A healthy affair at DCMH

Adam Huening

Decatur County Memorial Hospital’s hallways were flooded with people on Wednesday but they were not seeking treatment. Instead, they were seeking information and advice.

Wednesday, DCMH hosted its annual Health and Wellness Fair, a free event for the people of the county. The fair boasted a large number of booths and a healthy dose of information and advice for visitors.

“We’ve got 37 booths, which is 11 more than last year,” Robin Meyer, vice president of support services for DCMH, said. “We may have to find a different location if it keeps growing like this.”

Meyer feels the growth is a good thing for the community. The fair is designed for the people of Decatur County to come and receive vital information on their health and diet.

“The community looks forward to this event,” Meyer added. “It’s fun to watch people interact with the staff. They always have good questions.”

A myriad of organizations and hospital departments, from nursing homes and nutrition specialists to Oncology and Continuing Care to the Fire Department and LifeLine helicopters, came to the fair to inform the public on a variety of subjects.

For instance, Loralee Moore, access and answers director for Aging and Community Services, came to inform patrons about the new Medicare prescription program and the upcoming deadline to apply.

“We’re here to try to pick up anybody who needs information regarding the new drug program before the deadline this coming Monday,” Moore said. “There has been a lot of confusion driven by the new plans because they are dependent on the medications a person is taking and they have to have Internet access to figure out which plan they need. A lot of senior citizens do not have that access.”

Shannon Kuntz, director of nursing in the Continuing Care department of the hospital, was informing people on the special care services offered by DCMH.

“We are a long-term care unit like a nursing home in the hospital,” Kuntz said. “We are a smaller unit with 15 beds, so we can give that extra special care.”

Kuntz noted their services also include an adult daycare for ill patients as well as respite care, which provides at-home caregivers a place to take their sick loved ones for a short time if they need a break.

Sue Fortman, family nutrition specialist at the Purdue Extension office, was helping people eat healthier on smaller budgets.

“I’m working with low income families to stretch dollars on their food bill,” she said.

Fortman works in conjunction with the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program and helps people through a federal grant the Extension oversees.

Other vendors come to the fair to introduce a new technology or ideas.

Denise Fields, directory of the pharmacy, brought her new automated dispensing machine. This computerized device stores up to 20 kinds of prescriptions in a secure drawer and catalogues a patient’s medications through an advanced system. It works through bio-identification. Each authorized personnel’s thumbprints are stored on the system and will only give access to patient records to those authorized. With this system, nurses and doctors can track dosages, medications and the times they were given as well as who prescribed and administered the pills.

Also present was Linda Ricke, who represented the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill (NAMI), an organization that provides support and assistance to those suffering from psychological illnesses. She said she has been a part of the program in Columbus since 1982 and is hoping to expand the group into Decatur County.

“We’re trying to start a support group here but we’re not finding much luck because of the stigma (the illness carries),” Ricke said.

She was providing open information and conversation to counter those stigmas.

A popular aspect of the event is the free blood pressure and blood sugar/cholesterol screenings.

“Everybody likes to have their blood pressure checked,” Karen Meyerrose, a registered nurse in cardiology who was taking blood pressures, said. “They don’t go to the doctor that often, so it’s good to get checked.”

The blood sugar screening offers an opportunity to discover medical conditions and estimate health, according to home health care registered nurse Carol Christy, who was pricking fingers for the free service.

“It’s heart healthy and, it checks for diabetes and other ailments,” Christy said. “Everybody should have their sugar checked because of the horrible diets Americans have with all the sugar and fatty foods.”

Overall, the fair providing a number of county residents with solid information and free items, whether it was fire safety tips from Greensburg Fire Department’s Troy Harmon, the vials of life from Pam Blasdel provided by Hospice and Wal-Mart or cancer awareness bracelets from Nancy Whipple of the Oncology Department.

Overall, hospital administration and patrons alike felt the fair was a success and a welcome benefit to the community.

“(The fair) is going very well,” David Fry, community relations and development director, said. “There is a lot of opportunity to receive information they may not otherwise experience and that is the main concern - the health of the community.”

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