Approximately 200 people received information and essential health services at a community health fair, organized by Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine students and Premier Health. (Photos by Kyle Hua)
Wright State University medical students, in partnership with the Premier Community Health Mobile Clinic team, hosted a free community health fair to provide information and essential health services to the Dayton community.
Organizers estimate approximately 200 people in the community attended the event, which had a focus on hygiene, nutrition education, mental health, health care access, substance use and healthy lifestyles.
The fair, held on April 12 at the St. Vincent de Paul CityThrift lot, was student-run and co-led by Bethany Ekeh and Katie Perry, third-year students at Wright State’s Boonshoft School of Medicine.
One of the many benefits of the fair was that it provided the medical students with opportunities for community service.
“As medical students, we understand that there are several factors that impact one’s health outside the health care setting, and we want to plant a seed in our community to promote well-being,” Ekeh said.
Raj Mitra, M.D., dean of the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine and chief academic officer at Premier Health, kicked off the event by taking a group photo with the students. He thanked the organizers of the day’s activities.
“The collaborative partnership between Premier Health and Wright State University is incredibly beneficial to Dayton, and it will allow us to meet the needs of the community for years to come,” Mitra said.
The medical students assisted the Premier Community Health Mobile Clinic team with administering health screenings for fair attendees, which included blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose and hemoglobin A1C screenings.
“We conducted screenings for 29 people over the course of the morning. The students helped take blood pressures and talked with almost every patient. They asked good questions. We were able to connect some of the people at the health fair to additional resources in our community,” said Sumayyah Shermadou, program manager at Premier Community Health.
More than a dozen student organizations affiliated with the Boonshoft School of Medicine staffed tables at the fair, including the Latino Medical Student Association, the Student National Medical Association, the Refugee Student Alliance and the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association. Several student interest groups also helped, among them students focused on hunger, exercise, emergency medicine, addiction medicine, OB-GYN, pediatrics, psychiatry and dermatology.
Sisters Nyla, Anese and Nayriah dance in front of the Premier Health Mobile Clinic at the community health fair.
Their tables featured coloring stations, fun exercise activities and teddy bear clinics to show children what to expect when they visit a doctor’s office. Fair attendees also received healthful snacks and health care products such as toothbrushes, sunscreen and period products.
Both kids and adults danced in the warmth and wind to music by 92.1 WROU. Greater Dayton RTA ran special bus routes to bring people to the fair. Other community organizations that staffed tables at the fair included Ziks Family Pharmacy, Preschool Promise, Dayton Recovery Project, Families of Addicts and Alcoholics Anonymous.
Plans are in place to bring back the free community health fair in 2026.
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