Wellness fair provides tests

By Amber Wade

Published Feb. 19, 2008

Peers Advocating Smoke-free Solutions joined the Wellness Resource Center last week in sponsoring the first student wellness fair.

Devin Lammy, Campus-Community Alliance for Smoke-Free Environments Health promotion specialist and PASS adviser, said that although the Wellness Resource Center has had information booths in the past, this is the first year that they hosted a large wellness fair.

“This year we wanted to do something bigger and help students learn more about their individual health,” Lammy said.

PASS President Traci Harr said dermatologists, optometrists, physical therapists and fitness consultants were all available at the fair, along with more information regarding gambling, mental health and campus peer groups.

Lammy said these experts discussed health information from their fields and provided students with many free services. The fair included brief eye exams, sun damage examinations, fitness testing and lung capacity testing.

Lammy said the fair was very successful with around 1,000 people attending.

Harr said PASS decided to help sponsor this fair to get the word out about the program and to promote its “KISS Me ... I’m a Non-Smoker” campaign.

“PASS is only a three-year-old program, so initially we developed the KISS Me campaign for name recognition,” Harr said. “We started by handing out T-shirts, and we really wanted to take it to the next level this year, so we helped develop the student wellness fair.”

Lammy said the KISS Me campaign helps reinforce the objectives of PASS and usually takes place around this time of year.

“The KISS Me campaign is based on the statistic that 88.3 percent of MU students would rather kiss a non-smoker,” Lammy said. “It’s a one-day event that generally takes place around Valentine’s Day.”

Lammy said many other campuses in Missouri have KISS Me campaigns, and while most of them take place around Valentine’s Day, some campuses do it around St. Patrick’s Day.

Harr said the KISS Me campaign is one way that PASS promotes their message on secondhand smoke.

“We are a peer education program, and our main goal is to inform and educate students about the dangers of secondhand smoke, promote cessation opportunities and pursue campus and community initiatives for smoke-free environments,” Harr said.

Harr said that PASS is not trying to force students to stop smoking, but to just consider the consequences.

“We’re not trying to tell students not to smoke, but we want to encourage students to make informed decisions and acknowledge that if they want to quit, the resources are at their fingertips,” Harr said.

Harr said that the most important fact to remember is that smoking affects everyone, even non-smokers.

“When it comes to a smoke free environment, everyone benefits,” Harr said.