Whenever
the call has gone out for members of the UMV MRC to
help with health fairs, they have responded in force.
Not only has this practice allowed members to keep
their skills sharp and get to know their comrades-in-medicine,
each event brings the MRC to a new audience. Thus
there is a growing and positive awareness within the
general public this year about the Upper Merrimack
Valley unit.
Among the
first events of the season was the Tyngsboro Health
Fair on April 30.
Members were primarily
needed for the Lion's medical bus, which offered screenings
for vision and hearing, and required help with checking
each visitor's medical status.
 |
 |
|
Rita
Bixby monitors the blood pressure and oxygen
saturation readings for a visitor to the community
eye mobile.
|
 |
| Donna
Harrill served at a blood pressure clinic in a
busy Chelmsford office. |
There was
also a call for help at a blood pressure clinic in
Chelmsford on May 5.
The Westford
Health Fair on June 11 required the greatest number
of members at a single event, and drew from the widest
variety of backgrounds, each of whom provided a unique
and special service for visitors. Members included
RNs, LPNs, EMTs, a pharmacist, and a non-medical support
provider.
 |
| James
McAlpine, EMT-B, and Mary Peterson, RN, staffed
the MRC information table. |
The services
they offered ranged from tetanus boosters, processing
forms at a skin cancer screening booth, answering
questions at the MRC station, and taking blood pressures
and pulses. (For variety, one member even pitched
in for a while to help fill helium balloons!)
 |
| Jeanne
Cronis helped with the skin cancer screenings,
while her husband Phil took blood pressures at
another booth. |
 |
| Pauline
Ray, RN, was on hand as the fair opened, to provide
tetanus boosters. |
In the
process, members were able to get better acquainted
under relaxed circumstances. Lindsey Price, one of
the RNs of the group, remarked enthusiastically that
"Everything about the MRC is so professional.
I'm impressed!"
 |
| Tom
Teller, Lindsey Price, Debbie Williams, Denise
Stone, and Yain Lu staffed the blood pressure
station. |
