Snow cone in hand, Victoria Brazell enjoys a face painting by Rollins Brook Community Hospital volunteer Cora Cole. PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE The former middle school cafeteria bustled with activity during the recent Lampasas Health Fest, as about 350 visitors stopped by a variety of vendor booths and health screening areas.

The 17th annual event, organized by Metroplex Health System, offered area residents an opportunity to receive free health testing results and to learn about the medical services Metroplex Health System offers.

“There are so many resources that people in the community don’t even realize are there,” said Michelle Demarais, wellness coordinator for Metroplex Health System.

The Health Fest offered stations for testing lung function, bone density, body mass index, body fat, cholesterol, glucose levels and blood pressure. In addition, Lampasas police and firefighters, along with emergency medical and air evacuation staff and vehicles were on site.

A blood donation bus for Carter BloodCare — blood supplier for Metroplex and for Rollins Brook Community Hospital — also was available.

With snow cones, face painting and bounce houses, kids had several ways to enjoy the day, too.

“It is definitely a family event,” Ms. Demarais said.

The Health Fest gave Metroplex an important opportunity, Ms. Demarais said, to help uninsured patients, who she said sometimes forego recommended periodic health screenings. The recent event also reflected Metroplex Health System’s and Rollins Brook’s commitments to serving Lampasas County, said Jeff Villanueva, Metroplex Health System vice president and Rollins Brook Community Hospital administrator.

“Our goal, and Rollins Brook’s goal, is to always care for our community, and we want to make events like this possible so we can hopefully be proactive in helping the members of this community be healthy,” Villanueva said.

Regular medical screenings — including mammograms, blood pressure tests, cholesterol checks and other “basic diagnostic services” — can help prevent or detect early many common ailments, Villanueva said.

David Bryant of Lampasas was one of 169 Health Fest participants to participate in the health screenings.

“I just hadn’t had a checkup for a while,” Bryant said, adding that he appreciated the free event. “It’s a good deal.”

Rosamaria Rivera, who said she is trying to manage her diabetes, also received a health screening. Some of the results were encouraging, she said, and she thanked the volunteers who contributed to the recent event.

“There’s good people here,” she said. “They really try to help the people.”

At another indoor booth, Norma Jones of the Texas Department of State Health Services Tobacco Prevention and Control Program operated models of a smoker’s and a non-smoker’s lung. A jar on the table in front of her contained about a cup and a half of tar, which Ms. Jones said represents deposits in the lungs from smoking one pack of cigarettes per day for a year.

“It really has an effect on the kids,” Ms. Jones said. “When they see what smoking does to them it makes them think twice.”

Not far away, Lampasas Police Department patrol officer Matt Boswell and school resource officer Steve Sheldon operated a busy station for distributing “Kiddo Cards.” Each card contained a child’s picture, a digital fingerprint image and contact information for the child’s parents or guardians.

The cards are useful in locating missing children, said LPD Sgt. Chuck Montgomery, who said officers fulfilled about 60 Kiddo Card requests at the Health Fest.

“Hopefully it’s never needed,” Montgomery said of the ID cards, “but if it helps one kid, then it’s all worth it.”

With many sources of health and safety information, the recent fest was a success, Ms. Demarais said.

“It just keeps getting bigger, which is great,” she said. “We just need to have enough room for everything.”