Cindy Michaels, a yoga therapist at the Wrens Nest Center for Wellbeing, demonstrates restorative yoga on Beth Bennett on Saturday at the Spring Into Wellness health fair at the Mack Gaston Community Center in Dalton.

DALTON, Ga. — Janet Franks came with a pinched nerve in her leg. She left feeling much better.

The Dalton resident was one of dozens who attended the inaugural “Spring Into Wellness” health fair Saturday at the Mack Gaston Community Center. The event, organized by the DEO Clinic and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, offered scores of screenings, demonstrations and information on health and wellness — all at no cost.

PT Solutions, a physical therapy center in Dalton, was one of more than a dozen organizations and businesses that participated in the health fair. Richard Easter and Lisa Spiker, physical therapists at PT Solutions, provided injury screenings. Brittany Fouche, physical and industry liaison for PT Solutions, said the injury screenings are similar to a massage.

“It’s what we call manual therapy,” Fouche said. “We’ve been educating people on posture and exercises that can be done at home.” 

After receiving treatment at the PT Solutions booth, Franks said she her leg had improved.

There were many more services provided at the health fair including screenings for blood pressure, diabetes, glucose levels and vascular health; nutrition education; suicide prevention information; and yoga demonstrations. Information and resources were also available for hepatitis C, HIV, low cost medication, mental health, women’s health, emergency financial support, housing and human trafficking.

Tom Brown, executive director of the DEO Clinic, said the health fair aimed to “hopefully connect people with services and information about their health.” The nonprofit clinic began more than 10 years ago in donated space near the Waugh Street bridge as a medical outreach effort of St. Mark’s to provide free health care to low-income people without health insurance. Before moving into the community center in August 2018, the DEO Clinic had been on Central Avenue on the south side of the city for about five years. The larger facility allows the clinic to see more patients and offers more visibility inside the often busy community center, he said.

“It’s nice to be in a space that was intended to be a clinic from the beginning,” he said. “It’s also a plus to be here (at the community center) because we can refer patients to the walking track or exercise equipment right in this building.” 

Cindy Michaels, a yoga therapist at the Wrens Nest Center for Wellbeing in Dalton, gave yoga demonstrations at the event. She touted the short-term benefits of regular yoga, saying it could help lower blood pressure, reduce neck and back pain, provide anxiety relief and lower sugar levels in people with diabetes. Longterm benefits may include stronger bones, healthy weight and lowered risk of heart disease, she said. 

“There are three tools of yoga: posture, breathing and meditating,” Michaels said. “When all of those tools are used within one day there is less stress.”

Dalton resident Connie Mason said the health fair was “nice and informative.” Having so many resources in the same place was helpful, she added.

“It was very well organized and I got lots of information on some things I wasn’t clear on,” Mason said.  

Other vendors were the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, DOC-UP, Family Support Council, Georgia Hope, Georgia Legal Services, Hamilton Physician Group, Northwest Georgia Family Crisis Center, North Georgia Health District and The Rapha House.