SIEDC to host 10th annual Health and Wellness Expo
The Staten Island Economic Development Corporation will host its 10th annual Health & Wellness Expo at the Hilton Garden Inn on Wednesday, Oct. 3. The event, which helps educate Staten Island residents about how to live healthier lives, provides free health tests and screenings and allows Islanders to gain access to the vast array of health services available to them throughout the borough.
“One of the most successful portions of this event is the health and wellness screenings,” noted Lou Tobacco, associate executive director of government affairs for SIUH Northwell Health and SIEDC Board Chair for the hospital. “We provide various types of screenings — cholesterol, blood pressure, skin cancer — and every year, without fail, we save lives. We screen anywhere between 1,200 and 1,400 people that day and many walk out of the Hilton newly aware of a condition and how to treat it.”
This year Tobacco will serve as ambassador for this event alongside Daniel Messina, president and CEO of Richmond University Medical Center and Barrington Burke-Green, president and CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association of SI.
In addition to health screenings, the Health and Wellness Expo will feature various free, open seminars, including opioid safety training, autism awareness, financial lessons in elder law and more. There will also be a number of special events, including a Community Health Hero Awards Ceremony and an addiction forum that will address the drug crisis sweeping our borough.
Flu shots will be available courtesy of event sponsors Staten Island University Hospital/Northwell Health and Richmond University Medical Center, an affiliate of the Mount Sinai Health Network. Other event sponsors include NYC Councilman Steven Matteo, the Staten Island Visiting Nurse Association, ADCO Electrical Corporation, Staten Island Borough President James Oddo, Assemblyman Michael Cusick, United Activities Unlimited, Casandra Properties and Williams Eye Works.
“The whole purpose of this Expo is to educate the Staten Island community about the health services that are available to them,” Tobacco concluded. “So many residents are unaware of what the medical community has to offer, and we use this venue to give Islanders a sneak peak at the vast array of services that are offered throughout the borough.”
For more information about this event, visit www.siedc.org/events/health-wellness-expo/
