By Isiah REYES

The Verdugo Hills Hospital held its annual Health Fair on May 2, providing free health check-ups and screenings for adults and children.

People who attended were able to meet members of the Glendale police and fire departments, California Highway Patrol and Mercy Airlift. Arts, crafts and face painting were available for kids and a smoothie station was offered to all.

“We are providing a lot of free screenings such as glucose, vision, cholesterol, blood pressure, skin cancer screening and it’s all free to the public,” said Celine Petrossian, Marketing and PR specialist at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital. “This is a great opportunity for those who may not be able to get their regular screenings. We have other exciting booths and other local organizations so we are really excited to get the community together.”

Some of the booths at the health fair included the USC Verdugo Hills Hospital Foundation, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge, Massage Envy and Walk Bike Glendale. The health fair is designed to bring awareness of the hospital’s services and programs it provides as a form of community outreach.

“This hospital is nothing unless it’s connected with the community, and I think one of the ways we connect with the community is through an event like this,” said Paul Craig, chief executive officer of the hospital. “And we link up with our community partners to help people come by and get free health screenings. Hopefully this will let the community know that we’re not just about treating diseases, but also preventative screening to catch disease early.”

The hospital partnered with the Glendale Healthy Kids this year. Chief Executive Officer of Glendale Healthy Kids Sharon Townsend said the partnership is important because it helps kids who have no health insurance or who are under-insured.

“We are thrilled with the partnership with Verdugo Hills Hospital because they are actually one of the founding hospitals that helped us 21 years ago when there was a need for children who had no health insurance,” said Townsend. “We have a case right now where a little 4-year-old girl is going to be here at Verdugo Hills Hospital and … has to be IV sedated so that means she has to stay at the hospital. The hospital, the doctors and all the departments are donating their services for her. She would not be able to have the services otherwise.”

“Verdugo Hills Hospital is one of the main hospitals that we transport to so it’s good to have a working relationship,” said Jim Michael, paramedic firefighter. “There was a good turn-out today with lots of different stuff to see.”

The hospital’s mission is to provide personalized, high-quality health care to its patient community. It strives to provide quality customer service and clinical outcomes.

“We think this is a wonderful hospital and they are trying so hard to reach out and engage in the community since merging with USC and we are thrilled with the partnership,” said Townsend. “It was a very busy, very successful day.”

  Isiah REYES