Christiana Care and La Communidad Hispana partner to present Vive tu Vida
Image by Christiana Care
Christiana Care Health System and La Communidad Hispana, a heath and social service agency serving the Hispanic community, partnered to present Vive tu Vida (Get Up! Get Moving), a community event that provided free health screenings and health education to participants on Saturday, Oct. 6, in Kennett Square, Pa.
The festivities began at 10 a.m. with more than 200 people joining Christiana Care’s Rosa Colon-Kolacko, Ph.D., MBA, senior vice president and chief diversity officer, System Learning, on the one-mile Christiana Care Family Walk. Marielena Velez, M.D., a bilingual Christiana Care family medicine resident, gave remarks at the beginning of the walk.
The fun continued throughout the day with live music, dancing, pony rides, health and fitness screenings and other activities designed to raise awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle.
Mary Ciechanowski, MSN, RN, ACNS-BC, CCRN, a bilingual stroke advanced practice nurse with Christiana Care’s stroke team, provided information about stroke detection and prevention.
“As the stroke program coordinator for Christiana Care, I deal a lot with acute stroke treatment,” Ciechanowski said. “Christiana Care is committed to prevention. This event is a great opportunity to teach Hispanics about healthy lifestyle modification, since many are at high risk for cardiovascular disease.”
Bernadette Baker, RN, from Christiana Care’s Center for Heart & Vascular Health prevention team, assisted by Ana Borja, medical interpreter, provided blood pressure screenings to more than 50 attendees.
Pauline Cousineau, RN, MSN, ANP-C and Eric Ferguson, practice manager, Christiana Care Cardiology of Southern Chester County, provided information about heart health.
Staff from Christiana Care rehabilitation and orthopaedic services offered information about bone and joint health, and provided screenings for arthritis and Parkinson’s disease.
Christiana Care’s Kidney Transplant team offered information about the Gift of Life Donor Program, a nonprofit organization that supports organ and tissue donation.
Dr. Velez led a nutrition demonstration focused on portion size and making healthy meal choices. She spoke to more than 75 attendees including families, teens, kids and parents.
“What makes this event unique is that attendees were young families with children who can learn early to make healthy lifestyle choices,” Ciechanowski said.
Christiana Care also provided three medical interpreters to assist the staff during the event.