HEALTH ISSUES Events target minorities

Other health fairs are scheduled for Campbell and Warren.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A liver-transplant recipient will speak about organ donation, students at junior and senior high schools will have the opportunity to attend a pre-nursing seminar, and a health fair will be offered during Minority Health Month.
The Citywide Minority Health Fair offers free health screenings for hearing, vision, blood sugar, cholesterol, dental, body fat and others.
It will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Tabernacle Baptist Church, 707 Arlington St.
The fair also will travel to two other cities this year. On May 5, the fair goes to Campbell and will be at Gospel Temple Baptist Church, 279 Whipple Ave. On June 2, the fair will be in Warren, at the ACOP Center, 2051 Niles Road.
This is the second year the fair will be held, said Elaine Wilson, a registered nurse and director of Minority Health Initiatives at Humility of Mary Health Partners.
Last year's Minority Health Fair was at Mill Creek Community Center on the city's South Side.
She called last year's fair a success with about 400 people attending. Health-care professionals performed dental exams and other health screenings. If they found a problem, they followed up with the individuals through their doctors or at St. Elizabeth Health Center's clinic.
Wilson said the fairs increase community awareness of health programs, services, products and support groups to promote healthy lifestyles and to expose people to health-care providers.
Transportation to and from the health fair is available, Wilson said. She asked the churches involved for use of their vans and buses as well as wheelchairs. She also reached an agreement with Rural Metro to provide transportation as well.
The fairs are sponsored by Humility of Mary Health Partners, area churches, Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Youngstown-Warren Black Nurses Association and Youngstown Links Inc.
Organ donations: Daniel Grier, a liver transplant recipient who has worked for the Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program out of Cleveland, will be at St. Elizabeth Health Center's Finnegan Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. April 12 to discuss minority organ donations.
People who need an organ transplant require a specific match, Wilson said. Sometimes even family members cannot provide an exact match. Grier is speaking to try to recruit more minorities to become organ donors.
Nurses needed: Junior and senior high minority students have the opportunity to attend a minority pre-nursing seminar from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 16 at Finnegan Auditorium.
Citing the nationwide shortage of nurses, Wilson said this is a way to get students interested in nursing. Wilson feels that a need for nurses will continue eight to 10 years from now when current junior high students will graduate college and enter the work force.
She said that the average age of a nurse is 40, many are ready to retire, "and we're already short."
Grier's lecture and the pre-nursing seminar are both sponsored by Humility of Mary Minority Health Initiatives, National Council of Negro Women, Youngstown-Warren Black Nurses Association and Youngstown Links Inc.