Horsemen’s Health Fair Coming to Laurel Park on October 27

The latest impact of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s new health care program will be seen Thursday, Oct. 27, when the MTHA and MedStar Sports Medicine unveil their new Free Health Fair in the Laurel Park recreation room.

While the MTHA has sponsored a health fair for more than 20 years, this one will be noticeably different, according to Diana Pinones, center director for the Horsemen’s Health System, as free flu shots will be given, along with lipid profiles, prostate, blood pressure, body fat composition, carbon monoxide and skin cancer tests and screenings. Cholesterol tests also will be given, and participants are advised to fast for 10 hours prior to the test.

For the first time participants will receive follow-up care. Depending on test results, MedStar Sports Medicine will help track employees to get the services they need, whether it be a follow-up visit or something more extensive, like a mammogram or a colonoscopy. All results will be kept confidential and will be sent to the address participants provide.

The fair will run from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 27. A free shuttle will run from Pimlico, leaving the stable gate at 11:30 a.m., allowing participants to finish their morning work before taking the shuttle to Laurel Park.

Pinones said those at Pimlico who want to participate should register for the shuttle by calling the van driver and MTHA recreation director Dan Mangum at 410-802-5798.

If more Pimlico workers sign up for the shuttle than there are seats, Mangum said arrangements will be made to take care of the additional participants.

At Laurel Park, MedStar Sports Medicine Dr. Kelly Ryan (pictured) will be onsite to administer flu vaccines and help participants fill out paperwork to get into the health system.

Pinones says the Free Health Fair is a wonderful addition to the weekly care being given by the MedStar Sports Medicine doctors. “Even though a doctor is here every week, there are a lot of people who don’t have the time to come or have to work,” Pinones says. “Especially the pony people and exercise people don’t get the time to come. This will be a big help to them.”

It also will be a big help to the Horsemen’s Health System because before MedStar doctors arrived records were not kept on the health condition of workers.

“Because records weren’t kept, we have no idea how many people are out there who need care,” Dr. Ryan says. “This fair will, we hope, enable us to get more backstretch personnel into the system and we will follow up on the results of the testing we do.

“As it is now, people only come to see us when they’re sick. This is a great service [being] provided because a lot of people don’t get checkups. It’s a good opportunity for us to find out how many people we have there, to find out how many we need to look at getting in the program and to find ways to get them the services they need in a timely fashion – things like colonoscopies and mammograms.”

Dr. Ryan says there are services available and she will work at finding out what individuals are eligible for.

“We can also go to a local hospital and say, ‘We need this many colonoscopies,’” she says. “Some hospitals do pro bono work. We can go to them and say, ‘We need five’ or ‘We need 50.’ We’re trying to gather information and get as many people covered as possible.”

Dr. Ryan says she wants to encourage as many backstretch workers as possible to participate, especially in regard to flu shots.

She says that while flu shots are recommended for the young and those over 60, they also are advised for people who live and/or work in close quarters – like the military, college students, elementary school students, sports teams and, yes, backstretch workers, many of whom live at Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course.

“A lot of the backstretch employees are at risk because they live in close quarters,” Dr. Ryan says. “If one gets [the flu], many will get it.” Besides Dr. Ryan, Pinones says there will be at least four nurses on site to do the blood tests.

“Last year we did the fair in August, but this year we waited so we could do the flu shots,” Pinones says. “It will be interesting to see how many people come for the flu shots. I think we had about 70 people participate last year. I think, because of the flu shots, more people will be coming this time.”

For more information on the Free Health Fair, call the MTHA office at 410-902-6842.