A health fair is an educational outreach event that provides preventative health screenings and medical information to the community or employees. It features various vendors that cover topics like fitness, nutrition, and medical services. Common screenings include blood pressure and cholesterol tests. Health fairs are usually one-day events advertised through local media and organized by health companies, medical providers, or other groups. Some critics argue that certain screenings promoted at health fairs may be unnecessary or lead to false diagnoses.

1. Health fair
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A health fair is an educational and interactive event designed for outreach to provide basic
preventive medicine and medical screening to people in the community or employees at work in
conjunction with workplace wellness. It can also be a public health intervention.
Health fairs are typically offered in the community, on site corporations, work sites, churches or
schools. The consist of a variety of vendors and exhibitors that educate on all aspects of health,
wellness, fitness and lifestyle improvements. Topics can include such things as chiropractic,
acupuncture, fitness clubs and hospitals.It is very common to see health screenings such as
cholesterol testing or blood pressure screenings. Health Fairs are advertised and promoted ahead of
time by print media, radio, or television and are usually a one-day event.
Health fairs are often organized and run by professional health fair organization companies but can
also be done by medical providers, benefits directors, medical students or nurses.
One example of a health fair is the Florida Keys Health Fairs.
Critics
Some health fairs promote unnecessary and potentially harmful testing.
Some tests performed are actually not screening tests, like weight and blood pressure, which are
appropriate screening tests for the general population. Instead, they are specialized tests, like
vascular ultrasound, which are only appropriate for patients with relevant risk factors. When these
tests are performed on the general population, they lead to false positive diagnoses, and dangerous
and expensive followup testing, which have a risk of strokes and death. Many doctors feel that it is

2. unethical for hospitals and doctors to cooperate with commercial testing services that market
directly to the consumer, especially since many of the marketing claims are false.[1][2]
For example, a for-profit business called HealthFair offers four cardiovascular disease screening
packages, all of which include the following six tests: echocardiogram, electrocardiogram, carotid
artery ultrasound, abdominal aortic aneurysm ultrasound, hardening of the arteries test, and
peripheral arterial disease test. HealthFair charges $179 for the six tests.
Public Citizen sent letters to 20 hospitals on June 19, 2014, urging them to cut their relationships
with HealthFair. Public Citizen said that HealthFair's "heavily promoted, community-wide
cardiovascular health screening programs are unethical and are much more likely to do harm than
good," and cited peer-reviewed evidence in support of their claims. For example, the American
College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association recommend against
echocardiograms in asymptomatic adults without hypertension.[3]
In response, Terry Diaz, HealthFair's Chief Operating Officer, wrote, "Public Citizen is an
organization dedicated to the creation of a single-payer system of healthcare called 'Medicare for
All' which would be run and controlled by the government. This is strikingly opposite to our mission
of helping make healthcare consumer-driven, a private choice between a patient and his/her
physician, free from government intervention. Our goal is to educate and empower the consumer to
decide what is best for them."[4]
References
^ Erik A. Wallace, John H. Schumann, and Steven E. Weinberger (20 November 2012). "Ethics of
Commercial Screening Tests". Ann Intern Med. 157 (10): 747-748. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-157-
10-201211200-00536.
^ Erik A. Wallace, John H. Schumann, Steven E. Weinberger (August 11, 2014). "Hospital
Relationships With Direct-to-Consumer Screening Companies". JAMA. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.9500.
^ Public Citizen. HealthFair Cardiovascular Screening Packages Are Unethical, Mislead Consumers,
Do More Harm Than Good. Public Citizen website. Press release. Accessed July 21, 2014.
^ HealthFair Response to Public Citizen Document. HealthFair website. 2014. Accessed July 21,
2014.
External links
Health Screening | Corporate Screening | Mobile Health Screenings
Global Health Fair - Health & Fitness
health fair planning guide
health fair kit
Corporate health fairs
In Denver Colorado

3. In Massachusetts
Health Fair Guide / Health Fair Resources
Health Fair Services
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