OXNARD : Families Get Free Checkups at Health Fair in La Colonia

Seven-year-old Carla Reyes shut her eyes and grimaced when a nurse pricked her index finger to draw a small sample of blood.

But her mother, Silvia Reyes, said the checkups Sunday afternoon were well worth the pain Carla and her two sisters endured during the Latino Health Fair at Del Sol Park in Oxnard’s La Colonia district.

“This way I can tell if they have anything wrong with them,” said Reyes, who also brought Nayeli, 5, and Linda, 11, to the fair, which was sponsored by local health-care organizations.

The Oxnard family joined hundreds of people at the second annual event.

“Most of these people are farm workers, so a lot of them don’t have any insurance,” said Rene Posada, a health worker with Clinicas del Camino Real in Oxnard. “It’s preventive care first because most of these people don’t go to doctors.”

A joint effort of St. John’s Regional Medical Center, Ventura County Medical Center and the Clinicas del Camino Real, the fair offered a range of free checkups for those who might not otherwise get to see a health-care provider.

“The sooner we screen children and get them thinking about exercising and diet, the better off we are,” said Chris Landon, medical director of the Pediatric Diagnostic Center, a Ventura County Medical Center affiliate. “Changing the health habits of a teen-ager is next to impossible, but when we reach them before kindergarten we can change those habits.”

Physicians, nurses and volunteers checked cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, height, weight and blood samples to diagnose anemia during the fair.

“The biggest problem we have is access to health care,” said Ira Silverman, an obstetrician who handed out literature Sunday. “It’s easier for us to be in Oxnard rather than have 200 or 300 people come to see us.”