PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Officials from Northern Light A.R. Gould Hospital, formerly The Aroostook Medical Center, hosted their annual health fair Saturday, providing community members with many opportunities to learn about healthy living habits and how to prevent common illnesses during the fall and winter months.
This year marks the first health fair that the hospital has hosted since changing its name to correspond with Eastern Maine Health Systems’ name change to Northern Light Health on Oct. 1.
The fair, held in the Northern Maine Community College gym, included 54 informational booths, including those from Northern Light A.R. Gould Hospital as well as many from organizations such as the Aroostook Agency on Aging, Seniors Achieving Greater Education, Aroostook Council for Healthy Families, and United Way of Aroostook and 12 booths from NMCC nursing students.
New to this year’s event were presentations from hospital providers on topics such as heart health, active lifestyles and voice therapy. Folks also had opportunities to receive free flu shots, blood pressure and cholesterol screenings, and stroke risk assessments.
“It’s a way for us to give back to the community and give people a chance to interact with different providers to ask questions,” said Jamie Guerrette, Northern Light community health specialist, about the health fair.
Hundreds of community members both young and old stopped at the various booths. Pam Haley of Perham brought her grandchildren — Annie, 9, Bonnie, 7, and Hunter Haley, 3 — to the health fair and said they most enjoyed booths that focused on nutrition and hunter safety.
“I come here every year because there’s always a lot of good information,” Haley said.
When Haley asked Bonnie what her favorite part about the health fair was, the youngster answered, “The free candy.”
Lois Shaw of Presque Isle attended the health fair for the first time this year and was glad for the chance to talk with many different health experts.
“Everyone’s very friendly and are good at letting people ask questions,” Shaw said.
