Several free screenings are offered at Sandhills Regional Medical Center's spring health fair. In this file photo, a participant gets her back worked on by a local chiropractor. This year, the health fair is April 16 from 8 a.m. until noon.

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Pre-draws start April 4

When you think of spring, think of Sandhills Regional Medical Center’s annual spring community health fair. This year, the event will be held on Saturday, April 16, from 8 a.m. until noon at the hospital.

“Our health fair is usually held the fourth Saturday of each April,” said Kimberly Harrington, marketing director. “But this year that date happened to be on Easter weekend, so we moved the health fair up a week because we did not want to compete with holiday activities. We want to serve as many people as possible.”

There will be a number of free screenings including bone density; urinalysis; physical endurance; carotid and peripheral vascular disease; colon/rectal cancer; blood pressure checks; pulse oximetry; and skin cancer among others.

Blood profiles will be available for the discounted rate of $15. This blood work will provide a comprehensive metabolic panel, complete blood cell profile, lipid profile (cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL and HDL cholesterol) and TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). This same blood profile would ordinarily cost more than $800.

For an additional $5, participants can get a hemoglobin A1C test. This is a standard tool used to determine blood sugar control for diabetics, and also used to screen and diagnose diabetes.

Prostate screenings for men will be an additional $10. This test helps diagnose prostate cancer in men.

Those interested in getting their blood work done early so that results will be available on the day of the health fair, can do so on the following days:

• April 4-8 from 7:30 to 11 a.m.
• April 11 from 7:30 to 11 a.m.

Registration will be in the front lobby on a first come, first served basis. Checks and cash accepted. No credit cards.

Physicians will be available at the health fair to go over lab results. For those getting blood work done on the day of the health fair, the results will be sent to the patient as well as a copy sent to the patient’s primary care physician.

“We are glad to be able to offer this health fair every year,” said Sandhills Regional CEO Mike McNair. “As a hospital, we are often responding to patients’ emergent healthcare needs. The screenings offered at our health fair allows us to be proactive by alerting people to health risks they may not have been aware of.”

This is a great opportunity for people with or without health insurance, McNair said. “It’s a cost savings for everyone.”

For more information about the health fair, or if any agency, civic group or vendor is interested in participating, call Kimberly Harrington, marketing director, at (910) 205-8121.