Thursday, February 22, 2018

‘Get Healthy Altadena’ Debut Event Integrates New Technology Designed to Detect and Predict Health Problems in Real Time, For Free

Men Educating Men About Health (MEMAH) will present their inaugural Get Healthy Altadena event this weekend and will feature helpful technology designed to detect and even predict health problems in real time, at no cost to the public.

The event, which provides a variety of health screenings for adult men and women, is a staple of MEMAH’s efforts. The nonprofit hosts a similar event in Pasadena each year called “Get Healthy Pasadena” and is expected to attract over 9,000 residents who are seeking preliminary health care this Saturday morning at the Altadena Senior Center.

“Our goal is to give all attendees a whole health experience, so they can make informed health care decisions,” says Jim Morris, executive director of MEMAH. “We want to introduce all of our participants to an exciting and healthy lifestyle that will increase their longevity and quality of life.”

MEMAH’s mission is dedicated to raising the awareness, importance, and understanding of men’s health issues by offering knowledge of traditional treatments and suggesting alternative options. Don’t be fooled by the name, though; MEMAH accepts and serves anyone including both men and women.

MEMAH partnered with Kaiser Permanente of Pasadena and many other health providers, local restaurants, and vendors to conduct this year’s event.

Free services will include ultrasounds for the heart, arteries, liver, and kidneys; prostate, diabetes, cholesterol, stroke, and blood pressure screenings; body mass index (BMI), vision, hearing, and dental check-ups; massages, health seminars, and more.

“Since it’s our first time doing it in Altadena, we were surprised that so many people have reached out to make reservations for us to screen them,” said Morris about the near 10,000 registered applicants. “We’re always looking for new type of information that we can provide to the public,” added Morris.

MEMAH has been picking up steam since its inception in 2010 as a local leader in offering free screenings for diabetes, prostate and other diseases that are common health concerns for the middle aged demographic.

The idea of MEMAH came about when Morris went to a prostate screening at Jackie Robinson Park several years back and encountered an unsanitary and understaffed event that could have used a great deal of professional assistance.

“I’ve been to some health fair events and I just did not particularly care for the way that they provided the screenings for some of the applicants,” said Morris.

Get Healthy Altadena is an extension of Get Healthy Pasadena which continues to grow each year, according to Morris.

“In Altadena, we are bringing the USC Pharmacy in to look at people’s medication and tell them what the side effects are,” said Morris.

Other exciting and valuable technologies will be available for screenings and include hi-tech ultrasound machines and even a body analyzer to determines things such as body mass index and more.

“You get on this machine and it tells you your body fat, it tells you your weight, it tells you if you favor your left side or your right side, it tells you how much sodium you have in your system,” said Morris. “What it does is absolutely fantastic,” Morris added.

Another real-time test that will be available this weekend is a lung cancer screening test which is designed to predict the likeliness of developing lung cancer in individuals.

“We worked closely with City of Hope and they provide a screening that determines your lung capacity and gives them an idea if you are a candidate for lung cancer. We do like that a lot because it does get some people at least some understanding of what possibly could happen,” explained Morris.

Get Healthy Altadena kicks off Saturday at the Altadena Senior Center located at 560 E Mariposa Street from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Participants that complete five screenings or more will receive free lunch provided by California Pizza Kitchen and will be accompanied by healthy cooking demonstrations by several local establishments.

“We want to provide health screenings at a higher level. No matter what color, no matter what age,” said Morris.

For more information, go to www.meneducatingmen.org.