Healthy Living at Harvey brings health screening, interactive lessons to community residents

Feb. 4—Medical services ranging from free health screenings to a distracted driving simulator lined the Harvey High School gym on Feb. 4 for the first annual Healthy Living at Harvey event.

The event was a collaboration between Leadership Lake County and University Hospitals, explained Leadership Lake County CEO Jessie Baginski. Representatives from UH and various community organizations provided free services, information and hands-on lessons for attendees.

"This event was very successful and helpful to everyone who attended," Baginski said. "Attendees and providers made valuable contributions to address health disparities in [our] community!"

"We really are concerned about limiting those social determinants of health, the things that are obstacles to people's health like access to healthy produce, fresh produce, knowing your numbers to get your blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose checked," said UH Community Outreach nurse Bridgett MacMichael.

Anchoring one corner of the gym was the inflatable UH AmeriBrain, where visitors could walk inside to learn about the way strokes, aneurysms, tumors and other conditions affect the brain.

At another corner, visitors had the opportunity to simulate distracted driving, using a steering wheel and pedals connected to a computer.

"When we did our community health needs assessment, impaired driving was really high on the list, as far as a problem in Lake County that accounted for deaths," said MacMichael.

The hospital system also provided a station for CPR practice and free screening for hypertension, diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and stroke risk, as noted in a news release. Outside, the UH Mobile Research Clinic bus was open to visitors.

Baginski noted that the event also included yoga, music therapy and healthy snack, while students from the Lake Erie College Physician Assistant program spoke on lung health. The first 75 families to the event received free produce from Rainbow Farms in North Perry, while the first 100 attendees received a free sweatshirt.

Representatives from the Lake County General Health District and Lake County Free Clinic were also present, she added, with the free clinic discussing programs such as its dental services.

UH representatives also spoke on the hospital system's community health care program.

"What we do is assist patients who come into the hospital by providing them resources in the community, to help them with obstacles that sometimes send them back in the hospital," said Community Health Care Worker Bernadette Evans, providing the example of someone who may get sick due to a lack of heat in the home.

"We help on the outside with utility or rent assistance, things like that, that might cause the health ailment that gets them in the hospital," she added.

Healthy Living at Harvey was planned by the Leadership Lake County Alumni Committee, Baginski noted, while the organization's youth students also volunteered.

"It's really to help people understand what kind of resources are here for them, from UH and Leadership Lake County, and our other service agencies that can directly impact their health," she said.

Baginski noted that the event was designed to celebrate Black History Month and American Heart Month, both of which fall in February.

"All of Leadership Lake County programs have a community impact project affiliated with it," Baginski said, adding, "One of the things that has come up over the year is the disparities in health, especially among minority communities."

In addition to UH and Leadership Lake County, the news release noted that the program received support from AmeriCorps, Youth Service America and Perry Service Learning.

The news release noted that the event's host community of Painesville City is "the most demographically diverse community in the county."

Baginski added that the gym was lined with "local leaders from the black community that we really wanted to spotlight for Black History Month." After the event, student volunteers were set to have the opportunity to interview these leaders.

Melissa Winfield, a Leadership Lake County graduate and the chief people and culture officer for the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, noted that the event provided "just the basic awareness, raising awareness of all of the health care disparities in the black community."

"Hopefully the turnout will be great, and many people could take advantage and learn more about how they can manage their health care more effectively," she added.

Baginski described the event's potential impact on visitors.

"If one person comes through here today and one of the screenings helps them realize they have a significant health issue, it could save a life," she said, adding, "If one person walks out of here with something about their health that they can actively act upon and become healthier, we've done our job."