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Residents took advantage of the opportunity to learn about managing their health and met with local medical professionals and organizations during the sixth annual Alabaster Health Fair on Aug. 17. (For the Reporter/Neal Wagner)

By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Alabaster residents took advantage of the opportunity to learn about managing their health and met with local medical professionals and organizations during the sixth annual Alabaster Health Fair.

This year’s installment of the Alabaster Health Fair took place on Saturday, Aug. 17 at the Thompson High School Arena from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and featured more than 50 vendors sprawled across the room ready to share information.

“This year, we have the most vendors we’ve ever had, and it’s so exciting,” said Stacy Rakestraw, who helps to organize the event each year and serves as the Alabaster city councilmember for Ward 3. “We just have a wide variety of vendors that meet everybody’s needs.”

During the event, attendees traveled about the arena and were able to meet medical professionals and businesses face to face to learn more about their services. Some of the organizations in attendance included, Alabaster Water Services, Shelby Family Eye Care, the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs, For Tomorrow, God Did it Ministries, SafeShelby Sexual Assault Services, SimpraAdvantage and more. In addition to all of the vendors, a kids area was also set up with an inflatable for children in attendance to enjoy playing on while their parents perused the stations.

“The health fair continues to be a wonderful event for our community,” Alabaster Mayor Scott Brakefield said. “(It is) a great resource for our residents to come and enjoy and get to know different businesses and different opportunities to work with their health, here in our community.”

Representatives of Shelby Baptist Medical Center attended the event with the hospital’s Mako Robotic Surgery System on display which assists medical professionals in handling knee and hip replacements. The organization Rumpshaker, Inc was present and educated the public on colorectal cancer by utilizing a giant, inflatable colon.

Each year, the annual health fair features a different theme with this year’s focused on “Building a happy, healthier you.”

“We want to encourage everyone in whatever stage of life they are in that it is not too late to start changing lifestyles and eating habits,” Rakestraw said. “We aim to provide an array of medical professionals and healthcare service vendors to meet almost everyone’s needs or someone who can direct them to a good resource.”

In addition to providing resources and acquainting people with organizations, Rakestraw shared that they also hope the event shows people the resources that are available here in Shelby County.

“We want our community to be recognized as a place to go for great, quality healthcare,” Rakestraw said. “(People) don’t have to drive all the way to downtown Birmingham just get to get good healthcare.”

Brakefield expressed his gratitude for Rakestraw and those who help make the health fair possible each year for the city’s residents.

“I can’t thank Mrs. Rakestraw enough for everything she’s done to help promote this,” Brakefield said. “And she’s got a number of volunteers—I look around and I see our fire department here, our police department here, our school system here—everybody’s supporting this. It’s just a great event overall.”

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