Wheeling Health Right Holds ‘Falling For Health’ Fair
photo by: Photo by Derek Redd
WHEELING – Wheeling Health Right’s third-annual “Falling For Health” Fair on Friday was its biggest yet, a great feeling for organizers who were happy to see attendees get the opportunity to explore more local health and wellness resources than ever before.
Janice Carenbauer, back office manager at Wheeling Health Right, said there were 43 vendors staked out around the organization’s parking lot, the most they have ever hosted for the fair.
“It started out with just healthcare (resources) a couple of years ago and it has just grown,” Carenbauer said. “This year, I actually had people calling me (to participate), which was great.”
Along with resources like HealthPlan, Aetna Medicare Solutions, Project Hope and Easterseals, Carenbauer said vendors like AAA, 1-800-GAMBLER, Helping Heroes and Legal Aid also joined in.
“This year, we just have a wide variety,” Carenbauer said.
More than 100 people had come to the fair by early Friday afternoon. Carenbauer said the mission of the fair was for visitors and vendors to meet with each other and see what each other has to offer. Health Right wants to make sure the people of the Ohio Valley don’t miss out on a possible resource that could help them.
“It may be something that they might not want to say to their doctor that they’re struggling with,” Carenbauer said, “something that might be more private to them. They can come up and talk to one of the vendors and find a way to fix the problem.”
On top of the fair, Carenbauer said that both Project Hope and Health Right were able to see patients today that had emergencies that needed to be taken care of and help patients who needed medications, even though the facility itself was closed for the day.
“If anybody came for any need today, hopefully, it got met,” she said.