Free health fair to benefit community

SAN BENITO — It’s time for a checkup.

City Hall will be the site of a Health Fair tomorrow morning.

The free event will give residents the oppurtunity to receive information on health.

Residents will also be given free diabetes and blood pressure screenings.

Medical consultations for medicine will also be provided.

San Benito Mayor Ben Gomez has put on health fairs in partnership with the school district in the past, but this will be the first one he hosts with the city.

“Hopefully, we get a good turnout,” Gomez said.

Gomez said he is working on creating a free health clinic for residents.

The health fair is a way for Gomez to see if there is a need for such a clinic and how significant that need is.

Since 2013, the number of uninsured Americans has dropped dramatically, but 11.3 percent of Americans live without insurance.

According to county health rankings, that number is more than triple in Cameron County with 36 percent of residents living without insurance.

Gomez said even if people are insured, their rates can often be high, causing them to forgo doctor’s appointments and taking care of their health.

Last October, Gomez hosted the health care event with the school district that had about 40 vendors.

Gomez said, due to his busy schedule, he hasn’t been able to push this event as hard as he wanted to but he is expecting to have least 20 vendors.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Gomez said.

He wants to work with the district to possibly use a few rooms to set up the clinic.

“There is a lot of need for health care here,” Gomez said.

If the clinic opens, Gomez said he would like to have it open at least four times a month and see people by appointment.

He said he wants to have two practitioners be a part of the clinic and he is in talks with a local pharmacy to provide medication for the residents in need.

Gomez is not sure when he would be able to make the clinic a reality, but he is hoping to have something set up at the end of the month or sometime in October.