Health Update: Health Update: (PHOTOS) Wyoming Health Fairs Health & Wellness Expo returns to The Ford Wyoming Center – What Experts Say– What Experts Say.
CASPER, Wyo. — On Saturday, The Ford Wyoming Center hosted the Wyoming Health Fairs’ annual Health & Wellness Expo, and close to 100 vendors gathered to offer tips and wellness screenings to Casper residents.
Organizations from all across Casper, including Banner Wyoming Medical Center, the 12-24 Club, Central Wyoming Counseling Center, Rocky Mountain Behavioral Health, 307 Physical Therapy, the American Cancer Society, the University of Wyoming, the Community Health Center of Central Wyoming, and more were all on-hand to describe their services and to provide information on what they do and for whom they do it.
“This is huge,” said Tandi Rinker, the Executive Director of Wyoming Health Fairs. “It’s probably the biggest [fair] that we do. And we’re super excited to have as much participation as we do. And I’m hoping we continue to grow. My goal is to have us upstairs.”
As it was, more than 99 different vendors all gathered at The Ford Wyoming Center, and hundreds of attendees came by. The center was packed with people — all with the goal of bettering themselves and their loved ones.
Rinker said that, this year, they especially wanted to focus on safety, across a wide array of factors.
“This year, we really wanted to focus on incorporating safety,” she stated. “I think we have such a huge opportunity to teach people about home safety. Especially for our elder population. And cybersecurity, that’s really important.”
Rinker said the goal of Wyoming Health Fairs is to meet people where they’re at, providing them services that they may need, even if they don’t know they need it.
“It’s important that we go where they are,” she said. “We’re not catching them at home all the time, so with an event like this, even if we only get a couple people to learn a little bit more about how to keep themselves safe, that’s great.”
Rankin said that safety, especially in the older population, is extremely important to the people who make up Wyoming Health Fairs.
“We care about our state,” she said. “We care about our residents. There are so few of us, all of us matter. And we need to make sure that we’re all healthy and safe.”
Rinker beamed at how many people came to the event, noting that caring about one’s health is one of the most important things a person can do.
“It means a lot that they care so much about their health,” she said. “They care about their neighbors’ health; their friends, their family. They can just come up here and learn about things, and they can walk out with a new product that could help them, or they can even get a free health screening to see how they feel, to learn something about their body and their health.”
Rinker said that Wyoming Health Fairs has sites all across Wyoming, but she wants to be in even more places across the state.
“We want to be everywhere, so people can always have a low cost option,” she said. “The Health and Wellness Expo is your go-to place for access and awareness, which is our mission. Our mission is access, affordability, and awareness. And to have this event in Casper, and to have so many vendors from so many places to come here, and to have that access — it’s invaluable.”
Photos from the Health and Wellness Expo can be seen below:
