Free community Health Fair at YMCA August 20

ALBANY — Mid-Valley families are invited to a free health fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, August 20 at the Mid-Willamette Family YMCA, 3201 Pacific Blvd. SW, Albany.

The event is will feature numerous services, ranging from assistance signing up for the Oregon Health Plan to dental sealants for children to helping families make health care connections, said Diego Nieto and Cristal Solorio of the Linn County Public Health Department.

“We want this to be a service-oriented event,” Solorio said. “We want it to be hands-on and helping families interactively.”

Numerous community partners are coming together to make the fair happen. Joining with the Public Health Department is the Mid-Willamette Family YMCA, Casa Latinos, COMP-Northwest Medical School, FISH of Albany, the Greater Albany Public Schools, Linn Benton Food Share, OSU Extension Service, DEV-NW and more.

Because the health fair is for all families in the area, there will be bilingual translators on-site.

The Oregon Sight and Hearing Foundation will provide vision screenings and the Oregon Health and Sciences University will make appointments for people to have their blood drawn for cancer screenings.

“We will also have representatives from Young Roots who will provide information to young parents,” Solorio said.

Nieto said the goal is to get as broad of a reach into the community as possible.

Public Health will provide free COVID-19 tests and members of the county’s WIC team will help people determine if they are eligible to receive services.

Children’s Health staff will help set up vaccinations for children.

“We believe people have an appetite for this type of event,” Nieto said. “People want to come together for an in-person gathering.”

There will also be refreshments and raffle prizes throughout the event.

For more information email Cristal Solorio at csolorio@co.linn.or.us.