Daily Sitka Sentinel

Tools, Info Laid Out For Annual Sitka Health Fair

By SHANNON HAUGLAND

Sentinel Staff Writer

A simple blood test at this Saturday’s health fair provides valuable information to you and your health provider at a low cost, says the organizer, Alaska Health Fair Inc.

It may even head off serious problems in their early stages.

Just ask Betty Rieth, program director at Alaska Health Fair Inc., who found out she had a vitamin D deficiency through a low-cost blood screening at a health fair.

“It’s good screening to give your doctor a good overall picture of what’s going on with you,” she said. “The blood test is just a screening – it’s nondiagnostic but it gives the doctor, nurse or physician assistant information.”

SEARHC is sponsoring the event 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at Centennial Hall. The event is free, including information about different aspects of health, but the blood tests and other screenings are available for a fee.

A comprehensive blood chemistry screen is $45 and covers infection, anemia, liver disease, clotting ability, kidney and adrenal function, liver function, bone disease, tissue disease or damage, heart function, liver function, muscle function, and coronary heart disease. 

An eight to 10 hour fast is required for the blood chemistry screen.

The results are mailed to patients two or three weeks later, and kept private. Patients can take the results to their health care providers if they choose, said Rieth, who works out of the Anchorage office.

Alaska Health Fair Inc. was founded in 1980 and is one of the last non-profits of its kind, Rieth said. With offices in Fairbanks and Anchorage, the organization works with local health care providers around the state to provide basic health information, blood tests and low cost screenings at large and small communities. About 35,000 attend the events annually in Anchorage, Fairbanks and smaller communities.

The webpage for Alaska Health Fair said the organization was “founded on the dream of a physician who believed that the road to longevity rests in healthy lifestyles, which develop, in part, through education and screenings.”

Grants were given to start health fairs in every state in the union. Alaska and an organization serving Denver are the last two left from the original grant awards, Rieth said.

“The idea was that rates will never go down until they get affordable screenings,” she said. 

Last year’s health fair was held on the SJ campus on one of the nicest days of the year, and turnout was not great, Rieth said.

The organization is hoping more Sitkans this year take advantage of the opportunity for basic information about nutrition, heart health and safety. It’s also a good chance to talk to health care providers at the various exhibits around Centennial Hall, she said.

“Alaska Health Fair is here because we want to lower the most expensive health care costs and keep it lower by providing screening and low-cost blood tests, so they can get care, and so they have time to change their lifestyle,” she said.

That happened to her.

“I’m here today because of Alaska Health Fair,” she said. She had her D and B12 levels tested, and was surprised to find out her Vitamin D level was at 6.

“You’re supposed to be at 75 or 100,” she said. “I changed my life knowing how to take Vitamin D. I was taking the wrong kind, and I was taking it in the wrong way.”

Other screenings are available for a fee, including thyroid screen ($35), prostate disease screen for $25, vitamin D Screen for $50, A1C diabetes test for $25, blood typing for $20, vitamin B12 for $35 and celiac disease screen for $35.

Alaska Health Fair will be in Juneau on March 18, on its way to Sitka. Tenakee Springs, Gustavus and Haines are also on the schedule for April and May. In all, 100 community events are arranged by the organization, which survives on charitable donations and small grants.