JEROME — Magic Valley residents have the chance to get blood work done throughout this week at the North Canyon Medical Center Health Fair.
The health fair used to only be a one-day affair, yet due to COVID-19, North Canyon made the change last year for the fair to span a week. The event gives people the opportunity to get affordable blood work and testing done.
The main set of testing, or "Traditional Health Fair Panel" is a broad screening tool to evaluate organ function, checks for other health conditions like diabetes, liver, heart, or kidney disease. It also gives patients the chance to learn about their overall health.
"This is probably 32 to 35 test results," said Shellie Amundson, the spokesperson for North Canyon. "It's looking at just the basic functions of the body like red blood cell count, white blood cell count, sodium levels. It’s looking at their TSH thyroid level. It does a complete breakdown of their cholesterol, so their total cholesterol the good, the bad the triglycerides.”
There are also several other tests for $20 to detect abnormal testosterone levels in men, prostate cancer, and another test to determine how someone's diabetes is being controlled.
For those who pre-registered, the traditional health fair panel costs $35. Now that pre-registration has ended, people can do walk-ups with the cost increasing to $50.
“There’s a lot of our community members that don’t have health insurance. So if you don’t have health insurance to go out and get a doctor's order to get all this blood work done, that’s hundreds of dollars out of pocket,” said Amundson.
Connie Herbert, a woman from Burley, has been attending North Canyon's Health Fair for years due to the low cost and because of how many different areas the tests cover in regards to one's health.
“A lot of people I don’t think would have their blood work if they didn’t have an affordable way, and North Canyon has always had a very, I feel like, one of the more comprehensive set of testing than anyplace else I’ve had it done,” said Herbert.
Apart from expanding the testing to a week at multiple locations, North Canyon has changed the way people can get their results. Typically, North Canyon would collect all the data and mail them to patients, they are now trying to make the whole process much more efficient.
“Whether they pre-registered or they registered the day of, we’ll be helping them set up a patient portal if they don’t already have it, Amundson said. "By doing that, within 24 hours they will have their tests available on the patient portal."
