Logan County Health Fair to celebrate 25th anniversary

[February 26, 2010]  The Logan County Community Health Fair is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. 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 March 27 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, bone density and oral cancer screenings, and body mass indexes. Testing of well water, child fingerprinting, cooking demonstrations and a blood bank sponsored by the Central Illinois Community Blood Center will also be offered. Additionally, the health fair will again offer residents the opportunity to recycle a variety of items in an environmentally friendly and responsible manner.

The State Bank of Lincoln will sponsor a confidential on-site paper shredding program at this year's Community Health Fair. The 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 will be offered from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday in the front parking lot of Lincoln Community High School.

A glass recycling collection will again be available in the front parking lot of the Lincoln Community 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 container. 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 event of inclement weather.

Expired or unwanted medications, prescription and over-the-counter, will be collected through a medication collection co-sponsored by the Logan County Department of Public Health 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 by incineration under the supervision of the Lincoln Police Department. 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.

AmerenCILCO will collect compact florescent bulbs. Since these bulbs contain a small amount of mercury, it is recommended that the bulbs not be disposed of with household trash.

Rexx Battery Specialists will collect rechargeable batteries from laptops, phones and power tools, and will have an outside collection for used car batteries.

Eyeglasses and hearing aids will be collected by the Lions Club for distribution to visually or hearing-impaired individuals in the U.S. and around the world. New, used, damaged or broken eyeglasses and hearing aids will be accepted.

Cell phones, working and non-working, will be collected for donation to Sojourn Woman's Center. Cell phones 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.

Parish nurses from the Healthy Communities Partnership will collect tabs from aluminum cans for donation to the area's Ronald McDonald House.

New collections this year will include the Books for Soldiers program. Books, CDs, DVDs, MP3 players, iPods, and hand-held games will be collected for shipment to our troops abroad. The Lincoln American Legion Post No 263 will assist the Books for Soldiers program by providing the initial funds to cover the cost for shipping the items to troops.

Additionally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will collect gently worn shoes, some to be distributed worldwide and others sold to support programs to drill and maintain wells for drinking water in Kenya.

New and used children's books will be collected for Mackenzie's Pages of Hope with the goal of providing a book to every child admitted to St. John's Children's Hospital in Springfield.

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 Marcia Dowling of the Logan County Department of Public Health at 735-2317. With recycling questions, contact Mitzi Rohlfs, Logan County Joint Solid Waste Agency, at 732-9636.

[Text from file received]