A volunteer provides free blood pressure checks during the inaugural bilingual health fair in July 2021 in Pontotoc. Submitted photo
OXFORD, Miss. – Residents of Pontotoc and neighboring counties are invited to a free, bilingual health fair, hosted by several University of Mississippi departments, on Saturday (April 2).
The event begins at 9 a.m. at First Choice Bank Gateway Pavilion, 139 West Reynolds St. in Pontotoc. Participants can obtain services including lipid panels, hemoglobin A1C tests, blood pressure checks, diabetes education, nutritional counseling, mental health screening, COVID vaccines and dental advice.
“Our community partners are so in touch with the service opportunities and needs in our community through their daily work, and our colleagues are excited to be a part of something bigger that fulfills the greater calling of the university,” said Laura Martin, associate director of the McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement. “An inaugural bilingual health fair served more than 200 people in Pontotoc in July 2021.”
Ole Miss units helping put on the fair are the McLean Institute and its M Partner initiative and North Mississippi VISTA Project, the departments of BioMolecular Sciences and Nutrition and Hospitality Management, School of Nursing, and the Center for Community Engagement. MississippiCare, a federally qualified health center serving Lafayette and Pontotoc counties, is the lead community sponsor.
“Our mission at MississippiCare is health care for all,” said Karen Allison, community development coordinator. “When we come into a community, we look for the unmet health care and behavioral health needs and how we can address them.
“When we partner with others like the McLean Institute at the university, we are able to do so much more.”
The fair is an example of community engagement work that is being highlighted by the new SEC Spanish Consortium.
For more information, contact Laura Martin at 662-915-2078 or lemartin@olemiss.edu.