Reminder: Community Health Fair Saturday

[March 31, 2011]  The Logan County Community Health Fair returns this spring with a theme of "Planting the Seeds of Wellness." Through screenings, programs and the participation of health and social service organizations at the local, state and regional level, the Community Health Fair continues to promote and educate area residents on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. This year's Logan County Community Health Fair will be on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lincoln Park District sports complex. All activities, programs and collections will be on-site unless otherwise noted.

The Community Health Fair will offer the public numerous health screenings, including blood pressure, cholesterol, hemoglobin, bone density, hearing, pulse oximetry, oral cancer and body fat calculations. There will be a nominal charge for the cholesterol and hemoglobin screenings. Child fingerprinting, cooking demonstrations and nitrate testing of well water will also be provided. Additionally, the health fair will again offer residents the opportunity to recycle a variety of different items in an environmentally friendly and responsible manner.

The State Bank of Lincoln will again sponsor confidential on-site paper shredding at the Community Health Fair. The paper-shredding program will offer residents the opportunity to have items such as financial records, old tax returns and other sensitive household records shredded and destroyed in a secure and confidential manner. Proper disposal of these sensitive items may prevent individuals from becoming the victim of identity theft. The paper-shredding program will be offered from 9 a.m. to noon and will be located in the front parking lot of Lincoln Community High School.

A glass recycling collection will also be in the front parking lot of the high school from 9 a.m. to noon. Only container glass will be accepted, meaning it originally contained either a food or beverage product. Participants will need to remove all plastic and metal caps and rings from the containers. All colors of glass are accepted and do not have to be sorted. The glass recycling program does not accept ceramics, dishware, light bulbs, window glass or mirrors. Glass recycling will be canceled in the event of inclement weather.

Expired or unwanted medications, both prescription and over-the-counter, will be disposed of through an unwanted medication collection co-sponsored by the ATOD Task Force of the Healthy Communities Partnership and the Kroger Pharmacy. Medications must be in the original container with label and the name blacked out to ensure privacy. All of the medications will be destroyed in accordance with accepted environmental practices. Residents are reminded that it is no longer acceptable to dispose of any medication by flushing it down the toilet, as chemical compounds are now being detected in groundwater samples.

Eyeglasses and hearing aids will be collected by the Lions Club for distribution to visually and hearing-impaired individuals in the U.S. and around the world. New, used, damaged or broken eyeglasses and hearing aids will be accepted. Cellphones, working and nonworking, will be collected for donation to Sojourn Woman's Center. The cellphones will be reprogrammed and provided to victims of domestic violence for use in emergency situations.

Containers will be provided on-site at the health fair for the collection of plastic grocery bags. Laser and ink-jet printer cartridges will be collected by Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois. Proceeds from recycling the printer cartridges will be used to supplement ongoing programs for low-income individuals, household, children and seniors. Healthy Communities Parish Nurses will collect tabs from aluminum cans for donation to the area's Ronald McDonald House. The Logan County Department of Public Health will accept rechargeable batteries from laptops, phones, power tools and other electronic devices for recycling.

As always, this year's Logan County Community Health Fair offers something for everyone, whether your goal is maintain or improve your health or to complete some spring cleaning and dispose of items in an environmentally friendly way.

For additional information on health screenings, contact Colleen Feece of the Logan County Department of Public Health at 735-2317. For answers to recycling questions, contact Mitzi Rohlfs, Logan County Joint Solid Waste Agency, at 732-9636.

[Text from file received from Mitzi Rohlfs, Logan County Joint Solid Waste Agency]