Health and Wellness Fair Educates MU Community
Tanner Edge
In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving Break and final exams, students may be hoping for good health more than ever. On Nov. 12, Manchester University hosted a health and wellness fair in the upper Jo Young Switzer Center so students, faculty and staff could learn about staying germ-free during this busy time of year.
Topics discussed at the fair included the effects of drugs and alcohol, the benefits and disadvantages of consuming certain types of food and ways to maintain a healthy body as well as a good mental state. There were displays up as well, ready to educate whomever stopped by.
Representatives from a variety of organizations and businesses, including MedStat Lutheran Health Network Urgent Care & Occupational Health, Drug Abuse on College Campuses, The Peggy F. Murphy Community Grief Center, Mental Health America of Northeast Indiana and Rest & Relaxation handed out pamphlets. Two popular attractions at the fair were the smoothie station, where free smoothie samples were given out, and the goggle station, where beer goggles, LSD goggles and HTC goggles were available to the participants to experience how each would affect their vision.
The Peggy F. Murphy Community Grief Center was there to raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention as well as their “On-Going Grief Support Groups.” “Death exists, suicide exists and there are many homicides in the Fort Wayne area.” said Bonnie Davis, a representative from the Center. “The main thing is, we just want people to know that there are people willing to help them who care, and we’re available for counseling if needed.”
The fair also allowed students like Lucas Lorian to share their knowledge about specific health-prevention strategies. Lorian is a sophomore at Manchester University and is currently majoring in Exercise Science. He demonstrated how using scrapers on your body is useful for injury prevention. “Scraping is a form of rehabilitation and is also a form of therapy,” he said. “Say you sprain an ankle or tear a muscle, after surgery or a recovery process, you have a high chance of losing flexibility and mobility,” he said. “The injured person really needs to have their scar tissue broken up to increase that flexibility and prevent other injuries. Plastic scraping tools are more rough and really dig into the tissue and metal scraping tools are more smooth and aren’t as rough on your body”