TERRE HAUTE — Health fairs are a great place to get some free medical tests. While you can get your blood pressure and blood glucose read at most of them, the one at Hux Cancer Center Saturday morning goes a bit farther. Yes, there’s a blood-pressure check station, but you can also find out what your oxygen level is, your lung function, bone density (for osteoporosis) and get a screening for skin cancer.
All are walk-in screenings except for the skin cancer one. While it’s at no cost, you do need to make an appointment by calling (812) 238-7649.
While you’re there reaping the benefits of the health fair, be sure to take in a tour of the new Hux Cancer Center, at 1711 N. 61⁄2 St.
Be sure to wear your walking shoes — the new place is 88,000 square feet and includes a long list of services.
By the way, if you have an appointment at Clara Fairbanks Center for Women, you need to go to the Hux Cancer Center. In fact, you need to go to Hux: If you go to the old place, it won’t be there any more.
The building at 1505 N. 6th St., which housed Clara Fairbanks, has been razed and is now an empty lot — maybe with some debris still on it, depending on when you go.
Health fair, tours, etc., at the new Hux Cancer Center are from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday.
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If you have diabetes, you really need to keep your blood pressure in check. Diabetes is such a high risk factor for heart disease, that people with the condition are treated as if they’ve already had a heart attack.
And yet, a study conducted at nine Veterans Affairs facilities involving 92 primary care practitioners and 1,169 patients revealed that only half of people with diabetes whose blood pressure was too high during a routine checkup got additional treatment for their hypertension. That’s according to a study published in the May 20 edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
If you have diabetes, your blood pressure shouldn’t be higher than 130 over 80. Even that’s a bit too much: It should be lower, but at least no higher than 130/80.
While it’s easy to ignore high blood pressure (there are no symptoms), it isn’t ignoring you. It can damage your blood vessels (potentially affecting your vision, for example) and can lead to stroke and kidney failure, in addition to heart attacks and heart failure.
You don’t even have to have diabetes for high blood pressure to affect your health. So all of you be careful
out there.
On a personal note, my blood pressure usually runs a bit high when it’s taken at the beginning of a visit to the doctor. One of my docs always checks me again shortly before the end of my visit. By then, I’ve settled down a bit — and so has my blood pressure. I also check my blood pressure at home.
• • •
It’s cookout season! It seems that just about anything is tastier when it’s cooked outdoors, but don’t forget to add “safety” to your “tasty.”
“Clean! Separate! Cook! Chill!” advises the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
First of all, wash those hands! Both before and after you handle food. Use soap and warm water and scrub for at least 20 seconds. (Sing “Happy Birthday” — to yourself, please — three times.) Make sure all the surfaces that food will be on is clean, too. And please put cooked food on a clean plate or platter — don’t use the same one you carried the raw food out on (unless, of course, you wash it in between).
Prepare raw meats separately from vegetables and cooked foods, including using separate cutting boards. You don’t want the juices from uncooked meats contaminating the rest of the food.
Can you tell if the food is cooked thoroughly just by looking at it? Not always, so use a meat thermometer. The USDA advises an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit for steaks, roasts, chops and fish; 160 degrees for hamburgers; 165 degrees for poultry; and 165 degrees for fully cooked meats such as hot dogs.
Finally, don’t let perishable food sit around untended while you chat and munch for hours. You can’t see it, but bacteria is growing. You can let food sit out for about two hours if the temperature is under 90 degrees; one hour if it’s warmer. But that doesn’t mean you need to whisk the food away to the fridge or the freezer. You can keep hot food at 140 degrees or above in chafing dishes, slow cookers or warming trays and cold foods will stay at 40 degrees or below with ice packs or … well, ice itself … underneath.
Have fun, but don’t forget to be safe. Nothing spoils a picnic more than a good ol’ case of food poisoning.
Features
HEALTH MATTERS: Hux Center health fair offers a little more
- Features
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Terre Haute museums keeping history alive
Even if you don’t have a mystical Egyptian tablet that brings museum inhabitants to life at sunset like character Larry Daley in the “Night in the Museum” movies, history can come alive for you, your friends and family at the many museums in the Wabash Valley.
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Treat your valentine with a rose and song
A rose is a rose … until it is sent anonymously in February with a lyrical, heartfelt appreciation.
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Turn-of-the-century tea shines during season of romance
You can take part in the season of romance at a turn-of-the-century tea hosted by Fortnightly Club members at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Fortnightly, 421 N. Sixth St., Vincennes.
