Senior health fair helps provide information and resources to hundreds in southern Illinois

MARION, Ill. (KFVS) - Residents in southern Illinois are able to get their healthcare needs met, all at once today.

Hundreds of individuals came from across southern Illinois making their way to Marion to attend a senior health fair where they were met with more than 50 vendors from the area.

Illinois State Senator Dale Fowler and Representative Dave Severin hosted the event to get area seniors access to free health screenings and be able to talk with healthcare professionals about their needs.

“So that’s what this is all about, Fowler said. “Being able to provide the resources to our seniors. A lot of our seniors don’t have an opportunity to go to each one of these vendors. So, to be able to have them under one roof here at the HUB here in Marion is phenomenal.”

Area residents we talked with tell us that there is a need for many in the area to obtain more healthcare options.

“There’s always a need for healthcare information,” Pam Crouch said. “There’s too many people that don’t have the answers or feel intimidated in a doctor’s office and here they might ask the questions and be more open.”

Crouch said it’s important to be able to see what healthcare resources are out there and to talk to someone about it.

“I always have one or two questions besides what I ask my regular physician,” Crouch said. “So, it’s always helpful. And, people are very casual about it. You don’t feel intimidated at all. So, it’s very helpful to me.”

Fowler said there is a need to provide healthcare information to individuals here in the area.

“I think this huge turnout shows the need for this information,” Fowler said. “As they continue to grow older there’s more services that become available all the time. There’s more agencies to come to southern Illinois to offer their services.”

Of the many vendors there, we spoke with Franklin-Williamson Bi-County Health Department’s Director of Health Education Debi Johnson. She said they wanted to come by this event to help people with resources and information that they may need.

“They haven’t had a lot of resources in the last two years (due to COVID) so we brought this back,” Johnson said. “They can get diabetes checks, blood pressure checks, resources on all kinds of things that are out there now.”

Another health fair is scheduled for Wednesday, August 24th in Carbondale from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Civic Center.

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