Fit & Fun Health Fair a First-in-the-Nation Event

Last month at Canyon Springs High School, 500 Moreno Valley Unified School District health academy students joined doctors from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) Family Residency Program at Riverside County Regional Medical Center (RCRMC) to stage a first-of-its-kind community Health Fair in Moreno Valley, with the goal of changing lifestyles and, in the process, saving lives. The health academies at Canyon Springs, Valley Vista and Vista del Lago high schools had been building up to this since they began partnering with Riverside County Regional Medical Center (RCRMC) several years ago. According to Moreno Valley School District, as far as anyone knows this was the only event of its kind anywhere in the nation. It’s the result of a collaborative community-health program that trains students at MVUSD’s three high school health academies to become community health educators. Visitors to the Health Fair received free health screenings, including blood-pressure checks; learned about healthy cooking from a professional chef; got more information about simple ways to become more physically active on a daily basis; became familiar with yoga and martial arts, and much more. MVUSD health academies students will also be presenting on their selected health topics, supported by UCR Family Medicine doctors at RCRMC, UCR Mini Medical School, and the RCRMC Mobile Health Clinic.