Healthy Start

UHCOP Students Provide Adult Wellness Screenings, Help Process Children's Immunization Records at Mayor's Back 2 School Fest at UH

UH College of Pharmacy Pharm.D. students, along with faculty and volunteer preceptors, helped Houston-area parents and adults get a healthy start on the new academic year at the annual Mayor's Back 2 School Fest Aug. 14 at UH.

A collaboration of the City of Houston, UH and several community partners, the annual event brought 25,000 elementary school-aged children and their parents to the campus to receive free backpacks loaded with school supplies and other helpful items. 

During the event, UHCOP students provided more than 500 blood pressure and blood glucose screenings and Body-Mass Index calculations for adults as well as helped review the immunization records for nearly 500 students.

In addition, UHCOP students – who have assisted at the event for all three years it has been at UH – raised health awareness among approximately 2,400 attendees of all ages on a variety of topics through interactive presentations. The outreach activities included "Is it Candy or Medicine?", which helps children and adults reduce the risk of accidental poisonings by recognizing the difference and similarities in medications and sweets; "How Much Sugar is in Your Drink?", which raises awareness of diabetes and obesity risk associated with excessive sugar intake from sodas, fruit juices, energy drinks and other beverages with bags filled with the quantity of sugar found in the respective beverages; and other presentations focusing on topics such as tobacco-use health risks and stroke. 

To view more photos from the event, visit the UHCOP Flickr site.