Larkin Community Hospital recently hosted its first annual neighborhood health fair at a block party where an estimated 600 plus families and friends gathered together to enjoy live music, dine on food truck fare, and treat the kids to bounce houses, face painting, and a visit from special guest NBA all-star player Kenny Anderson.
Over 200 attendees registered for the nine tented screening booths available to check glucose, blood pressure, stroke and heart health, memory loss, podiatry care, pulmonary function, and bone density. The anticipated new health fair annual tradition is a way for Larkin to stay connected to the immediate area it serves, while also highlighting specializations in health care service according to marketing coordinator John Nuno.
“We are proud to be who we are in terms of what sets us apart in the community,” said Nuno. “We are a small hospital and we like it that way. It allows us to be more family oriented and sets us apart from a large facility with so much staff that you can lose that feeling of community.”
Because in today’s uncertain economic times monitoring health care concerns may be postponed due to financial hardship, Larkin opened its doors for the general public to take the opportunity to check their overall wellness status. “First and foremost we wanted to take the time to give people a chance to check their health and so we made these screenings available to the public,” said Nuno. “The word community is part of our title and considering the struggles in today’s economy we wanted to do something to reach out and help.”
“We are also becoming more specialized in catering to specific needs and wanted to highlight new services as well on this day. Our recently opened Miami Neuroscience Center is one of the most highly technologically advanced facilities in the world for neurosurgery. We had the grand opening for our facility on January 13 of this year and already doctors from all over the world are visiting to learn from our leading experts on staff.”
Nuno said the efforts of the day were well received by guests who offered much positive feedback in gratitude for the community centered event. “It was a fantastic day and everybody was really into it. People are excited about next year’s event and we are going to start production soon. This was a strong base for us for more of what is to come.”
The Larkin team plans to work closely next year with one of its main charities of over ten years, the Susan G. Komen Foundation. A 5 K walk/run where all proceeds will benefit the organization directly is part of the line up for next year’s event.
