Alycia Albergottie and Jessica Burch, students at USC's School of Public Health, exhibit at the health fair sponsored by Wesley United Methodist Church This past Saturday at Wesley United Methodist Church, members of the Columbia community were welcomed with a hot breakfast and a cool place to sit and listen to representatives of Columbia's health care industry.

Services offered free of charge were fingerprinting for children, prostate cancer screening, HIV/ AIDS and STD screening, blood pressure screening, and depression and anxiety tests.

Dr. Reginald Parker, a physician from Orangeburg county, spoke on the importance of colonoscopy screenings to prevent colon cancer. He said that having regular colonscopy screenings can reduce the death rate from colon cancer by 95%. He shared that the SC Medical Endoscopy has received a $400,000 grant for colon cancer screenings and encouraged everyone to get tested. "Noone has the program like the partnership that we have (under this grant.)"

Vivian Clark- Armstead from the SC HIV/AIDS Council shared some alarming statistics concerning the AIDS epidemic. She reported that Columbia is number sixth in the nation (in cities over 100,000 people) in the rate of new AIDS cases annually. She said South Carolina is the ninth state in the nation in the rate of new AIDS cases annually, and that Richland County ranks first among our state's 46 counties in cumulative HIV and AIDS cases. South Carolina currently ranks first in the nation in cumulative cases of AIDS from heterosexual contact.

Dr. David Blalock, a family physician, taught the group about how to maintain healthy blood pressure and how to prevent high blood pressure. He said that 40% of African American men over 18 have high blood pressure. It is "greatly undiagnosed and significantly undertreated." He said that high blood pressure can be hard to detect because in some incidences there are no obvious symptoms. He talked about making wise choices to prevent heart disease. "We perish for lack of knowledge. Much of what happens (with our health), we bring on ourselves. Much success will come by making wise decisions."

Rev. John Dicks Sr., the pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church, said the church sponsors this event every year to "encourage the community to continue to be healthy in mind, body, and spirit. We want to make them aware of the many services available in the Columbia area to provide for healthy lives."

Organizations participating in the health fair

• Palmetto Health
Community Services
• South Carolina Medical
Endoscopy, Inc.
• South Carolina HIV/AIDS
Council
• The Lupus Foundation
• The Lieutenant
Governor's Office on Aging
• The University of South
Carolina School of Public
Health
• Mental Health America of
South Carolina
• Richland Community
Health Care Association
• The South Carolina
Tobacco Collaborative
• The Columbia Police
Department.