Wellness Fair attracts horde of people in Grants

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — The Grants High School North Gymnasium was packed for four hours Saturday as a seemingly record number of people turned out to meander around the tables and booths of 60 health care vendors.

About two weeks prior to the wellness fair, New Mexico State University-Grants spokeswomen Sandee Kosmos said she had 30 vendors registered and expected only a few more. Saturday she told the Independent she had doubled that amount by the time the fair started.

The annual free community health awareness event offered free blood screenings, free blood pressure checks, fingerprinting for children so parents have information in the event their child becomes lost or abducted and a fund-raising booth for Casa San Jose which sold about 450 burritos at $3 each. The fair was from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., this year.

Immunizations, donating blood
Andrea Rivera said she attended this year's fair because she needed to get the free blood screenings offered by Cibola General Hospital. She said her children, Stephany, 1, and Matthew, 3, also got their flu shots.

“Stephany got her one year child immunizations,” Rivera said. “we came because all of this is free.”

Mary Silva and Stormie Rains, both 16, juniors at Grants High School and members of the Lady Pirates Soccer Team, said they were at the fair Saturday to help fingerprint children for parents.

“We gave the fingerprint cards to the parents to keep in case their children get lost,” Rains said. Team members completed 110 child information kits, Silva said.