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HOME > ABOUT > PRESS > NONPROFITS HOST BINATIONAL HEALTH FAIR
Article published - October 9, 2009
Credit: SONOMA NEWS
Non-Profits Host Binational Health Fair
Improving access to health care has always been a mission of La Luz Center and Vineyard Workers Services, which merged last spring.
On Sunday, Oct. 11, the organizations are partnering with the Sonoma Valley Community Health Center to offer the ninth annual Binational Health Week Fair from noon to 4 p.m. at El Verano School. This free event includes health care education as well as glucose testing for diabetes and blood pressure checks. Attendees can tour the Mobile Medical Van that comes to La Luz and several schools in Boyes Hot Springs on a regular basis to provide medical screening. Health center officials will also be on hand to help families sign up for Medi-Cal and other children's medical insurance programs. All services are available in both English and Spanish. The goal of the fair is to provide medical education and basic services to the uninsured and under insured residents of the Valley.
This year, the Binational Health Week Fair partnered with the Children's Cancer Foundation, which was founded in 1997 as the Sonoma Children's Cancer Foundation, by 13-year-old leukemia survivor Michelle Bertrand, and family-friend Steve Webster. The organization provides assistance to 150 families in the North Bay with children affected by cancer. During the fair, the organization will host a booth inviting attendees to join the National Bone Marrow Registry in attempts to aid 3-year-old Vicente Hernandez, who was diagnosed with leukemia last summer.
Hernandez is in need of a bone marrow transplant, but because there are low ethnic numbers in the registry, doctors have been unable to find a good donor. The best bone-marrow matches come from a donor of the same race, however there are very few Hispanic and black donors in the current registry.
To join the registry, one only needs to give a painless cheek scrapping, which can be collected at the event.
To learn more about the Children's Cancer Foundation, visit www.HopeForCancerKids.org.
El Verano School is located at 18606 Riverside Drive in Sonoma. The Binational Health Week Fair is free and open to the public. To learn more, visit www.binationalhealthweek.org or www.sonomavws.org.
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