Rolesville community members are invited to participate in a health fair on Saturday, September 23 from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. in the Rolesville Elementary School Gymnasium.

This free healthfair will offer many screenings including vision, glucose, blood pressure, grip strength and step test. Participants will learn about nutrition and health-related services in their area. All of this is sponsored by Raleigh Community Hospital to kick-off a health initiative, RAH for Rolesville, Really Awesome Health.

Raleigh Community Hospital has teamed-up with the Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education and Rolesville Elementary School to provide excellent and interactive health education for students, staff and parents of Rolesville Elementary School. The goal of RAH for Rolseville is to provide education about healthy lifestyles at an early age to help prevent illnesses, decrease absenteeism and develop life-long, healthy habits. "This is a great opportunity for our students and their families. Health education is an important component of our curriculum," said Lillian S. Lee, principal of Rolesville Elementary School.

Raleigh Community Hospital is funding the program and the Poe Center is providing the educational programs. "By working together, we can meet the needs of our community in an effective and fun way," said Carla Parker Hollis, vice president of Marketing and Development at Raleigh Community Hospital. "The Poe Center specializes in providing interactive and creative health education. This allows them to bring this information directly into the classroom in a public school," said Hollis. "This program is like a dream come true for us," said Pam Kohl, executive director of the Poe Center, "This is an ideal opportunity to pair with a corporate sponsor and an elementary school to help meet our mission of improving the health of our children through education."

In addition, the hospital plans to offer programs for parents on topics such as; when to take a child to the doctor, when to take a child to the emergency department, the affects of second-hand smoke on children and the benefits of exercise.

"By working together, we can impact the lives of our children, one child at a time," said Hollis.

Raleigh Community Hospital is a 218-bed acute-care facility located one block north of the beltline on Wake Forest Road in North Raleigh. Raleigh Community Hospital is part of the Duke University Health System. A full-service acute care hospital, RCH's range of services includes a 24-hour Emergency Department, Intensive and Critical Care, Child Birth Center, Rehabilitation, Newborn Hearing Screening, Diabetes Treatment Center, Senior Health Center and community education.