Checking on their health

Young Chang

NEWPORT BEACH -- Roek Williams played a faster, more upbeat version of

“Que Sera Sera” on his accordion Saturday morning as a crowd of seniors

ate burgers and fruit salad and drank iced tea.

Some ladies wore pretty pink hats with flowers on the rim. Others

lunched in a white gazebo. The music floated through the Oasis Senior

Center’s middle quad.

The scene looked, from almost every angle, like a party. And while

some seniors said the center’s health fair was nothing short of that, the

occasion was actually for more than just food and fun.

Despite the accordion song, about 300 seniors visited the center to

take health matters into their own hands instead of letting what will be,

be. Health experts in attendance at the fairincluded a chiropractor, a

dermatologist, a podiatrist, a person who tests lung capacity, someone to

check teeth and an optometrist. The Red Cross and the Braille Institute

also participated, along with Hoag Hospital’s blood lab, which offered a

variety of low cost tests for everything from cholesterol to glucose

levels.

“We give a substantial blood screening and we come to the community

that serves the elderly,” said Nancy Swancutt, clinical laboratory

scientist at Hoag.

Experts from all areas of health, about 20 exhibitors in all, made

themselves available for consultation.

“It’s good for them to come, to just be able to talk to the different

doctors,” said Vicki Chin, social services coordinator at the senior

center. “It’s all in one place, and it’s kind of a fun day.”

Seniors even got bags of fun “goodies,” Chin added. Pillboxes, lip

balm, toothpaste -- no-one went home without something useful.

Nazareth Cassis, 69, sat outside eating fruit salad with her husband

Saturday morning. She had already finished her chicken sandwich and

drink.

“It’s wonderful,’ she said. “The music, the food, the attention that

we get.”

The Newport Beach resident said she is in good health but that her

husband needed a few screenings. Cassis, while accompanying her husband,

got her blood pressure checked and her bone density measured anyway, just

to take care of herself.

“They’re very helpful,” she said. “It’s wonderful that we have this

center here.”

Chin said that the chance to just walk around and talk to health

specialists without having to pay a fee helps the seniors avoid future

illnesses.

“They can be responsible for their own health,” she said.

-- Young Chang writes features. She may be reached at (949) 574-4268

or by e-mail at o7 young.chang@latimes.comf7 .