2008 Woodie Awards
Annual health fair reviews personal care and answers student questions
Olivia D'Addio
Issue date:
11/21/07
Section:
Campus
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was held on Nov. 8 in the
Bremer Student Center
where volunteer representatives
from health organizations
throughout Kitsap
County gathered to educate
Olympic College students
on the different aspects of
health care that are available.
"One of the major reasons
for hosting this fair
every year is to expose students
to new knowledge
and medicine in the health
field that they otherwise
may not have considered,"
Laurie Adamson, director
of Women's Programs said.
Adamson explained that
OC does not have its own
Student Health Center as
a base for finding information
on such topics as
dentistry, alternative medicine,
family planning and
suicide prevention. Though
OC does have an extensive
nursing program (which is
not affiliated with the health
fair), a student health center
would be focused more
on the general sharing of
knowledge for students to
understand what kind of
help is available for them,
their family and friends.
One attendee was the
Kitsap Regional Library
who passed out free books
on health related topics.
Their goal, as explained by
a library representative, is
to expose students to interesting
health topics that
otherwise may never have
been brought to the students'
attention. One student
even signed up for a
library card on the spot.
Another group that
attends annually is the
Port Townsend School of
Massage. This organization
is one of the only privately
owned massage schools in
the state.
The Port Townsend
School of Massage, going
on its tenth year of professional
massage programs,
awards advanced certifications
in Orthopedic Massage
and offers introduction
classes in the Swedish massage
technique. During the
health fair, for students
who signed up, the School
of Massage gave free tenminute
massages. Usually,
at the end of each quarter,
the School of Massage gives
free fifteen-minute massages
at the Poulsbo Campus
during finals week.
"It's a great way for
us to get practice and for
students to let go of some
stress," one of the massage
school's representatives
said. "We even had some
OC students attend our
school after meeting us at
the health fair."
Other health fair participants
this year were
the Kitsap County Health
District, Kitsap Family
YMCA, Kitsap Mental
Health and Naval Hospital
Bremerton, to name a few.
This health fair, with the
focus of student wellness in
mind, also conducted a survey
to see what health related
topics students would
be interested in learning.
"We want to know what
students want to know,"
Adamson said. "If a majority
of students took interest
in one or two particular
topics, then we would like
to organize seminars here
at OC, with reputable professionals
in these fields of
interest attend to talk to
students."
Some topics surveyed for
student interest were: HIV/
AIDS prevention, Planned
Parenthood, depression,
and tobacco/drug use.
"In winter, we will be
hosting health fairs at the
Shelton and Poulsbo campuses
which are also annual,"
Adamson said.
Hopefully, these health
fairs will give students
many opportunities to
learn new ways in caring
for themselves that they
rarely get to think about
when in the classroom.
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