Health and WorkLife Fair

Caltech’s upcoming Health and WorkLife Fair will feature many more activities and attractions than the average health fair. Members of the Caltech community will have a chance to get free cholesterol counts, body-fat measurements, and other indicators of health. Community members will also be able to get free massages and even a chance to scale a 60-foot climbing wall. All this will take place on Friday, April 11, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in and around the Winnett Center. There will also be a blood drive in Winnett lounge from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The event has been designed to address aspects of life that affect overall health and wellness, from exercise and nutrition to bicycle safety and stress.

“The idea is to give the students and staff the skills, tools, and information to incorporate a lot of what we’re trying to encourage about health,” says Jane Curtis, Caltech’s health educator and event cochair.

Curtis, along with cochairs April White and Janice Black from the Staff and Faculty Consultation Center and Sue Friedman from the Residence Life Office, planned the event through a committee consisting of students, faculty, and department heads. The representatives examined their specific groups’ needs and determined that the Caltech community would benefit from a fair that looked at the wider health picture.

“This year we’re trying to do more prevention education and more health promotion to create a space where other dimensions of health could be addressed,” Curtis said. She added that the event’s theme, “Get Balance!”, promotes the benefits that follow when a balance is struck between the various facets of life, including work, relationships, nutrition, studies, and exercise.
The event combines the annual Health Fair and the WorkLife Fair and is expected to attract at least 1,500 members of the Caltech community.

“The two fairs were using the same vendors, and given the overlap, it made sense to have one fair and expand it,” Curtis says. In all, more than 55 vendors will conduct demonstrations, distribute literature, and, best of all, provide goodie bags of free samples. Live reggae/salsa music will be provided by the band Upstream, and members of the Caltech DJ club will spin records from 11 a.m. to noon.

A partial list of vendors includes HMO Kaiser Permanente, which will give free 10-minute massages on three chairs; a representative from the Food and Drug Administration, who will provide tips on safe food handling; chiropractors from L.A.’s Cleveland Chiropractic College, who will perform spinal screenings and have handouts on what to look for when purchasing a good pillow; and Derma Scan technicians, who will use UV light to detect skin damage from exposure to the sun.

In addition to donating to the blood drive that day, attendees can have their blood pressure checked by Caltech’s Health Advocates. Other participating Caltech offices include the Counseling and Health Centers, the Women’s Center, and the Caltech Y Outdoor Committee.

Community vendors include the Outland Mountain Shop, Pasadena Cyclery, the Buddhist Tzu Chi Free Clinic, Run With Us, Caltech’s Environmental Task Force, the Child Educational Center, Huntington Senior Care Network, the Pasadena AIDS Service Center, and the SPCA. This last agency will provide cat health facts to the caretakers of the undergraduate House mascots, who could also do with a little balance in their busy lives.
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