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HealthWise back for a sixth year


LAKEVILLE — More than 30 free screenings with immediate results will be offered at the sixth annual HealthWise on Saturday, March 8, from 8 a.m. to noon in the main building of The Hotchkiss School.

HealthWise is a collaborative effort between Noble Horizons and Sharon Hospital. Services offered include screenings, medical consultations and interactive health services. The Sharon Hospital blood lab will offer free blood work and there will be heart disease counseling with heart specialist Dr. Anita Kelsey. Dr. Elizabeth Dekker will perform dental and oral heath screenings, podiatrist Dr. Andrew Schwarz will offer foot checks and Dr. Mark Marshall, internal medicine, will meet privately with any HealthWise visitors.

There will be bone density tests, body fat analysis, sessions on how to quit smoking, weight loss, mental agility tests, depression screenings, AIDS tests, skin screenings and breathing and blood pressure checks.

Dr. Walter Donnelley and Dr. Avinash Tantri, opthomologists, will conduct glaucoma and vision testing and there will be chiropractic evaluations performed by Dr. David Godwin.

Activities such as "Fitness on the Cheap and On the Go," nutritional counseling, acupuncture, massage therapy and sessions with rehab professionals will be offered. In addition, Connecticut food stamp information, Medicare prescription drug card enrollment assistance, HUSKY enrollment private consolations with a pharmacist and Connecticut’s 211 Info Hotline services will be offered.

"You can walk away with a tremendous amount of information in one stop," said Caroline Burchfield of Noble Horizons, an organizer of the event.

According to Burchfield, the goal of HealthWise is to make people aware of the resources that this area has to offer. She said that HealthWise is designed to be interactive, and to focus on public health challenges and major medical issues in this country, such as heart health. She reported that about 400 people attended last year.

Children’s activities and Spanish-language translators are available. For more information and free transportation, call 860-364-1637 or 800-666-6885.

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