Copyright Santa Clarita Valley Signal
Our Lady of Perpetual Help hosted its annual Health and Wellness Fair for Santa Clarita residents with free ultrasounds, flu shots, classes and resource booths on Sunday. Booths included various mental health resources, a live CPR demonstration, advice on how to detect breast cancer, and more. Katy Ihrig, one of the health ministers at OLPH, said that the fair is to help people find resources or get some guidance. “So, if someone has private insurance, they go through their private doctor, but if they don’t have private insurance and they only have state aid, you know, or very low income, with no (insurance), they would come to our clinic for mental health services,” Ihrig said. Ihrig and Marirose Morris, another health minister at OLPH, said that they want to reassure people that they will always be here to help them out. “Well, I mean, they see us every year, and they see us monthly,” Morris said. “I think it’s consistency,” Ihrig said simultaneously. April De Higes, CEO and therapist of Valencia Relationship Institute, had a booth about the various types of therapy she offers. “We work with children, teens, families, couples, adults, and for a variety of reasons. Sometimes people are really anxious. They’re having stress in their relationship,” De Higes said. “You know, teenagers may be acting out, so we’re here just to help the community have awareness around struggles, around mental health, and that we’re here to help.” De Higes added that her company works with a lot of first responders and helps them deal with burnout, trauma and stress. When asked what De Higes wanted to tell people who need help, she said that everyone goes through changes. “Everybody needs help at some point in their life. Everybody goes through transitions, and so that’s just important to, you know, have a presence,” De Higes said. Resident Jim Row was practicing how to stop bleeding from a wound simulation in one of the classes. “But you have to put as much pressure as you can. To stop the bleeding, we would have gauze in here underneath. And then wrap a bandage around it,” Row said. Row said he has been coming to these events for a while because it gives him an opportunity to check on his health. “I like to get information, but also, I want to do the ultrasound. That was the most important thing to me,” Row said. He added that attending these events increases awareness and gives important information for people’s health like doing blood pressure screenings and weight checks. Patty Ruelas, another attendee, decided to come because she wanted to try to get some information about preventing illnesses and diseases. Ruelas said she was waiting in line to get an ultrasound while checking out all the booths. “I think that I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know about how (to) prevent my own health and then (it) gets me some tips on how to react on some like a stroke or anything,” Ruelas said. “And also (it) helps me to how to be in a better lifestyle, eating healthy. So, all those tips, it helps a lot.”
