UAMS 12th Street Center ‘Springs Into Wellness’

By Holland Doran


A Zumba class was part of the activities at Saturday’s Health Fair at the 12th Street Health and Wellness Center in Little Rock.

April 30, 2013 | Bobby Wilson put his health and well-being on the backburner in the hard times since being out of work and living without health insurance.

“I lost my job and my health insurance, and I haven’t been to a doctor in a while,” said Wilson, 56, who was one in a large crowd of people benefitting from the free health screenings provided April 27 at the UAMS 12th Street Health and Wellness Center’s annual community health fair.

Wilson was told that he has high blood pressure. Kweku Hayfron,
a fourth-year medical student, advised Wilson about lifestyle choices
that could affect his blood pressure and urged him to see a physician.

Free health screenings and information on men’s, women’s 
and children’s health, fitness and nutrition was provided at the fair, along with a Zumba class that had plenty of visitors up and moving.

Located at 4010 West 12th Street (near the corner of 12th and Cedar streets), the “Spring Into Wellness” event aimed to educate the public about its purpose. The interprofessional center, which opened in January, is run by students and provides preventive health care, particularly heart health, as well as consultations and screenings for chronic health conditions and information for healthy living. It also has a dentistry component with dental hygiene students and speech and audiology services with speech pathology and audiology students.

Students and faculty across the UAMS colleges of Pharmacy, Medicine, Public Health, Nursing and Health Professions and the Graduate School participated in the fair and help run the center.

The event was sponsored by the UAMS College of Pharmacy chapter of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association and the 12th Street Health and Wellness Center.

The health fair also was a participating site in National Drug Take Back Day, where the public was asked to dispense of unused or unknown prescription medications, no questions asked.