Women's Health Night brings out large crowd

Last week Wednesday, the annual event that has come to be known as Women’s Health Night was held in the Heritage Church social hall. Filling the hall nearly to capacity, the crowd had come to learn about ways to maintain good health, be tested for high blood pressure, have their bone density checked and gather information from various health-related organizations present.

Members of the Odessa High School chapter of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and their parents prepared and served a Caribbean-style dinner salad of grilled chicken, greens and several types of tropical fruit, served with round bread cut into wedges.

Door prizes donated by individuals, businesses and members of the medical community were awarded throughout the evening to several of the attendees by the emcee for the event, Lincoln County Health Nurse Jolene Erickson of Davenport. Erickson also spends time in the Odessa schools to provide school nurse services.

Lynn Kuchenbuch, a representative of the Family Resource Center in Davenport, was the first speaker of the evening. She told about the services her center provides, mainly to women and children in transition, victims of sexual abuse or domestic violence and those dealing with homelessness.

The next speaker was Abbie Davis of the Lincoln County Relay for Life program, talking about her organization’s efforts to raise money to fund cancer research and fight against the disease. Each year survivors, their family members and other volunteers participate in the relay for life, walking or running in teams on a track all through one night after gathering pledges.

Dr. Deanna Davidson, an osteopathic surgeon based in Davenport who also sees patients in Odessa on a regular schedule, spoke about diet and having a healthy weight for better overall health. She emphasized that a lifestyle change is necessary for safe and healthy weight loss. Burning more calories than are consumed is the key. She also talked about the different types of weight-loss surgery that are available but emphasized that these are services she does not perform. She said she felt that bariatric surgery also required lifestyle changes in order to be successful. So why not just change the lifestyle in the first place, she asked.

Dr. Linda Powell of Odessa was the final speaker, adding levity to the evening by recounting humorous anecdotes from her years as a small-town doctor. The earlier part of her evening was spent as one of the parent helpers in the kitchen, since her son Griffey is an FBLA member.

The grand prize of the evening was an expenses-paid stay at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane and was won by Pam Williams of Odessa. All of the tickets drawn for earlier door prizes were returned to the basket for that final drawing.

Odessa Memorial Healthcare Center and the Odessa Healthcare Foundation were joint sponsors of the educational evening.