Albany Area Primary Care making massive changes to annual Health Fair

(ALBANY, GA) – For Albany Area Primary Care, Friday was spent getting the Exchange Club Fairgrounds set for Saturday’s 7th Annual Heath Hair.

But this year’s is going to be different: due to COVID-19, they’ll be holding it drive-thru style for the first time.

“Due to COVID, we’ve just had to reroute a lot of things and to make people comfortable. And the drive-thru model was the only way we could do that this year. We just wanted to make sure that we were doing it this year, with all of the different comorbidities, and Albany being one of the hardest hit areas in Southwest Georgia,”says Primary Care Chief Quality Officer, Jocelyn Yates.

Members of the public will be able to be screened for HIV, and diabetes as well as get their flu shots.

Primary Care’s Vaccine Coordinator, Shirley Harpe says that despite the massive rework to the health fair, they’re doing everything they can to help protect their nurses.

Harpe explains that, “This year is going to be a little more hands off. Because we’re social distancing, and we’re keeping everything in mind. And we’re gonna be gowned out in our PPE.”

With the next flu season not too far off, getting the public screened for health issues is a must with COVID-19 concerns.

As Primary Care officials put it, a combination of comorbidities and COVID could be incredibly detrimental.

Yates tells us, “A lot of our patients have uncontrollable blood pressure and blood sugar. So having these particular screenings, at this particular time, and flu season is vital. So making sure we offer flu, blood pressure, and blood sugar is critical at this point.”

The Health Fair will take place on the Exchange Club Fairgrounds Saturday morning from 8-10 A.M.