A Little Help for Our Friends

Six Tufts undergraduate students gave up a Saturday to help out during the second annual Somerville Health Fair on Oct. 26. The fair was held in the Clarendon Housing Development on Powderhouse Boulevard near the university’s Medford/Somerville campus.

More than 15 health and social service organizations provided health information and screening for hypertension, diabetes and cholesterol during the fair, which was organized by the Haitian Coalition in partnership with Shape Up Somerville, a program developed by the Friedman School to combat childhood obesity. In addition, participants were able to enroll in state-sponsored as well as private health insurance plans.

“This event is a great opportunity to engage students in local public health efforts,” says Jennifer Allen, the new program director for the Tufts Community Health Program.

“It’s good to get out of the Tufts bubble and into the surrounding communities,” says Haley Bliss, A16.

The Tufts students set up information booths and entertained children who accompanied their families; they drew pictures depicting healthy behaviors and made posters of ways in which they stay healthy. At the Tufts booth, kids could jump rope, hula-hoop and play hopscotch.

Sophomore Noah Levy, a pre-med student, says the fair gave him a sense of “how public health practitioners can work together” to promote the well-being of a community.