“Health Can Be Fun” Fair spreads knowledge for Rapid City Youth

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Everyone wants their kids to grow up strong and healthy.

To show Rapid City kids how to stay healthy, staff and students of the West River Area Health Education Center put on a free “Health Can Be Fun Fair” at the OneHeart Campus.

The fair also put an inflatable Mega Brain on display – one of few in the country.

“It’s something that we’re so excited that we can finally get out and be in the community and do events to show off a lot of our investments that we’re trying to make to provide health education and also encourage people to go into healthcare careers,” said Stephanie Mayfield, the Director of the West River Area Health Education Center.

Scholars of the WRAHEC Program ran the show – with many stations that taught the basics like the Heimlich Maneuver, AED usage and even sunscreen application for those hot summer days and it did it with all the healthy snacks.

The goal was to teach about healthy lifestyles and routines but also to prepare kids for their future healthcare visits.

“These are future healthcare professionals that are working with the children today and making it all fun so hopefully it’ll easy any fears when they do have to go into the hospital,” Mayfield said.

The students who organized the fair focused on health of the entire body.

Teaching kids that self care isn’t just about one specific area.

“They all took a rather holistic approach to health, so we do have some booths about substance abuse and we also have some about the need for sleep,” Mayfield said.

Spreading knowledge and hope for a hopeful healthier generation.