ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
In early October, Southwest Medical Center hosted its 15th annual Community Health Fair, and the event was so successful, initially, coordinator and SWMC Marketing Director Janeth Vazquez could not find the words to describe the success.
“It was extremely successful, extremely organized and very well attended, and we are super grateful and excited this was a very successful Health Fair,” she said.
While the Health Fair having a landmark edition may have contributed to its success, Vazquez said numbers for the event continue to grow with each year.
“This year, we did see a huge increase in lab screenings,” she said. “Overall, we had 1,430 general lab testings, which is twice the amount we had last year, but I also believe that was also due to offering free general lab screenings this year. We did anticipate a really big crowd, and that was exactly what happened.”
The crowds were so big, in fact, people were waiting in line at the Seward County Activity Center as early as 4:15 a.m., with lines beginning to grow around 6 a.m., both well ahead of the event’s start time of 7 a.m.
“We had people backed all the way into the parking lot almost into the street,” Vazquez said.
This year, Vazquez employed a new publicity strategy with the Leader & Times doing several interviews with Health Fair vendors, and Vazquez said the effort worked out tremendously. She added this year’s attendance was quite diverse in age, as well as ethnicity and communities.
“We saw younger people, older people, people from very diverse backgrounds,” she said. “We saw a lot of children this year, a lot of young adults. We saw people from a wide radius from nearby towns, but the person who traveled the furtherest for this Health Fair, from my understanding, was from Nebraska.”
Conversations with the person from Kansas’ northern neighbor, Vazquez said, showed they, like many others at the Health Fair, did not have insurance, and the event was the only one they had seen that offered the exams the local Health Fair did.
“They commuted more than eight hours just to come to this health fair,” she said. “As we were having conversations with this individual, we said there’s a rise in the price of health care services. They don’t have insurance, so they don’t have the financial resources to go get checked. That’s why they planned to come to this health fair even though it was eight hours away.”
As for other feedback, Vazquez said she has heard nothing but positive comments from those who came.
“We’ve heard people from the eastern part of the state who want to start organizing these types of health fair,” she said. “We’ve had larger health care institutions from different parts of the country reach out to us on how we were able to accomplish such a successful event and what we’re doing to be able to offer free lab screenings.”
Vazquez too said she has communities from other parts of the country and state reach out to her, and with this in mind, she said the extra marketing for this year’s Health Fair has definitely helped.
“We had people from a lot of different states calling us, getting information about the event,” she said. “I did have a particular individual from another community reach out on what they can do to start organizing a health fair of this size in their community.”
Having this kind of recognition is something Vazquez finds quite exciting, and she said it also shows SWMC is there for the community.
“We are a community hospital,” she said. “We are trying to do everything in our power to increase access to essential health services, but I think this speaks on the leadership aspect part of our institution. We’re doing everything in our community to be there for our community.”
With 26 percent of its population being uninsured, Seward County ranks as one of the highest counties in the state in terms of the uninsured. Vazquez said this increases the importance of the Health Fair, as it helps those without regular access to health care.
“It’s also about raising awareness,” she said. “Many people are unaware of the local health resources that are available to them. The fair provides an opportunity to connect with health care providers, organizations and services in our area, but the primary reason we host the Health Fair is to increase access to essential health services.”
In addition to a lack of insurance, some in the Liberal community face challenges due to language and transportation, and Vazquez said SWMC leaders know they have to work twice as hard because of having such of high rate of uninsured residents.
Vazquez also said the Health Fair provides a tremendous impact because it allows individuals who lack health insurance a rare opportunity to see a doctor and get checked.
“If it wasn’t for events like this, they wouldn’t be able to access the preventative services they need to stay healthy,” she said. “We’re transforming and impacting a lot of lives. We’re saving lives. We’re able to catch those illnesses or diseases in the early stage when we provide these preventative exams, which in the long run will transform and change people’s lives.”
Vazquez said detecting abnormalities and illnesses in their early stages allows patients to have them taken care and in turn reduce time from work.
“It’ll reduce also expenses and having to get so many treatments,” she said. “We’re truly transforming people’s lives.”
Vazquez called the local Community Health Fair the largest in the region, and she said this year’s Health Fair was truly the most successful Health Fair SWMC has had thus far.
