Thirteen health and wellness vendors motivated participants to get moving during Margaret Fain Elementary School‘s health awareness fair for students, staff, parents and the surrounding Collier Heights community Feb. 16 in the school’s auditorium.
Coordinated by the school’s art teacher, Yvette Winder, the goal of the fair was to increase the visibility of health and wellness resources within the school’s community, provide a variety of health screenings and educational materials, and motivate participants to make positive health behavior changes. Winder and her students demonstrated their brain gym exercises used every morning from 7 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. to help students think clearly, focus and concentrate.
“We coordinated the health fair mainly for Fain Elementary parents who are not aware of the resources available to them,” said Winder. “There’s a close connection with the students’ growth and academics. You have to have a healthy lifestyle.”
Captain E. Jackson of the Atlanta Fire Department Station Engine #9 and his colleagues demonstrated how being healthy is a requirement for being a firefighter. “Staying fit and healthy is very important because you are walking around with at least 60 pounds of equipment on,” said Jackson. Jackson also said firefighters must be experts in getting dressed in the appropriate protective gear and onto the emergency vehicles quickly when responding to a call, no matter what they are doing.
Vendors who participated in the health fair included the Atlanta Fire Department Engine #9; Back to Balance Wellness Center; Coast Dental Cascade; Collier Heights Library; Fulton County Health Department; GNC Live Well; Georgia Healthy Families; Help A Child Smile, LA Fitness; Melaleuca: The Wellness Company; Friends of Collier Health and Wellness; Dr. Valentine Weight Loss Center; and Dangerous Curvez Fitness Studio. APS’ Maynard H. Jackson High School Drumline also came out and performed several selections.
