VCUQatar Hosts Health and Wellness Fair

April 4, 2010
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VCUQatar is hosting its annual Health and Wellness week from 4 to 8 April for faculty, staff and students.

The week-long activities began on Sunday with a general ‘healthy living’ review that had the VCUQatar community visit the different booths set up by community organizations in the atrium. While staff from Health & Beauty Pharmacy and their Ideal Diet division gave tips on natural food and remedies, Diet Center was speaking to people about cultivating healthy eating habits. Ebn Sina Medical’s Scholl Foot Care Centre and Goodlife Chemist were also present to dispense advice on foot care, dental care and beauty. Fitness First had a team examining people and addressing queries related to fitness and Curves talked about their 30-minute fitness center for women. With two locations in Qatar and over 10,000 globally, they are the largest women’s gym in the world offering health and fitness solutions. Faculty, staff and students also spoke to volunteers from Aman, a Qatar Foundation organization for Child and Women Protection, as well as to staff from Family Consulting Center, a government organization.

The rest of the week-long activities include a health check up by Future Medical Center on Monday, stress management sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday and programs for smoking cessation on Thursday. There are also games being organized, the proceeds from which go to support Think Pink Qatar, a local organization creating breast cancer awareness.

“Future Medical Center has brought in doctors and dentists to provide full check ups for the faculty, staff and students,” said Linda Carter, director of HR at VCUQatar. “They will do everything from blood pressure and diabetes checks to dental exams, giving people health advice that is essential for their future.” This is the second year VCUQatar is hosting the health and fitness fair. “Last year we brought in doctors from the National Health Authority.” Ms. Carter said she was excited about hosting an event that was health related. “It gives the employees and students time to spend with doctors; it is on site so it’s convenient,” she added stressing the importance of being “you own health patrol”. She was also appreciative for the support from the dean and the VCUQatar community who made the event possible and supported it with a lot of enthusiasm.

Dr Ramzi Aici from Future Medical Center said being at VCUQatar was an opportunity to give the community advice on a healthy lifestyle and create awareness about how to avoid heart disease, diabetes and hypertension, conditions that are becoming more commonplace in the region. “In the last few years the health in general of the people has changed. The advice that was once reserved for special cases is now given to everybody. While many people may not suffer from these conditions, they may have family members who do, and those are risk factors. This initiative by VCUQatar will definitely help the university’s staff, faculty and students become more aware of their health.”

The focus of the Health and Wellness Fair is about building health and wellness inside and out and VCUQatar believes that it is important to have a balance between taking care of yourself and others. “This is a wonderful event combining the excitement of healers with relaxation and fitness techniques while supporting local awareness initiatives as well,” said Dean Allyson Vanstone.

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