“We broke a record with 1,430 lab screenings,” she said. “In the past, we typically had about 700. The highest I think we ever had would be around 800, but this is pretty much twice the amount of lab screenings. This is going to be in the history of Southwest Medical Center one of the largest health fairs our institution has ever hosted, but in my opinion, this is the largest health fair in our region.”
Another tremendous help to the turnout for this year’s Health Fair was the available of lab tests at little to no cost thanks to Apex Clean Energy, the City of Liberal and SWMC itself. Tests typiically run at about $35 a person at the Health Fair, which may not sound like much, but Vazquez said that price can add up with multiple family members getting tested.
“We know there are also a lot of families where the kids just went back to school,” she said. “We have a lot of low-income families, so $35 may not be a lot to us, but for some people, that’s putting gas in a car or providing more food on the table for their children.”
Ultimately, Vazquez said parents will typically make their top necessities as a priority, and many times, they do not always put health at the top of that list.
“We put ourselves last,” she said. “We hold off until we get to a stage where we’re just so critically ill that we must seek care. At that point, they’re so critically ill they end up in the emergency room.”
Vazquez said the attendance seen each year at the Health Fair demonstrates the need for screenings, education and preventative care.
“This year, our attendance was well more than 1,700 people,” she said. “Speaking for the hospital, we know if our screenings can detect even just one abnormality, if we’re able to find that problem and get that individual to follow up with a physician early on, they will have a much greater chance of treating and surviving that issue that could be potentially life threatening. “
Vazquez said this is what makes all the effort of putting on a health fair worth it.
“If resources at this fair can teach healthy eating habits to a child or detect an underlying health issue for an individual, we know have done our part to benefit the health of our community,” she said. “At the end of the day, it’s about creating a healthier and stronger community here in Seward County and the surrounding regions.”
Overall, Vazquez said she is extremely pleased and happy about the success of this year’s Health Fair.
“I would like to give a huge recognition to the City of Liberal, Apex Clean Energy, Equity Bank, the generous foundations that also contributed to the cause and all of the other sponsors,” she said. “There’s a list I would like to give recognition because without their support, this event would not have been possible. I also want to give a bigger recognition to the Liberal City Commission. They really went out of their way to show their leadership.”
With such a high rate of uninsured people, Vazquez said the work from different organizations and leadership in the Liberal community helps show what is being done in part to create a more prosperous thriving community.
“This shows how the City of Liberal is also playing their part in trying to change that narrative of being the highest uninsured and providing the resources where people can get these preventative screenings,” she said.
Though she was tired following this year’s Health Fair and with much exhausting work behind her, Vazquez said she is still excited for the 2025 Community Health Fair, and she would like to work on getting more grants to help with the event.
“This year, I was able to track logistics more in detail. I’m hoping this will make us eligible to apply for larger grants across the nation where we could potentially in the future offer free screenings or maybe even reduce the cost,” she said. “I’m pretty excited. This gives me more motivation to work harder to find that grant money. Apparently, offering these free lab testings did encourage a lot of people to come get checked.”
Vazquez said visitors to this year’s Health Fair who had a critical lab were followed up with by a doctor or other medical professional.
“We called them, or we had the provider follow up with the individuals,” she said. “We did have critical labs where we had to call certain individuals and let them know, and it was something very unexpected for them. Some people just went because it was the family event to do.”
Vazquez gave examples of some of the follow-up work done by medical workers.
“We performed 85 clinical breast exams, but we had to refer more than 25 percent of them for follow up for potential cancer,” she said. “We also had the skin cancer screenings. Out of 137, 28 could be potential cancer diagnosis. That’s 20 percent.”
Vazquez said this is a big increase from the 2023 Health Fair.
“Yes, they still have to go and get checked and confirm it could be cancer,” she said. “It’s potential, but just the numbers and the people who are being asked to follow up for potential cancer, there’s a big increase.”
Vazquez said the Liberal community is seeing more cancer, and it appears to be striking younger people each year.
“Cancer does not discriminate,” she said. “It’s affecting people in all age ranges and diverse backgrounds. This is why the preventative screening is so important. If they can catch it early, they’re able to get it treated. It could save a lot of people’s lives.”
