Harford Health Department and Upper Chesapeake Partner for Community Health Day in Edgewood

From the Harford County Health Department:

The Harford County Health Department in partnership with Upper Chesapeake HealthLink is rolling out the second in a series of three scheduled Community Health Days on Friday, August 20th from 1:00 until 5:00pm in the Edgewood Plaza Shopping Center located at the corner of Edgewood and Hanson Roads in Edgewood, Maryland in the Food Lion Shopping Center.

Included among the day’s highlights, the Upper Chesapeake HealthLink Mobile Van will station itself in the shopping center parking lot where nurses will be on site to provide adults with free blood pressure and cholesterol screenings, as well as body fat measurement. In addition to the screenings provided in the HealthLink Mobile Van, adults can enroll in the Upper Chesapeake HealthLink Clinic, located in Aberdeen.

Health education information will be available on a variety of topics for participating families who also can receive no-cost dental hygiene supplies from the Harford County Health Department Dental Clinic. To celebrate community health promotion and adding to the atmosphere of fun, the event features music, balloons and face painting, as well as interactive games children can play to win prizes. Youth will once again be fitted for bicycle helmets and will be able to receive a free bicycle helmet.

The first event in the series took place on Friday July 23rd on what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the summer thus far in Harford County. Nevertheless, the event, designed to provide local residents with an engaging and enjoyable opportunity to learn more about their own health and what they can do to keep their families healthy, was very well attended.

Health Officer Ms. Susan Kelly states, “The Harford County Health Department and our colleagues with the Upper Chesapeake Health System envisioned a terrific response to a community outreach concept and remained confident throughout the planning process that it would spark a good deal of local interest and support. These Community Health Days also provide a convenient opportunity to enroll children in a variety of services that are offered by our Health Department. Among them is our School Based Health Center Program that offers medical and mental health services in four Harford County Title I elementary schools, and through which this initiative receives funding. Another is our Dental Clinic.”

The presence of the Harford County Health Department Dental Clinic at its current location in Edgewood at the site of the upcoming event, has evolved into a remarkable success story. Over the past two years, the practice has provided preventative and restorative dental health services to more than 4,000 Harford County youth who might not otherwise have had access to them.

For more information about Community Health Days, call Ms. Marcy Austin at the Harford County Health Department Dental Clinic at 443-922-7670.