UTEP will celebrate National Nutrition month with a mini health fair 9 a.m.– 1 p.m. March 26 at the El Paso Natural Gas Conference Center. This will be the second of six fairs that the UTEP Wellness program and UTEP Human Resource Services Employee Benefits and Retirement Programs Office will offer during the spring and summer semesters.
“The purpose of having mini health fairs is to increase health and wellness awareness through providing screenings, education and prevention materials for the UTEP faculty, staff and students,” University Wellness Manager Eileen Aguilar said.
The first health fair presented in the semester was on Valentine’s Day to promote American Heart Month. This month is National Nutrition Month.
At this mini fair, students can expect to get their blood pressure checked for free, have cholesterol and glucose screenings and nutrition information will be available along with other activities including raffles, games, giveaways, free snacks and oral and cognitive screenings. There is also one more surprise.
“UTEP faculty and staff who are UTEP health plan members have the opportunity to take a 15 minute confidential survey that asks questions about their current health, diet, fitness, safety and lifestyle. Laptops will be available onsite, and if they do take it, they will receive a Centennial Portion Plate. Everyone will also have the opportunity to win prizes like water bottles, yoga mats, centennial salsa, and more,” Aguilar said.
Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to attend this event to get to learn more about staying well and living a healthy lifestyle.
“I’ll try to make it out to this fair because it does a lot of good for the campus community,” senior clinical laboratory major Derick Kalt said. “Preventive measures are important in healthy living and getting screened at the fair will let a lot of people know where their glucose and cholesterol levels are at. Health screenings and adopting lifestyle changes are simple steps everyone should take to live along healthy life.”
There will be another health fair on April 11 at the Union East Breezeway that will focus on Alcohol Awareness.
“Attending health fairs are important because it serves as an effective, convenient way to provide students, faculty and staff with valuable health information and screenings,” Aguilar said. “These health fairs offer a range of health information, screenings, and referrals that may help to identify potential health problems before they develop or worsen. Learning more about your health is essential to a healthy lifestyle because the sooner a threat is detected, the better.”
Amber Gomez may be reached at [email protected].
