Bringing wellness to the community

The UTRGV University Recreation in collaboration with Texas Southmost College Recreation Center will host the Health and Wellness Fair Tuesday to promote well-being to the Brownsville community.

Vriseyda Calzada, a student assistant in University Recreation, said the collaboration is to provide health and wellness facts and connect the community with health departments available.

Calzada said the Health and Wellness Fair will be at the TSC Recreation lobby from noon to 2 p.m.

Gilberto Lopez, program coordinator of University Recreation, said the event is an invitation to the community so they are aware of the free services they can take advantage of.

He said last year they hosted the event on three campuses, Brownsville, Edinburg and Harlingen.

“This year we decided to move with Brownsville since the other campuses have their own respective events similar to what we’re offering,” Lopez said.

He said they will offer blood pressure and glucose screenings.

“We’ll have a section for screening and also a section for just information that’s gonna be there for the community,” Lopez said. “… And also we’ll be having pet adoptions, you know, to promote the actual importance of pet adoption.”

Calzada added they will offer massages, CPR training, and COVID-19 and flu shots.

She said she believes health and wellness is important for students because if they know more about it, they can manage their daily lives and also know what resources are available.  

The University Recreation program coordinator encourages not only university community, but all the Brownsville community to attend.

 “Anyone that has families or even yourself that you have your families there, anyone is invited, including TSC since we are partnering with TSC Recreation Center,” Lopez said. “So obviously, we want everyone to take full advantage of this event since we’re having a lot of free services.”

He added they will have giveaways for the attendees.

“We’ll have prizes for the first 25 presents that come in and then we’ll have another 75,” Lopez said. “… We’re going to have a social media challenge where we’re going to be giving away three $25 gift cards for the campus store.”

Ivan Rangel, a mechanical engineering sophomore, said he was not aware about the fair but he is considering attending.

“Because … I take my health and everything in general serious about it,” Rangel said. “I feel like wellness is an important thing in the long-term.”

Victor Villarreal, an engineering freshmen, said he was not familiar with this fair but believes it is important to have events that promote health and wellness.

“Nowadays is kind of like not really something that many people are focus on, especially in college,” Villarreal said. “Especially when you stress, you know, going through these classes, and you know, engineering is pretty rough so I kind of overlooked [my health] sometimes.”