Students are as healthy as the habits they see at home.
On Saturday, the West Modesto Community Collaborative offered families the opportunity to start building these habits at their Back-to-School Health Fair.
More than 250 people showed up to the event in the first two hours, according to organizers.
Attendees took advantage of free vaccinations and other resources from federally-qualified health centers and insurance providers.
“I think parents set the tone,” said Dr. Juan Lopez Solorza, WMCC board member and practicing family practitioner.
Free public events are important for the whole family because they offer parents opportunities to get some of their own needs taken care of while looking after their kids.
“I think (health) should be a family effort,” Lopez Solorza said. “You should be talking about this at dinner. Something that just promotes healthy living because it is within most patients’ power to do something.”
Lopez Solorza and his colleague Dr. Peter Gaines volunteered their time to check visitors’ blood sugar and blood pressure levels. Lopez Solorza said parents were primarily taking advantage of the service, but he had also checked the blood and blood pressure of some kids that morning at the request of their parents.
“The reality is, obesity or overweightness is huge, and so we see diabetes in kids now that we normally wouldn’t see until they’re older,” Lopez Solorza said.
He was pleased with the number of people who showed up. It wasn’t the collaborative’s first time hosting the back-to-school event, but it was the best turnout of community-based provider partnerships he’d seen.
Many of the service providers were bilingual and able to accommodate local Spanish speakers. Groups like HealthNet and Health Plan of San Joaquin were onsite to discuss insurance coverage now available to immigrant parents through the recent Medi-Cal expansion.
Vaccination requirements
The majority of people in attendance took advantage of the free flu shots and other vaccinations required for students to attend K-12 schools.
Jessica Williams and her 6 year-old son, Joshua, waited in line to get his polio and whooping cough shots.
“(The health fair is) very helpful, because I don’t have to wait until October 20 to get his shot,” she said. “I can get him in now and he could start school on Monday. His school already started, so he’s not been in school.”
She originally scheduled an appointment with the county through her Medi-Cal insurance plan, but was told the event could help her family sooner.
Andrea Lopez, immunization manager with the Stanislaus Public Health Department, and her team provided the vaccinations to many students, like Joshua, who have been conditionally admitted to school.
“We really want to bring these services to the community,” she said. “It allows flexibility and convenience for the families to be together, to come out to these events and get vaccinated.”
The agency was also able to administer vaccines for monkeypox, measles, and mumps.
“Every family is different,” she said. “A kiddo could just need one vaccine, or a kiddo could need their whole set for their age.”Learn more about what shots are required to begin school by visiting the California Department of Public Health’s Immunization Branch webpage.