California Connect held a free health and resource fair for the community at the Earvin “Magic” Johnson Recreation Area on Thursday, Feb. 1. The event had 43 vendors including representatives for L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell and Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson offices.
“We provide free telephone equipment to people who have difficulty hearing, seeing, speaking, walking, moving, remembering,” said Angela Shaw, field operations manager with California Connect. “And we felt that we wanted to make the community aware of that.”
Shaw continued, “And then we thought we wanted to make the community aware of all kinds of opportunities that are available to them.
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“So, we thought we’d bring these vendors together and just be a source of information for a day where they can come to one place and talk to as many vendors as we could get into a room.
“We’ve got a couple of churches here; it is a one stop shop — you can get just about anything here today.”
The resource fair brought together community-based service organizations, various branches of government, agencies, specialized telephone equipment distribution and healthcare providers, who offered health screenings, vaccinations, vision services and for attendees who brought in a current eyeglass prescription, they received new glasses.
“We’re representing L.A. County School of Nursing,” said Amanda Holt, who came to the fair with nine other nursing students.
“We came to support the community and take blood pressure and answer any questions that anybody has concerning their blood pressure or anything health related, educate them, but mostly if they have any questions and then we actually would refer them to the clinic that’s beside us.”
“Cal Fresh Healthy Living is very dedicated to nutrition and physical activity as well as sustainable gardening practices,” said Nina Forbess, program manager for Cal Fresh.
Forbess continued, “So, we offer all those components to the public and we offer them classes in regards to nutrition, both cooking and eating well and getting acquainted with more beneficial choices for food and sort of making those distinctions.
“We have a lot of physical activity, gardening practices, sustainability within the garden, growing your own fruits and vegetables.”
Attendees ranged from young adults to seniors, caregivers, and individuals with various disabilities. The community was invited from surrounding community housing developments, senior housing and multi-family units, disability housing developments, senior centers, and adult day and health care centers.
Kim Hall is a fall prevention specialist and owner of We All Fall LLC and was invited to be a vendor at the resource fair.
“We go into homes, check for safety, help install grab bars, do safety evaluations, help put together crews to install grab bars and ramps and things like that as needed,” said Kim.
Hall continued, “We All Fall came about because falls don’t start at age 65. So, people who are actively aging, sports people, you know, anyone can fall.”
Hall is also partnered with GG Secure Transport, which help seniors in their homes move from one floor to another, if living in an apartment or multi-floor complex, and with onsite moves.
“We move intrastate and Interstate so, a lot of times people are moving back to family or back home. So, the moving company is very senior friendly, veteran friendly and [BIPOC] friendly.”
For more information on California Connect, visit caconnect.org
