Throwing a party -- a great idea for prevention

This weekend, hundreds of families came to the Central Florida fairgrounds for the annual Hispanic Health Fair. Well, actually they came to have fun. While they were there, they got preventive health care.

The genius of Josephine Mercado and her Hispanic Health Initiative is that they know they can attract a lot more people if they throw a party and make it convenient to get tested.

Music, raffles, and hot dogs draw the crowds, as the Orlando Sentinel reports. While they’re there, they get tests on blood pressure, low cholesterol, sexually transmitted diseases and more.

It reminds me of a visit to Tijuana I made years ago on a fellowship from the Kaiser Family Foundation. We visited the health department, but that’s not where the action was.

They took us to one of the poorest neighborhoods in the area, where a health fair was under way. They’d attracted hundreds of families for vaccinations and health screenings by offering free food, haircuts and flea-dips for dogs. Men, who are notorious for avoiding check-ups, showed up in droves for the haircuts and got their blood pressure checked. Kids brought their dogs and got immunization.

What a great idea!

Our culture creates monuments to medicine, complete with PET scanners and CyberKnives, and does a great job of treating patients -- if they have money or insurance -- once they get sick.

Many less-affluent cultures have figured out ways to create low-cost, convenient opportunities and incentives to prevent disease. They did it because they had to.

Maybe we could learn from this? 

--Carol Gentry, Editor, can be reached at 727-410-3266 or by e-mail.