Warwick Health Fair to Bring Vital Information
Information about physical and mental health will be plentiful at the fair.
Life changed fast for Denise Smith and her husband. He was a New York City Police Department detective when an injury left him a parapalegic in 1995.
“He needed a doctor for every part of his body,” said Smith. “I was afraid we wouldn’t find good doctors in Warwick.”
She feared needing to go to Manhattan for treatment, so she was relieved to find all that he needed in Warwick. Her confidence in local health care was reaffirmed over the years. She recalled how a friend was diagnosed with cancer and expected to survive only three more months but lived 17 more years.
“If you go to the doctor, you have a chance,” Smith said.
Smith too has faced health challenges.
“When there’s trauma, I know where good health care is,” she said.
She tapped this knowledge to organize the Fourth Annual Health Fair, coming up on June 10, sponsored by Union AME Church and the affiliated Ida Bartow Missionary Society, of which Smith is president. The group provides food and clothes to people in need locally and overseas.
The value of these health fairs was affirmed for Smith two weeks ago when a friend told her that a screening at the first fair found that she has diabetes, of which she was dangerously unaware.
So this year Smith aims to have specialists for all body parts available at the fair.
“People don’t like to go to doctors,” she said. “They’re more comfortable when the doctor is recommended.”
Offering crucial information about mental health resources at the fair will be Judy Battista. She wonders whether her son would be alive now, would have chosen not to commit suicide, if he had encountered a sign with a telephone number to call for a mental health crisis.
She recently launched Warwick Cares with a group of volunteer collaborators. They have been distributing signs with the 988 phone number for help with mental health crises, and they train people in mental health first aid and suicide prevention. They learn what behaviors indicate suicidal intent and how to discuss it.
“I know signs help. At least they did for one person. Now she talks about it,” said Battista.
Battista also works with and represents the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a national organization involved in research, education, and advocacy. She trained to facilitate support groups and founded Tista4Life, in memory of her son, Danny Battista. Honoring his interests. an annual blood drive is held, a trumpet music scholarship awarded, art exhibited, “Hope Rocks” painted and bereavement groups and other events organized.
“We need to reach people in crisis,” she said.
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