The 8th Annual Palo Alto Community Health Fair continues to inspire healthier lifestyles for Palo Alto residents after its free event on Sep. 21 at Mitchell Park Community Center. The function brought dozens of local organizations including that raise awareness for substance use and stress reduction.
The Palo Alto Family YMCA, City of Palo Alto, Stanford Medicine, Kiwanis and the Palo Alto Weekly sponsored the health fair.
According to Kathlene Worrell, YMCA director of experience, this year’s health fair emphasized diet and substance use.
“The topics of the health fair are different this year,” Worrell said. “This year, we are focusing on tobacco and alcohol usage and healthy eating habits.”
Che-Hong Chen, an affiliate of Stanford’s Center for Asian Health Research and Education, said his booth’s goal was to educate and show people the dangers of alcohol consumption and cancer for East Asians.
“The reason we want to run this booth is because we are talking about a very dangerous genetic risk factor that’s specific to only East Asians,” Chen said. “We have a very simple educational self-test. You apply an alcohol patch on your skin for around 15 minutes and if the contact area has a red spot, it means that your body isn’t processing alcohol properly and is more susceptible to cancer.”
James Murray, a volunteer representing the Canopy booth, said that this organization strives to maintain and improve the tree canopy in the areas around Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Redwood City.
“Trees die out, and people have to go through a lot of effort to plant replacement trees,” Murray said. “We make it that much easier by lining you up with arborists who can step in and suggest the correct tree for the correct location.”
Murray said the concept of forest bathing inspired him to promote Canopy at the health fair.
“It’s where you go for a hike and relieve stress, and a lot of people’s health issues are related to stress — not just mental but also physical,” Murray said.
Among the many booths, Palo Alto High School’s Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) club joined to promote healthy eating habits and recruit new members.
According to Paly senior and HOSA Club Vice President Aaron Shone, the club wanted to connect with both students and community members.
“We wanted to leave a positive impact on the community because a topic of this year was healthy eating, and I know stuff about nutrition,” Shone said. “I thought we would be able to kill two birds with one stone by advertising HOSA to students and also raising awareness for nutrition and obesity.”
Paly freshman Sumin Ru attended the event to learn more about Paly’s HOSA Club and to listen to the Nutrition & Wellness experts speak.
“I was interested to see what they talk about and how they would influence me in being healthy,” Ru said.
