This Saturday there will be a Community Health & Information Fair that will offer everything from free flu shots to free fitness tests. The event will be held at Scenic Ford from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

There will be free blood pressure screenings, sponsored by Mount Airy OB-GYN. Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital will be offering free bone density screenings. Northern Hospital and the Surry Cancer Awareness Team (SCAT) are sponsoring free glucose screenings and Prostate Specific Angina (PSA) screenings available for men over 50.

Free flu shots are being offered by the Surry County Health and Nutrition Center. Reeves Community Center is sponsoring free fitness tests. There will be free living wills and declarations for desire of natural death that is sponsored by attorneys Sarah Stevens and Hugh Campbell.

There will be free body fat analyses sponsored by ProHealth and Beltone will be offering hearing tests.

According to Susie Hooker, treasurer for SCAT, said this event would not be possible without the help of Scenic Ford that is letting them use their showroom.

She said Mike Jones Produce is providing fresh fruit and bottled water to those in attendance at the fair.

Hooker said this event started out as the kick-off for Race for the Cure, but has evolved into a community health fair. She said there will representatives from the Susan G. Koman Foundation at the event.

This is the eighth year for the event that has grown every year, Hooker said. She hopes that everyone will come out and take advantage of the offerings at the health fair.

There will also be representatives from several fitness facilities in Mount Airy that will be giving out free passes.

Donna Parks, a health information specialist with the Surry County Health and Nutrition Center, said she will have information on tobacco cessation for those who want to quit smoking. She said Jerri Mayberry with the center is bringing information about nutrition to the health fair as well. She said they will also have information on Project Lazarus, an initiative to teach people about how to properly dispose of unused medicine and why people need to keep medicine locked up at home.

Exhibitors and participants include the American Cancer Society, Beltone, Choice Physical Therapy & Wellness, Legacy Pregnancy Center, Mount Airy Foot and Ankle, Mountain Valley Hospice, ProHealth, Shepherd’s House, the American Red Cross, Blue Ridge HOPE, Gates Pharmacy, Maximum Security, Mount Airy OB-GYN Center, the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Race for the Cure, Armfield Civic and Recreation Center, Bridge Street Pharmacy, Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital, Move 2 Melt Studio, the Mount Airy Police Department, Northern Hospital of Surry County, Reeves Community Center and the Surry County Health and Nutrition Center.

Scenic Ford is located at 1992 Rockford Street, which is U.S. 601.

Reach Mondee Tilley at mtilley@heartlandpublications.com or at 719-1930.