Health center organizes fair

About 40 exhibitors promoted health and wellness practices during the 40th annual IU Health Fair on Wednesday in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.
Recreational Sports sponsored the event.

Exhibitors ranged from the School of Public Health and the Middle Way House to the Residential Programs and Services Food & Dining Services and the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction.

IU Health Center Director of Health and Wellness Education Cathlene Hardy Hansen said one of the health fair’s main goals is to make IU the healthiest campus in the world.

“Although our personal mission is to support the health of students, we also support the health of all members of IU — faculty, staff, students, everybody,” Hansen said. “We want every person to have a wonderful quality of life, not just free from disease.”

The IU Health Fair made flu shots available to IU community members, as well as free five-minute massages and hearing and vision screenings.

A long line of students and other attendees waited to see how much tension was in their backs. They could then sign up for an appointment with the Osmon Chiropractic Center that would cost only $25 for scheduling at the fair.

People could snack on healthy foods like vegetarian wraps, pretzels, hummus and vegetables provided by Indiana Memorial Union Catering.

RPS also served students samples of vegan pumpkin bread and cherry-walnut bread.

“We have a lot of students that are vegan and have special diets, and we’d like to try to accommodate,” said Rachel Noirot, a registered dietitian who oversees RPS’s food development in the food courts and dining halls.

Senior Justinian Dispenza said he would never have tried vegan pumpkin bread if he hadn’t seen a sign outside the culture center.

“I’m super stoked to see RPS here with vegan food,” he said. “There are a lot more vegans or vegetarians on campus than I think people realize, and not all of them live in Collins, so its really nice to see vegan food popping up in other dormitories.”

Desiree Dixon received an email about the IU Health Fair and was drawn by the free massages, she said, especially since the fair was a week after her midterms.

Dixon also said she noticed there was more to it.

“When we got here we saw all the different resources,” she said. “I think this was a really great event that had a great turnout.”

Kathryn Brown, the sexual health educator for the IU Health Center’s Health and Wellness Department, has worked in the center for 25 years. She said she has seen some growth in the fair throughout the years.

“I think that’s one of the advantages of doing an event like this,” Brown said. “What’s really fun for me, as a longtime employee, is to see all the different exhibitors and the creative ways they come up with for promoting their particular agency.”