ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Lab tests have been a part of the Community Health Fair since its inception 15 years ago, and thanks to the City of Liberal and Apex Clean Energy, many of those test will be done free of charge this year.
The city committed $30,000 from the community development portion of the 1-cent sales tax to reduce the lab testing fees for this year’s Health Fair, with Apex contributing $5,000 to the cause.
These contributions will allow Southwest Medical Center, the host of the Health Fair, to provide 1,000 free general lab tests, and in addition, the hospital will cover the additional costs of tests beyond that number.
SWMC Lab Director Amy Hubbard said there are a group of tests those at the Health Fair can get for free, starting with the Comprehensive Metabolic Profile.
“This measures 14 different substances in your blood,” she said. “It provides a lot of information to your physician about what’s going on in your body chemically – any imbalances, metabolism, electrolytes.”
Next is the lipid profile, and Hubbard said this measures the amount of cholesterol and the other fats in blood, which could be indicative of a cardiovascular disease if they elevate.
Another free test is the complete blood count, which Hubbard said will tell much about a person’s health, including anemia and chronic and acute infections.
“It’ll pick up any kind of leukemia you might have and if you have any problems with your clotting of your blood,” she said.
New for this year’s Health Fair in the area of free tests are tests for Vitamin D and Vitamin B12. A short list of tests are also available for $7 each.
“Men can have their PSAs for prostates checked,” Hubbard said. “Women can have their CEAs checked for ovarian cancer, hemoglobin A1Cs, if that’s elevated, along with your glucose on your CMP. We’re also going to be offering magnesium levels for $7 a test. You can come there, have all these tests done, and the only thing you’d be out is $21 if you’ve got everything we offered.”
Assistant Lab Director Shawna Hammock said it is important for people to take advantage of the low cost testing, particularly those without a provider to set up constant access to this kind of information.
“This would provide with how their health really looks and prompt them to go seek help,” she said.
Hammock said many of the Health Fair’s vendors and the community realize the importance of the event.
“It’s important because I’ve slowly seen health fairs go away throughout the years,” she said. “To come here and see this kind of response is amazing, in 2021, we did 695 laboratory tests at the Health Fair, and it just keeps going up.”
Both Hubbard and Hammock said lab testing has gotten bigger with each passing year of the Health Fair, with 2023 seeing nearly 900 getting testing.
“They’re estimating it’s going to be a little bit larger this year,” Hammock said. “Around 1,000 is what they’re estimating.”
Hubbard said tests will go back to the SWMC lab, and results will be sent out within three to five weeks of the Health Fair, which is scheduled for Oct. 5.
SWMC Marketing Coordinator Rachel Downing said those coming for lab testing should fast for eight hours prior to getting testing.
“We will have concessions out there,” she said. “That has not been finalized yet, but there will be good food out there. People will be able to get coffee, get some breakfast after you get your labs done.”
“If you know you have issues and know you might have a low blood sugar, we can’t get you through the line faster, but we can make you comfortable until it gets to that point,” Hammock said. “There are things we can do to take care of you. We’re there for them.”
Downing said plenty of chairs will be available for those waiting and registering for tests.
“We’ll have more chairs throughout the actual facility,” she said. “We have had some feedback that we need a larger seating area for patients trying to get to the other side to get to the concessions. We’re taking that into consideration. There’ll be more rest stops along the way. It is a big building.”
Hubbard said she believes it is important to keep the testing going and have people take advantage of it amidst rising costs due to inflation.
“We’re very thankful to the City of Liberal and Apex Clean Energy for doing a massive donation, as well as all the other sponsors,” Downing said. “We still have sponsors coming in. We’re so grateful. We wouldn’t be able to have it this affordable without the community’s generosity and support of health in our community.”
