PHOENIX, Ore.- The Phoenix-Talent School District hosted its second annual Community Health and Wellness Fair at Phoenix Elementary School on the afternoon of May 18.
Katie McCormick is a Community Care Specialist with the Phoenix-Talent School District, and the organizer of the fair for the last two years. She says her job is to provide families with resources and she feels the best way to do that was by creating a one-stop-shop for everyone through a fair.
“A lot of our families don’t really understand or see everything that’s available to them,” McCormick said, “it’s just an easy place for them to come and go and get to have a face-to-face conversation, you know. No phone calls, no put-on hold, and no call-backs.”
McCormick says last year’s fair focused mainly on health services like dental and vision, but this year’s event had over 60 providers, including wellness providers for things like low-income housing and credit services. She says not just families in the area, but anyone who showed up to the event got access to direct referrals and services.
“We really wanted to try and promote it not just to our Phoenix-Talent families, but to the community as well, which is neat,” McCormick said, “and we’ve seen a wide variety of people come through the door today, which is different than last year as well, because, you know, everyone can access these services.”
McCormick says they also provided entertainment for kids, including two bounce houses, face painting, bracelet making and more. She says the turn out for this year was larger than the year before, so she’s excited to host it again next year.
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