MEDICAL ADVICE Building is popular with crowds

Hospice of the Valley will showcase a new facility during the fair.
By MATT BIXENSTINE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- It may be the nonthreatening environment, or it may simply be that it's free.
Whatever the reason, numerous fairgoers request medical advice each year that they might not otherwise seek -- even from their own physicians.
"I've been in situations where a person comes up and says, 'I have this problem; where can I go for help?' and it's led to an early diagnosis," said Karyn Frederick, executive director of the Mahoning County Medical Society and volunteer at the society's "Ask the Doctor" booth at the Canfield Fair.
"People feel very comfortable, anonymous in some ways," she added.
Advice is just one of the free services provided as part of the society's medical health exhibit in the fair's Medical Health Building.
Various social-service organizations and government agencies will offer health screenings and goods in this, the exhibit's 53rd consecutive year.
Old and new
Several new services highlight this year's exhibit. Hospice of the Valley will provide information about its new inpatient facility, said Liz McGarry, director of development. The facility is scheduled for groundbreaking this fall with completion in fall 2004.
A fire safety pathway from the American Red Cross Mahoning Valley and a Dalmatian with epilepsy for the Mahoning Valley Epilepsy Fund's pet program are also among the additions to booths.
Almost all previous portions of the exhibit remain year after year because fair patrons have grown to expect them, Frederick said.
Among the most popular booths are the Corydon Palmer Dental Society's mouth guard fitting for kids and blood-pressure screenings by the Ohio Nurses Association, District 3, which tested 7,000 people's blood pressure at last year's fair.
"There would be some disappointed people if we didn't offer certain services," Frederick said. "We keep the same focus but upgrade booths to keep them relevant."
Exhibit's beginnings
Frederick said the medical exhibit has come a long way since it was incorporated in the 1950s. She remembers attending the fair as a child when a tent stood in place of the medical health building. In recent years, however, she has even witnessed smokers quit on the spot while at the fair's medical exhibit.
"People come to the fair, and the medical building is part of that experience," she said. "This is unique -- you don't see this everywhere. How many chances do you have to speak [to a physician] on a one-on-one basis?"
mbixenstine@vindy.com