More than just screenings and assessments, 28th annual health fair to include tours of hospital expansion

An aerial view of the Dixie Regional Medical Center River Road campus, date and location not specified | Photo courtesy of Dixie Regional Medical Center, St. George News

FEATURE — This year marks the 28th annual Dixie Regional Medical Center’s community health fair. In addition to the myriad health screenings and information the public has grown to expect from this annual event, this year’s “LiVe Well Health Fair” will coincide with public tours of the new hospital expansion as part of four days of grand opening celebrations.

Read more: Dixie Regional Medical Center to hold grand opening celebration, concert featuring The Piano Guys

The new women and newborn center at Dixie Regional Medical Center, St. George, Utah, Aug. 23, 2018 | Photo by Mikayla Shoup, St. George News

The LiVe Well Health Fair will take place Sept. 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the third floor concourse of the new facilities, starting at the Intermountain Women and Newborn Center. Self-guided tours through the expansion will also start here and take place from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tours are also available Sept. 13-14 from 3-7 p.m.

This year’s health fair will provide many resources to its attendees, as well as screenings for blood pressure, glucose and skin cancer. There will also be hearing assessments, neurobalance testing and a body composition analysis to see how much of a person’s body is made up of lean mass.

On average, nine out of 10 people screened for any given thing at the health fair have results that fall into the normal range, communications director Terri Draper said. This means that one in 10 people whose results come back as not normal are given potentially life changing information and resources.

That person is given information that could really make a big difference for them if they then pursue that with their general practice provider and start to make improvements in that health condition,” Draper said.

In addition to the normal screenings and assessments, there will also be a “teddy bear clinic” set up for kids to take their bears to a “doctor,” and they can also decorate a doll with child-life specialist Michael Robertson. And for the older kids and athletes, the DRMC Acceleration team of trainers will be on hand to give tips to young athletes who want techniques on running, jumping and sports.

There will also be experts available to talk about nutrition, heart valve health, radiation exposure, prediabetes and tobacco use. The National Alliance on Mental Illness will have mental health counselors available to speak with people, and the health department will be giving flu shots.

Event organizers also hope that people who attend the fair will take the opportunity to tour the new facilities.

The tour length is a little over a mile of walking and takes approximately one hour to complete. Everyone who finishes the tour will receive a free mini-mister fan and have a chance to enter to win one of five Apple watches.

North tower of the new Dixie Regional Medical Center River Road campus, St. George, Utah date not specified | Photo courtesy of Dixie Regional Medical Center, St. George News

A special tour will be led by Dr. Rhett Frei, family medicine doctor, at 3 p.m., for a more in-depth look at the new hospital services.

“It’s a really unique opportunity to go through with a doctor and experience the hospital with someone that spends most of his time in the hospital,” Shawn Fielding, DRMC communications specialist said.

All tours begin at the new Women and Newborn Center, go through the behavioral medicine and access center and conclude at the cancer center. Visitors will see many new and innovative services that will be offered after the move from the 400 East campus, an event that will be marked on Sept. 13 with a “Growing Together Ceremony.”

Read More: Dixie Regional Medical Center to host celebratory ‘Growing Together Ceremony’ coinciding with annual NICU reunion

One highlight from the tour is the interoperative MRI suite, which allows patients to receive an MRI while their brain surgery site is still open. This allows neurosurgeons to be confident that as much of the tumor has been removed as possible before they close the surgical site.

Other highlights include touring the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, which provides intensive oxygen therapy to help heal severe wounds; the hybrid angiography suite, where transcatheter aortic valve replacement and other less invasive heart procedures are performed; and the Intermountain Cancer Center of St. George.

As part of the new cancer center, the Intermountain Precision Genomics program has partnered with Stanford University, whose research has extended the life of late-stage cancer patients across the world with the research and treatments they perform.  

It is unusual for a community this size to be able to offer the modern services that we do and we want to show that off,” DRMC regional director of education Rebecca Holt said, adding that holding the tours coinciding with the health fair offers another benefit.

“It often provides an introduction to some of our services in case you have a screening or question and then you want to seek further care,” she said.

Another benefit of the tours, Draper said, is that they offer a unique opportunity to the view the facilities, as concern for patient privacy normally prevents the hospital from offering them.

The tour route will be marked with directions, informative posters and patient stories. In addition, approximately 150 volunteers, working in five-hour shifts, will be available to guide visitors and share information about the hospital and the expansion. Those who regularly volunteer at the hospital, along with Intermountain Healthcare employees, clubs, students and other community organizations are volunteering their time for the event.

“We want to put out a special thank you to those people who are helping volunteer,” Draper said. “We couldn’t do it without their help. They’re doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, so we are very grateful.”

Written by MIKAYLA SHOUP, St. George News.

Event details

  • What: Dixie Regional “LiVe Well Health Fair.”
  • When: Saturday, Sept. 15, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • Where: DRMC Intermountain Women and Newborn Center, 1380 S. Medical Center Drive, St. George.
  • Admission: Free.

• S P O N S O R E D   C O N T E N T  •

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

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