Fountain Hills’ first annual Community Health Fair is set for Saturday, Feb. 11, where visitors can learn information about local health providers.

Held at the FHUSD Learning Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Community Health Fair is complete with eight health service provider booths and three mobile health units including the Vitalant Bloodmobile, Mobile Onsite Mammography (MOM) and Prostate On-Site Project (POP), parked along the high school bus lane.

Presentations from local healthcare professionals will be given inside the FHUSD Learning Center throughout the Health Fair. The Learning Center is located at 16000 E. Palisades Blvd., adjacent to the high school.

Presentations include “Ditch the Drugs and Skip the Scalpel” at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. by Dr. Christopher R. Condon of Ally Spine Center; “Your Heart and Your Health” at 11:15 a.m. by Dr. Mead of Fountain Hills Medical Center; “The All-Natural Healing Benefits of Red Light Therapy” at noon by Certified Light Therapist, PJ Cardona of Lights and Health and “A Healthier Me in 2023” at 12:45 p.m. by Certified Nutrition Consultant, Debbie Romano of Fountain Hills Healthy Heartbeats.

Sponsored by the Four Peaks Rotary Club and led by owner of Clason Communications, Debbie Clason, the Fountain Hills Community Health Fair is free to attend and free-will donations are accepted. Parking is available at the FHUSD Learning Center or in the high school parking lot.

Clason’s idea for coordinating the first Fountain Hills Community Health Fair stemmed from her years of experience marketing for a healthcare system in Kokomo, Ind.

Every year, Clason said thousands of residents and visitors streamed into the annual health fair to learn about local health service providers and to be proactive about their health.

“It was all very well attended and very well received,” Clason said. “I think it could be the same here in Fountain Hills.”

According to Clason, the concept of healthcare has expanded over the years to include things above and beyond simply visiting the doctor’s office once a year.

“What can you do on a daily basis to keep yourself well?” she said. “It’s as much preventative as it is reactive.”

Funds raised by sponsorships and donations that are collected at the event will be used to establish a new Community Health and Wellness Fund. Initiated by the Four Peaks Rotary Foundation, the new health and wellness fund will be used for community members in need.

“If [FHUSD Superintendent] Dr. J calls and says, ‘Hey, we’ve got a third grader who needs glasses and the family can’t afford it,’ then we can just take that request to the foundation and get it funded and pay the optometrist or the ophthalmologist, whoever it may be, and get that child some glasses,” Clason said.

The same goes for adults and senior citizens, Clason added, saying if a situation arises when an individual is unable to pay for their medications, the Community Health and Wellness Fund is there to bridge the gap until they’re back on their feet.

Looking ahead, Clason is hopeful that this event will become an annual, healthy gathering in Fountain Hills.

“I think good health is very important for the community,” Clason said. “The more tools that we have and the more we apply them, the healthier we’ll be.”

To register for the Vitalant Bloodmobile, call 877-258-4825. For MOM, call 480-957-3767 and for POP, 480-954-3013.