Free Health Fair offered to area residents during Festival

This year’s Banana Festival Health Fair, cosponsored by the Fulton County Cooperative Extension Service and Diversicare of Fulton is set for Sept. 14, from 9-11 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Fulton, in the gymnasium. The church facility is located at the corner of Second and Eddings Streets.

Door prizes, give-aways and refreshments will be provided throughout the morning, with those attending given the opportunity to receive free screenings for body mass index, blood pressure, pulse ox, cholesterol, kidney screening and pulmonary function. (It should be noted some tests require four hours of fasting preceding the test.)

Education material, as well as assistance from professionals will be offered in the areas of diet and nutrition, physical therapy, mental health, diabetes, insurance, cancers, smoking cessation and senior activities.

The health fair is free to the public.

In association with the 2018 Banana Festival Health Fair, DeAnna Leonard, RN, BSN, LDE with Purchase District Health Department, Diabetes and Health Education of Paducah, encourages the public to utilize the fair, as in regard to chronic kidney disease, often times, the disease itself does not show signs or symptoms until function is already at 20%.

According to Leonard, 10% of the United States population have chronic kidney disease, with the leading cause high blood pressure and diabetes. Almost 40% of those with diabetes have kidney failure, and 25% of all cases of kidney failure are a result of high blood pressure.

“Nine out of 10 people who have stage 3 kidney disease do not know it,” she said.

Risk factors for chronic kidney disease also include heart disease, obesity and family history, and people of African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian or Pacific Islander descent at 1.5 to 3 times more likely to develop the disease.