FEATURE
THE KENTUCKY STATE FAIR IS Whatever You Want it to Be.
Aaron Burch
A
state fair is a catch-all. Where else can you ride a Ferris wheel, shop for hours, pet farm animals and enjoy nationally known musicians or, if you prefer, an“ Elvis Extravaganza?”
It has a reputation for being a little grungy to be sure, but the Kentucky State Fair is where you can let your hair down and get lost in the crowds of people at food stands, mildly threatening amusement park rides, and vendor after vendor of knick-knacks.
However, as a mecca of the rural community, a state fair holds certain responsibilities. For every giant plate of pulled pork, there should be a place to have your blood pressure checked. For every day of standing in the sun in the Tilt-A-Whirl line, there should be a place for people to have their skin examined. And in our state, there are.
While the pathways towards gluttony at the fair are many, we have built a section in the midst of the gigantic expo center where people can go and learn more about their own health. There are many selfless people volunteering every day of the 11-day event to help others who may be less fortunate.
More than 600,000 people attended the fair this year, a 40,000-person uptick from 2016( the great weather helped). Yet on Friday, August 25, the‘ Health Horizons’ area was fairly quiet. There was a constant din of conversation to be sure, and the garbled microphone vocals of a talent contest going on a few thousand feet away kept the silence at bay. The volunteers at each human services booth looked a little bored. To break the ice I asked them,“ How busy have you been?”
Kentucky Lion’ s Eye Foundation member John Horton said it had been a little slow this year for their vision testing but, just two booths down, Tommy Huelsman with the UofL mobile mammogram and prostate screening unit said that numbers were up. No one had statistics on site except the skin cancer screening booth whose volunteers estimated they had seen 1,500 visitors so far, and that was early on the ninth day of the event- not too shabby!
Of course, the more people who utilize these services, the better, and there could always be more. Six hundred thousand people had the opportunity to improve their own health and wellbeing over those 11 days. For those in rural America, a visit to the state fair and a chance walk past the‘ Health Horizons’ area could catch early signs of skin or breast cancer, or a thyroid anomaly, or confirm a long-suspected loss of hearing or vision. That opportunity remains noteworthy.
As a curious customer who can count on one hand his number of visits to the state fair, I decided to give some of these tests a shot. When a kind volunteer at the Advanced ENT thyroid screening booth asked me if I wanted to get the check up, I figured‘ Why not?’ My mom found nodules in her thyroid and had them removed just a few years prior. Since then, she’ s encouraged me to get mine checked, and I always put it off. What better way to find out than a free test right in front of me?
In just a few minutes, I was given a clean bill of health by the nurse tech. She encouraged me to be consistent in testing in the future though since it so directly ran in my family.
From there, a short 50 paces led to the Heuser Hearing Institute’ s booth. There, at a kiosk, I had the opportunity to test my ears. I’ ve been going to concerts since age 11 without protection, mostly because I didn’ t know any better, so this was of particular interest. Surprisingly, my ears aren’ t as bad as they could be, but there were clear signs of hearing loss( good, if disheartening, to know).
I skipped vision testing because I’ ve been wearing glasses since age 12. The prostate cancer screening was skipped as well, because I’ m not ready for you to know me so intimately. Lastly, the skin cancer screening area received my full attention as I was just recently on the receiving end of one of the worst sunburns of my life.
Dermatologist and GLMS member Tim Brown, MD, was on hand that afternoon, and in great spirits as he moved from one fair attendee to the next. The line moved quickly and soon it was my turn to enter the patient booth. After checking my shoulders and giving me good news, we talked for a while about the Fair itself.
“ We’ re very lucky to have professionals in town who give their time. I believe this is one of the largest cancer screenings in the nation, and the whole area has quite an impact. Just today I think I’ ve seen over 50 people,” Dr. Brown said.“ You can have your prostate screening or mammogram done, eyes, hearing, you name it, all
10 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE