EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- While the challenges of military life may push health and wellness to the background, events like the Women’s Health Fair Jan. 18, bring a crucial spotlight to the well-being of service members and their families.
Personnel with the 96th Medical Group women’s health clinic, along with multiple helping agencies hosted the event at the Eglin Bayview Club to bring awareness to services, share valuable information aimed at achieving holistic well-being.
“Having all these helping agencies available on base can open their eyes and let them know they are not alone,” said Col. Maribel Orante-Mangilog, 96th MDG cancer program director. “When women are tasked to deploy, it can be daunting, to think about daycare, and who’s going to take care of finances. There’s just so many things you think about when tasked and knowing there are organizations here for them, I think is a wonderful service.”
Beyond personal benefits of the supporting agencies, the focus on overall health enables military personnel to maintain mission readiness, especially when navigating those deployments and having to juggle family responsibilities.
“It can be really hard to get in to see your provider in a short amount of time,” said Capt. Ashley Fournier, 96th MDG OBY gynecology clinic midwife. “For women, things like doing their annual screenings and having all of their blood draws completed when tasked for a deployment can be complicated.”
The Women’s Health Fair included over 50 helping agencies with invaluable information for whole body wellness to scheduling health screenings.
“Each woman has different needs,” said Fournier. “I think it is really important for our health overall as women to anticipate those needs and one way to do that is schedule preventative care, annual screenings, family planning.”
The various booths focused on mental fitness, financial stability, military, and family life consultation to spiritual wellbeing. Special demonstrations and activities were available from yoga to the art rave of zentangle, a way to create intricate images by drawing structured patterns.
“It was really nice to see all the women come out,” said Fournier. “Having all the resources available to them and knowing they can find them all here I think is a great health benefit.”
For those who missed the health fair, resources and educational materials for women’s health are available with Team Eglin’s Helping Agencies Team, HAT.