![\"ufv-mark-wellness-wp-medium\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/files\/2016\/11\/ufv-mark-wellness-wp-medium.jpg\")
<\/a>Over 100 community members showed up at the three-hour Health and Wellness Fair hosted at the UFV Five Corners Campus.<\/p>\n
The fair provided individuals with access to a free flu clinic, HIV\/AIDS\/STI and hepatitis testing, blood pressure measurements, chronic pain resources & nursing student information booths on topics ranging from immunizations to stroke prevention.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have set goals for ourselves as a university, obviously we have a role to play in delivering a high quality education, but we also play an important role in the development of leaders in our region,\u201d says Dr. Mark Evered, UFV President<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best way to do that is to get out into the community and find out what the challenges are and work with many other groups, like the Public Health Nurses and the other agencies that are here today, to find ways to reach out to the public in meaningful ways.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in March, UFV conducted a community needs assessment at the UFV health & wellness open house<\/a>. \u00a0Over 150 community members in downtown Chilliwack were asked to identify key areas that would improve their overall health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n In response to the needs assessment, UFV students, faculty and staff tailored the fair to address the needs of this population.<\/p>\n Part of the health and wellness line-up was a free flu and pneumonia vaccination, \u00a0UFV nursing<\/a> students administered the vaccinations to adults under the supervision of \u00a0UFV nursing faculty members. Public health nurses were available to offer immunizations to children.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a great opportunity to reach out to the public to share health information and keep people up to date with their flu and pneumonia vaccinations,\u201d explained Stefanie Strukoff, who is a fourth year student in the Bachelor of Science Nursing program at UFV.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a valuable learning experience as we get to meet people from our community and teach others about what we have learned in the nursing program.\u201d<\/p>\n With the cold, wet weather and holidays just around the corner, nursing students reinforced the importance of vaccinations to protect individuals at risk of complications from catching the flu.<\/p>\n \u201cVaccinations help to protect all populations from the flu, but especially high risk individuals that are over 65, young children, pregnant women, and those living with medical conditions,\u201d Strukoff continued.<\/p>\n With a nursing program situated in Chilliwack, the fair was an opportunity for students to share their knowledge and gain practical experience in an environment with real people that are dealing with real problems.<\/p>\n Public health nurses from the STOP (Seek and Treat for Optimal Prevention of) HIV\/AIDS program<\/a> were at the fair to talk about support services and offer on-site testing for HIV\/AIDS, STI and Hepatitis C.<\/p>\n \u201cA venue like this is really great because it is right downtown and this is where we find the most vulnerable people,\u201d says Paige Mackintosh, a public health nurse with the Fraser Health STOP HIV\/AIDS team and UFV nursing alumna (BSN \u201811).<\/p>\n \u201cWe have harm reduction supplies available because a lot of the populations we serve are drug users. We always come equipped with needles, pipes and Narcan kits.\u201d<\/p>\n As reinforced at the STOP information booth, over 75% of British Columbians with hepatitis C are born between 1945 & 1965 \u2014 some may not even know they have it.\u00a0 The only way to know for sure is to get tested.<\/p>\n To generate awareness about lifestyle changes, the fair included displays to inform the public with healthy tips to incorporate in their daily lives.<\/p>\n UFV Nursing students were on hand to discuss topics ranging from childhood immunizations to stroke prevention for seniors.<\/p>\n On display was information about chronic pain highlighting the research of Nursing faculty member JoAnne Nelmes. As indicated by\u00a0<\/a>PainBC<\/a>, one in five British Columbians live with chronic pain every single day. \u00a0Through her research and PainBC resources, Nelmes informed individuals about chronic pain \u2014an invisible illness \u2014 that can impact individuals of all ages.<\/p>\n Through collaboration with community support services, information was available from VOYCE (Voice of Youth for Community Engagement), BC Responsible & Problem Gambling program<\/a>, and Healthy Families BC to talk about the MEND program.<\/a><\/p>\n To help plan future initiatives, a survey was conducted by medical office assistant<\/a> students to better understand the needs of attendees and how they can be addressed in the future.<\/p>\n This initiative draws upon resources from various departments and programs at UFV including nursing, dental, kinesiology and social work. This is the second event organized at the UFV Five Corners campus focused on providing resources, support and awareness for downtown residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Making healthy lifestyle changes \u2014big or small\u2014\u00a0can positively impact daily life and overall wellbeing. However, not everyone is aware of the resources available or have access to the information to make these changes. On November 24, UFV invited local\u00a0health providers and community agencies to come\u00a0together to assist with the health and wellness needs of residents … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,12,8,10,4,1],"tags":[46,3,47,33,14,16],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cda","category-events","category-hca","category-news","category-nursing","category-uncategorized","tag-chilliwack","tag-featured","tag-five-corners","tag-health-and-wellness","tag-nursing","tag-ufv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions\/336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>About the UFV Community Outreach Interdisciplinary Committee:<\/strong><\/h3>\n