LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Simmons College of Kentucky is on a mission to help people living in neighborhoods surrounding its campuses live longer, healthier lives.

The school hosted a health equity fair, which featured dental and health screenings tests, COVID testing, HIV testing, panel discussions and fun for the whole family. 

“COVID, high blood pressure screenings, health screenings, diabetes, asthma, substance abuse that plagued our community. Not just in our community, but in particular, they seem to be higher in the black community,” said Von Purdy, the vice president of community engagement and development at Simmons College.

Lorna Edwards spent the first part of the day checking out health vendor booths and learning about issues affecting her community. 

“I’ve just passed the Norton Hospital booth and the HIV table about medication that sometimes African Americans don’t know about and if they have HIV, they don’t have to spread it if they take the pill,” said Edwards. 

Healthy eating was a big focus of the fair. Health vendors like Norton Healthcare provided nutrition education and healthy meal demonstrations.

“We all love to eat but there’s nothing wrong with eating a little bit healthier, as we all want to live longer and fuller lives,” Purdy said. 

Norton Healthcare also used the fair as an opportunity to hear from the people they serve in Louisville. They provided surveys to gather opinions on its West Louisville Hospital. 

“We’re also out here talking about our community health worker program, which is going to be focused on connecting our community to access to care, primary care, preventative health services like your overall lifestyle,” said Latasha Clay, Norton Healthcare’s Institute for Health Equity program coordinator. 

After Edwards finished visiting health vendors, she set up at her booth serving her three-ingredient frozen lemonades. 

“People always ask why did I come up with this and not use Kool-aid or Kool-aid and lemons and make it Kool-aid or whatever, but my children, I’ve always fed them fresh vegetables that were steamed every day, not even salt, our butter or pepper on it, so why not go the natural way,” says Edwards. 

She’s proud to be part of an event promoting healthier lifestyles and creating a stronger community. 

“I hope everybody takes something positive away from this event and will share the knowledge that they learned with the others in their neighborhood,” said Edwards. 

CPR and Narcan administration training were also offered at the health fair. 

Simmons College proposed a grant to the state’s office of public health to fund the fair.