The children’s health and safety fair involved the St. George community in promoting safety this Halloween with its biggest project of the year.
The Dixie Students Nurse Association planned the fair and other health science programs members of the healthcare community were also invited to participate.
DSNA president Jorden Gary, a junior nursing major from St. George, said the main goal of this fair was to create awareness of what the health science department at Dixie State University has to offer.
“We want to help promote health, involve all the clubs, and get everybody involved in the community,” Gary said.
This fair has been one of the biggest projects the DSNA has planned this semester, and this is the first year this event has taken place.
“We wanted to plan an activity where all the health science programs could be involved,” Gary said.
The fair included booths where children and their parents could walk around, trick-or-trick, and learn different safety tips.
The fair benefits the students and the community by educating children on how to be safe and healthy, Gary said.
The DSU student chapter of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association was able to have its mobile clinic at the fair and showed kids it’s not scary to go to the dentist.
Randi Goodell, a senior dental hygiene major from Bountiful, said this was a good activity for the dental hygiene clinic to get its name out there and gain experience.
“We want to get kids involved, show kids its fun to go to the dentist, and inform them about oral health,” Goodell said.
Ashtin Barclay, a senior dental hygiene major from Circleville, said service fairs and activities are one of the many things the program does throughout the semester to create awareness for the services they provide.
The dental hygiene mobile clinic goes out twice a week to workforce services, nursing homes and elementary schools, Barclay said. The students rotate out in the mobile clinic, so they each have turns practicing the skills they learn in the classroom. It is really beneficial for the students to be able to have the hands-on experience.
The event had a lot of children involved, and one set of parents said they were enjoying being able to promote safety while having a good time.
Other members of the healthcare community were also involved such as the Intermountain Healthcare’s life flight program.
Flight Nurse Steve Connolly was involved in setting up a life flight booth at the fair to show what kinds of things the program has to offer.
The life flight program tries to be involved in as many community activities as possible in most parts of southern Utah.
The health science department does not have any big activities planned for the rest of the semester, but it is happy about the outcome of this event, Gary said.