A Hoosier receives a blood pressure reading at the Indiana Health Fair on Thursday, July 17. Photo by Madelyn Hanes, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

By Madelyn Hanes
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — State health leaders kicked off the Indiana Health Fair Thursday, July 17 — offering Hoosiers more than $4,000 worth of free health services over four days at the Indiana Convention Center.

This year’s fair will be held at the following times:

• 4-8 p.m., Thursday, July 17
• 1-7 p.m., Friday, July 18
• 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday, June 19
• Noon-6 p.m., Sunday, June 20

The event used to be titled the Indiana Black and Minority Health Fair, but Gov. Mike Braun eliminated diversity programs from state agencies. During the opening ceremony, minority health was still a priority — something Community Health Network Chief Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer Ken Bond made clear.

“I’ve been in this role now for about 18 months. And if you could imagine 18 months ago, where we were as it relates to diversity, equity inclusion and where we are now. And we cannot be afraid to say it out loud, diversity equity and inclusion,” he said.

Bond said more than 50% of patients that Community Health Network sees speak another language besides English.

“I don’t care what they say. We have to serve 50% of people who don’t speak English, they speak Haitian Creole, they speak Spanish, they speak Burmese, they speak Hakha Chin, they speak Punjabi, they speak Mandarin. And so we have to take care of those patients,” he said.

Indiana State Health Commissioner Lindsay Weaver said this is one of the biggest events the Department of Health helps put on every single year and it gives people an opportunity to check in on their health who might not otherwise do so.

“I mean, there’s so many people who they’re like, I feel good. There’s nothing wrong with me. But unfortunately, diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes, you often don’t have symptoms until it’s starting to cause problems,” she said. “And so we’re just really hoping people come out to the health fair to have fun, because it is fun. It’s way less intimidating than going to the doctor.”

She said one of her favorite things about the fair is that there are multiple mobile health vehicles you can see when you walk into the doors of the hall.

“We bring them all here and we see them, but it means so much more to me, because I know that they’re going all around our state to serve Hoosiers in every corner,”she  said.

State officials and sponsors at the ribbon cutting ceremony. From left, Lindsay Weaver, Tamea Evans, Ken Bond, Antoniette Holt, Tony Pearson and Brad Ramler. Photo from Madelyn Hanes, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

The fair also features free educational sessions and interactive activities for everyone to enjoy. The event included special programming for seniors on Thursday – a line dance put on by Young at Heart, a senior line dance group.

This year is also the first time the WNBA has partnered with the Indiana Health Fair — which coincides with the WNBA All-Star game in the city.

The fair comes after lawmakers reduced public health funding from $100 million each year to $40 million during this year’s budget. State officials are still hopeful the remaining dollars can make a difference.

“We definitely are going to have to be more thoughtful, more focused on things that we get our biggest return on investment on,” Weaver said. “There are some things that we’re not gonna be able to do anymore, that we wish we could. And so we’re really turning to our stakeholders, people like our sponsors here, the health care systems, to help fill in those gaps.”

Antoniette Holt, director of the IDOH Office of Minority Health, said she appreciates the last budget increase to the health department because it made a huge difference.

“We continue to serve people, especially those are in need,” she said. “Numbers tell the truth in regards to that. So we depend upon the data, definitely. And we want to make sure that we continue to keep that in that vein, we work within our internal departments and things to make sure that the different areas of populations or counties that need their needs are met because every county is different. Every person is different, so we want to make sure that we’re meeting those needs. So we work together for the greater good.”