UMA provides winter health tune up









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Adults and children examine viles of the fat content of various foods at the UMA Cardiology display booth.

About 300 adults and children received a “Winter Health Tune Up” Saturday at the University Medical Associates’ annual health screening event at Clarkson West Medical Center, 144th and Center Streets.

Hosted by UMA, the UNMC physician group practice provided free and low-cost health screenings and education. Adults received free flu shots, and sought a variety of screenings, including blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, vision, glaucoma, prostate cancer and hearing screenings.

Children were entertained by a juggler and face-painting activities. In addition, they learned how to properly wash their hands and obtained free check-ups for their Teddy bears and dolls. Those who attended also were treated to a continental breakfast.









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Volunteer Suzanne Singer shows hand bacteria to Lando Rejda and tells him the importance of proper handwashing. Rejda is the son of John Rejda, a UNMC employee, and Ely Rejda.

Kay Antill, 72, was one of many who stopped by the open house for a free flu shot.

One display booth – featuring viles of the fat content of various foods — was particularly interesting to visitors. The viles at the UMA cardiology display booth provided a visual reminder of how much fat there is in certain foods.

“It’s an eye-opener for people,” said Margaret Lee, a nurse with UMA cardiology. “It’s a huge visual. This is the type of stuff we need to do more of.

“The first response from people is, ‘Oh my gosh, I eat that all the time.’ You can hand them a piece of paper with information about their cholesterol and it may be useless to them, but if you can show them, it means more.”









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UNMC’s Jim O’Donnell gets his blood pressure checked by UNMC College of Nursing student Kathy Chandler who was volunteering with the Cosmopolitan-UNMC College of Nursing Mobile Nursing Center.

Organizers of the event were pleased with the attendance.

“Overwhelmingly people have said how wonderful it is to have this kind of event,” said Robin Stoupa, UMA director of ambulatory services. “We’re seeing people across the whole age continuum. We have things that attract people of all ages.”