"Free" was the word on the lips of Angelenos and their families who gathered at the East Los Angeles Occupational Center on Saturday  for USC's Annual Health and Safety Fair. 

City of Hope booth at the USC Health Fair (Angela Blakely)

USC and White Memorial partnered for the free community health and wellness fair, which featured more than 40 vendors and free health screenings, dental exams and flu shots.

Students from USC Ostrow School of Dentistry and School of Pharmacy provided dental exams and free screenings for diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. Each screening station was run by 12 to 22 medical student volunteers, who switched stations every two hours. In addition to providing the health screenings, the medical students also gave advice on what foods to eat, exercise tips, and why checking these health factors is so important.

"It's a really good thing because a lot of the time people don't bother or see it as a major concern to check their cholesterol," said Denise Mullery, co-director for the cholesterol screening station. "We talk to them about their diet and how important it is to exercise more often." 

During one evaluation, a pharmacy student even suggested that a woman play music and dance as she does her housecleaning. 

"Any exercise is worthwhile," said the student pharmacist to her laughing patient.

If a patient is found to have high cholesterol levels or is at risk for diabetes, the medical students urge them to see their doctor right away.

"For patients that don't have health insurance, we provide lists of free and low-cost clinics in the local area," said Mullery. 

The most popular screening was the dental exam station. Many patients came up eagerly  to wait in a line as the dentistry students did brief exams on each person. Following the exam, the dentistry students went over the person's eating habits and how often they brush and floss. Each patient was given a list of low-cost and free dental clinics in the area, a toothbrush with toothpaste and other information about improving dental health. 

"If you get a dental exam and go in regularly, we can hopefully prevent small problems from becoming big problems," said Dr. Julie Jenks, co-coordinator for the Ostrow School of Dentistry station. "It’s more than just cavities, it’s also gum disease and other oral problems we can diagnose early on."

In addition to screening stations, there was a variety of informational booths that gave advice and information on everything from asthma to insomnia, and even heartburn. 

"The breast lump table was the most helpful, " said Jenny Roman, who was at the fair to get her mother the flu shot. "I learned how to prevent it and how to check for it." 

Like the breast cancer awareness table, most vendors aimed to inform as many as possible how to prevent and recognize common illnesses that afflict many Americans.

Between 2007 and 2009 just in Los Angeles County, 13,350 people died from heart disease, 2,100 people died from diabetes and 2,148 people died of influenza. The number of people who are developing diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension is becoming a serious problem as rates steadily increase throughout the U.S.

Many station directors estimated that at most, they would screen and advise only 200 to 300 people by the end of the day. Mullery, who has been participating in health fairs since January, said that this particular fair had the largest turnout she has seen.

"This is usually one of the biggest health fairs of the year,” she said. “There were definitely a lot of participants from the community today.”

Although medical staff and fairgoers felt the fair was extremely effective in bringing health information to their community, its reach is still low compared to the number of people who are actually developing and eventually dying from these diseases in Los Angeles County.

"That's a little bit harder to target," Jenks said. For a county as large as Los Angeles, it’s harder to market such an event. Most directors agreed that better advertising and grass roots projects are needed to help engage more people.

Chelle, an African-American woman getting a dental exam, commented, "Even though I don't see a lot of myself out here, I still see a lot of other people here who need the information. I will definitely come back, if not for myself, I will bring someone with me."

Many fairgoers concurred, saying they would definitely take information they learned back to their friends and families and perhaps come back next year with more people.

"I am happy with everything I am seeing,"  said Elias Corona, who lives a few blocks from USC. "For sure, it is going to help our community. We just have to share what we are getting here."

Reach Angela Blakely here.