KIDS CARE FAIR: Free Healthcare For Kids Across State
The American Red Cross' ninth annual Kids Care Fair will offer free immunizations and health screenings this weekend at sites across southern California. Red Cross spokesman Rick Radillo said, "Each year, Kids Care is taken advantage of by families with and without health insurance. For many it's their only chance at an annual checkup." Children ages two months to 18 years old are eligible for care, the Los Angeles Times reports..
Vaccines And Health Screenings
Medical professionals at all sites will provide "vaccines to fight diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, meningitis, hepatitis B, measles, mumps and rubella," and a few sites will have the chicken pox vaccine. The fair will provide a good opportunity for children in need of hepatitis B shots, as a recent California law requires all seventh graders to have these shots by July 1, 1999. Additionally, health screenings will include "height and weight measurements, blood pressure and dental exams, family health reviews and vision checks." Families are urged to bring any previous immunization records they have available. Information on specific site locations in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties is available from the Kids Care Fair hotline at (800) 870-5437 (Baker 8/18). The Ventura County Star reports that "more than 160,000 children and parents in Southern California have benefited from this unique partnership in the past eight years" (8/18).