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Catfish tournament returns to Turtle Creek Reservoir
In partnership with the Indiana Catfish Association, Hoosier Energy is sponsoring its fourth annual Turtle Creek Open catfish tournament from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 17 at Turtle Creek Reservoir in Sullivan County.
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Actors needed for 3D films to be shot in Bloomington
The Indiana University 3D Production Class is seeking local talent to cast in its 3D Student Film Showcase to be screened at IU Cinema at 6:30 p.m. on May 1.
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Rosedale students, staff to prove they’ve Got Talent
Rosedale’s Got Talent and a Country Rhodes Fish Fry make for an exciting day in Rosedale on Feb. 18.
- KARAOKE: Feb. 9, 2012
- Nightlife: Feb. 9, 2012
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Terre Haute artist putting ‘The Good Housewife’ on exhibit in New Harmony
Former Terre Haute artist Mary Ann Michna will exhibit a series of mixed media artworks titlted “The Good Housewife” at the Women’s Institute and Gallery in New Harmony.
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ISU School of Music scholarship concert Sunday
Tickets are available for the Indiana State University School of Music’s 21st annual Wind/Percussion Scholarship Concert, scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday in Tilson Auditorium in Tirey Hall.
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Fowler Park Pancake Breakfast coming up
The Vigo County Parks and Recreation Department will host the 26th annual Pancake Breakfast from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 18 and Feb. 19 in Fowler Park Log Barn.
- Dance lessons: Feb. 9, 2012
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EIU readies love songs for Valentine’s Day
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, Eastern Illinois University’s Choral Ensembles are planning to celebrate the majesty of love.
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‘Play It Again Sam’ to open at Old Town Theatre
The Woody Allen comedy “Play It Again, Sam” will open Feb. 17 at the Old Town Players Theatre and Arts Center, 432 Broadway St. Performances will continue Feb. 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26.
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Traveling Civil War exhibit makes history personal
Civil War history will come alive for visitors to the Sullivan County Public Library who experience “Faces of the Civil War,” a traveling exhibition created and managed by the Indiana Historical Society.
- Bingo: Feb. 9, 2012
- Museums and Exhibitions: Feb. 9, 2012
- Book signings: Feb. 9, 2012
- Theater: Feb. 9, 2012
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Dicky James and the Blue Flames give strong performance in Memphis
Terre Haute-based Dicky James and the Blue Flames weren’t the big winners at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tenn., last week, but the group did win accolades and made contacts that should help it raise its profile nationally.
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‘All Dolled Up’ exhibit opens today VU’s Shircliff Gallery
“All Dolled Up,” an exhibition of handmade dolls, will open today at Vincennes University’s Shircliff Gallery of Art.
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Marshall Senior Diners’ Club staging ‘Movie Monday’
Senior Diners’ Club at Harlan Hall in Marshall will be sponsoring a “Movie Monday” at 1 p.m. Feb. 27 following lunch.
- COMMUNITY: Feb. 9, 2012
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Concerts: Feb. 9, 2012
An asterisk (*) indicates tickets are available through Ticketmaster.com.
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Butler Theatre to present version of ‘Tartuffe’ starting Wednesday
Butler Theatre presents a contemporary version of Moliere’s “Tartuffe” beginning Wednesday in Lilly Hall Studio Theatre 168.
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VIDEO: On the Banks of the Wabash far away …
Paul Dresser left Terre Haute a niche in history.
Opportunism, squabbling and fading memories gradually washed that gift away, like the unending flow of the Wabash River he immortalized in song.
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Story of homeland foundation of vocal group
Since their earliest recordings and performances, the South African-based Grammy Award-winning male a cappella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, as individuals and as a group, have maintained a respect and a reverence for their past.
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Original copy of 13th Amendment at Lincoln Library & Museum
A fully signed and recently restored copy of the Congressional resolution for a 13th Amendment to the Constitution, the official act that would abolish slavery in the United States, will be on display in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum’s Treasures Gallery.
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RCAA member presents ‘Waterfalls’ at Vigo Library
February brings a stunning exhibit of waterfalls by photographer Spencer Young to the Vigo County Public Library in Terre Haute.
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River Wools’ Stitch Red/Wear Red part of First Friday events
Downtown Terre Haute’s First Friday is a monthly evening that encourages collaboration among downtown merchants, museums, galleries, and university and commercial venues.
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