The Bakersfield College Health and Wellness Center and the Associate Degree Nursing program partnered with a group of local healthcare providers for the 17^th Annual Pulse Health and Wellness Fair.The event took place on April 19 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and provided students with the opportunity to receive a number of services, from blood glucose tests to free massages provided by students from Milan Institute’s Massage Therapy program.There were a number of speakers who provided students with facts and information about health care services and the unexpected aspects of society that can affect an individual’s health.

“More and more we’re finding children with the type of diabetes that usually occurs in adults. We tell them to change their lifestyle, but when we start looking at the community and environment, and we see that there are obstacles,” said Dr. Claudia Jones, who is the medical director of Kern County Public Health.

Going outside to exercise isn’t always an option for individuals who live in areas that are high in crime. There is also the issue of communities that are under-served when it comes to healthy food choices.Another issue that faces many low income families, is the fact that healthcare often can’t be treated as a top priority due to a parent’s need to put all of their effort and energy toward simply keeping a roof over their family’s head.

“If parents are barely getting by, children miss those vital conversations on how to treat health, on how to treat self,” said Planned Parenthood representative, Natasha Belkin.

Belkin knows all too well the results of missing those vital conversations. As a representative for Planned Parenthood, Belkin spends quite a bit of time with individuals who have missed out on basic healthcare information in regards to their sexual and reproductive health. Belkin spoke of young women who had no idea that they could access birth control or that pregnancy could occur after only having intercourse one time. Belkin stressed the fact that there are options available to individuals at all income levels.

“Planned Parenthood, Clinica Sierra Vista, Omni, and the Kern County Public Health Department all offer low-cost or free reproductive healthcare… It’s important that people know that those resources are for everyone. They’re for you,” said Belkin.

“As we pushed to make healthcare available, there was this a-ha moment that people who hadn’t previously had healthcare didn’t know how to utilize it for prevention,” said Jones.

Many people only focus on their health when they’re having health issues. One of the major focuses of the event was to get people to start looking at their health from a different perspective; to get people to start focusing on prevention, as well as treatment.