organizer of the health fair, said his plan is to further expand treatment options in the future.

"Every year we add something new," said Escalera. "This year, it's the Shifa Clinic and Hepatitis C tests, we're just trying to improve and improve and we have more services.

Next year, Escalera and Sharp hope to have cholesterol tests, which according to Escalera is particularly important for the Latino population.

The entire health fair is focused on the Latino population because the Pinewoods community is primarily Latino, Sharp said, although everyone is welcome.

There were translators, mostly pre-medical students or other Spanish-speaking volunteers, to make the fair as useful as possible for the community.

Sharp said she has published the fair with flyers in the mobile community and in some churches.

She said she wants to continue expanding the health fair and wants to create a biennial event to reach more people.

"I think it's important to make sure every type of population has health care," Sharp said. "I will not let this clinic die."

This year, the American Medical Student Association funded the event, which was the number of volunteers who managed to help.

"I never really went to a health fair and I wanted to see what was going on," said Ushna Syed, a second leading biology group involved with AMSA. "I helped set up and watched the kids' colors."

The clinic also served the children of the community, and one of the tents had prepared coloring books for them while their parents were being tested in the other tents.

Another tent offered patients hygiene kits to take when they had completed the medical tests and counseling.



People came in the morning with the busiest time around 10 o'clock in the morning.