Box 3, Folder 17, Document 70

Box 3, Folder 17, Document 70

POVERTY AREAS:
- Checkups.
On Health
Offered Free

Think. you might have emphy-
sema? Diabetes? High blood.
pressure?

These and other diseases will
be the objects of a city wide
“search and destroy”: mission
sponsored by public and private
health agencies.

’ Called ‘‘Health Fair,” the proj-
ect is being conducted in 10 At-
lanta neighborhoods throughout
the summer. The free-of-charge
program is designed primarily
for poverty areas or areas
served by a service center of
Economic Opportunity Atlanta
(EOA).

“But the search certainly isn’t
restricted to these areas, ac-
cording to a spokesman for the
Fulton County Health Depart-
ment, which is participating in
the program.

The first neighborhood to re-
ceive the special medical
check-ups was-ihe Central City
area. Some 250 persons were
checked for high blood pressure,
diabetes, tuberculosis, syphilis
and chest diseases such as em-
physema and bronchitis. °
The health department
spokesman said the project, in
its first year, is “just getting
rolling. He said the project will
pick up momentum as more and
more persons learn of it.

Mrs. Helen Howard, director
of the - Vine--City- Foundation,
said she expects more than
1,000 to show up for the health
tests in the Nash-Washington
neighborhood on Tuesday.

The health department
spckesman said the program
was ‘‘a cooperative movement”
which depends on the neighbor-
hood residents themselves for
its success.

IF A PERSON is found to

have any one of the ailments, !

he is first referred to his own
physician fer medical treat-
ment. A person who has no fam-
ily doctor is referred to health
agencies or Grady Memorial
Hospital, the health department
representative said.

Other participating agencies
include the Fulton County Medi-
cal Society, the Georgia Depart-
ment of Public Health, the
American Red Cross, the At-
lanta Tuberculosis Association,
Model Cities, the Atlanta Diabe-
tes Association and the City of
Atlanta.





VA