Kathy Chitti from Big Sandy Health Care offered free face paintings to the young visitors at the Big Sandy Area Community Action Program Community Health Fair in Floyd County.
Big Sandy Area Community Action Program (BSACAP) held their second annual Community Health Fair on Monday at the Wesley Christian School in Allen. The free event assisted Floyd County residents to connect with healthcare providers in the area.
Pikeville Medical Center provided free A1C blood sugar checks, blood pressure checks, COPD screenings, body mass index readings, and diabetic foot screenings. St. Joseph’s Medical Center offered free blood pressure checks and pulse oximeter readings. Big Sandy Health Care gave visitors the chance to have one-on-one assistance with signing up for Medicaid. The Health Fair featured information on everything from dental hygiene and healthy eating to hospice care and addiction recovery, and much more.
BSACAP is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the providing comprehensive services to low-income families in order to help them improve their economic situation. Kim Vicars, BSACAP’s Community Service Block Grant Manager, explained that each year the organization conducts a survey of area citizens in order to learn about their most pressing concerns. Vicars stated that health has consistently ranked among the top five concerns for the last several years.
“This Health Fair is one way we are working to tailor our services to the specific needs of the communities we serve,” she said. “It helps us to reach out to some of the most vulnerable people in our community and provide them with information about the healthcare options available to them and the vital health services they may need.”
BSACAP Executive Director Mike Howell explained, “At BSACAP, we fight poverty and promote economic development by helping individuals and families in our area achieve self-sufficiency. We provide job and workforce services for people of all ages, college scholarships, the Garden Seed nutrition program, the Weatherization Assistance Program, and many other programs, but we know that the health of our citizens is the foundation of the educational and economic success of our region, and we want to work to ensure a strong and healthy workforce is available.”
Organizations represented this year were Aetna, American Red Cross, Anthem, Appalachian Hospice Care, AppalReD Legal Aid, Best Value Medical, Big Sandy Area Community and Technical College, Big Sandy Area Development District, Big Sandy Health Care, Big Sandy Health Care Diabetes Coalition, Bluegrass Care Navigators, Floyd County Department of Community Based Services, Floyd County Extension Office, Forever Smiles Dentistry, Humana-CareSource, Job Corps, Judi’s Place for Kids, Kentucky Blood Center, Kentucky Homeplace, McDowell ARH, Mountain Comprehensive Care’s In-Home Services, MCC’s Home Place Clinic, MCC’s Healing Program, Mud Creek Dental Clinic, Oxygen Plus, Passport Health Insurance, Pikeville Medical Center, St. Joseph Medical Center, Transamerica, Turning Point, USDA Rural Development, and VA Medical Center.
The Community Health Fair is funded, in part, by the Community Services Block Grant made available by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For more information about Big Sandy Area Community Action Program, call (606) 874-3595.
