Health Forum Day

It's Saturday October 19th and you know what that means. Health Forum Day! I love this day. I look forward to it every year. I change my work schedule for it. I plan for it a year in advance. The Cancer Connection of Juneau has put on two health forums a year for as long as I've known about it (5 years and I don't know how long they've actually done it) In April they do a Men's Health Forum that I've been trying to convince my husband to go to for years. In October they do a Women's Health Forum that I've attended a few times.

I love love LOVE the women's health forum. Even if the topic isn't something you originally think will interest you, you always walk away with great things and vast amounts of awesome relevant information that you use over the next year to improve your health and those of others. Even if the topic isn't something you want, you go for the booths. Over a dozen booths are set up by different companies around Juneau from fitness places, to wellness places. Chiropractors, Public Health, Yoga Studios, Massage Offices, Community Health Groups. There is something for everyone. I love the booths. I always leave with a bag full of goodies and a pile of information that I spend the next year and years after, sharing with my friends and family and well basically anyone who'll listen to me. I always learn valuable things at those booths. Things that I take when me and retain for years. Like adding different vitamins into my diet and why. I make contacts that I keep for years at those booths and I find out about great community resources.

Last fall my husband decided that he would be interested in attending the Men's Health Forum this year and I looked about for information on the date and topic up the forum. No matter where I looked, I couldn't find any information. I finally talked to someone from cancer connection who told me they were combining the two forums into one community health forum this year in hopes of getting a better attendance. I was surprised by this news. The women's health forum was always backed with every chair full and every meal taken (they always provide a free healthy lunch). The hallways and entrance way was always packed and you usually had to stand in line for some of the better booths. Like the one last year that did a complete body assessment for free. They even gave you a print out that told you about your body fat percentage and your hydration level. It was awesome. But I had heard before that the men's health forum just doesn't get as good attendance so on one level I could understand why they would combine them. So, no problem, my husband was perfectly happy at the thought of joining me for the health forum come October.

We put the date in both our schedules and went about recruiting friends to join us. I was so excited. I would be going with a group of like minded people who wanted to learn more about health. We changed work schedules around and worked family events around the upcoming health forum. We even got a couple family members excited to join us. I talked about my plans to have a booth at the one in 2014 representing my health coaching business that I'll have by then. I added it to my goals and started putting together a support group who would assist me with it in 2014.

As the date got nearer I started really looking for information. What was this year's topic? Were their going to be new booths this year and by who. Who was the speaker this year? Every year they bring up someone from down south and you can google them and find out more about them, their knowledge and their history. I was finally able to track down the topic. "The Importance of Cancer Screening: Why you should get tested and when" Ooook. Well that wasn't something I was interested in. I'm 30. But hey they always have good information you take away and maybe a future client could use something I'll learn there. So the health forum was still on.

Knowing how I felt about the topic I figured other people my age will feel the same way. So as I spread the message about the upcoming event I made sure to remind people to go anyways. They would get something helpful in the lecture but they should really go for the booths. They would get a lot of great information from the booths and then stay for the lecture and get a free healthy lunch. That is what really got the guys. They would sit with the other guys and get a free meal and maybe pick up some good information along the way.

This year I gave up my dream of going to the Alaska Day Festival in Sitka with my drumming group. My husband also almost gave up an opportunity to drive a really cool vehicle he got special training for from the military in the Alaska Day Parade. It was a big deal for him to give up going to the health forum to volunteer to do that with the National Guard. But we decided it would be better for him to do that and come to the health forum with my next year. I would take a ton of notes and share it with him when he got back. Then the government shutdown happened and they cancelled the Sitka trip. He was once again excited to be joining me at the health forum.This was a pretty big deal. My husband never wants to join me in my pursuit of health knowledge, he supports it but he doesn't want to sit on his butt during a lecture that will probably bore him.

Today dawned dark and dreary. We heard the rain pouring down before we even got out of bed. One person cancelled joining us. But that wouldn't stop our joy. We got up and got dressed. Eating a light breakfast. We packed our water bottles and I reorganized my purse to make sure I would have pens and a notebook to take the tons of notes I was sure I would be taking. A couple plans changed and we picked up my younger brother on the drive downtown. There was excitement on the car ride and not just for the game the guys were talking about during the drive.

We pulled up at Centennial Hall and looked around confused. There weren't many cars there. They had changed the time of the forum this year. Instead of 10-3 it was 11:30-2. I thought that was really odd. In the past I would get there at 10 and still barely have time to get through all the booths I wanted to and get a set before the lecture started. I always end up sitting in the back. It's not like I ask a lot of questions or talk to them a lot. I just like to see all the information that is presented. So I was worried about only getting to check out a few booths this year before the lecture. I was also curious why there were two key note speakers instead of one and both of them were local doctors not some specialist from down south.

We crawled out of the car and headed into the building. We opened the doors and I stopped to look around. Usually you can hear the roar of the crowd before you open the doors but there was a mere quiet murmuring coming from the distance. The entrance way was empty of booths. OK. Maybe they had less booths this year because the topic would have a smaller turn out AND they didn't have as much time. We wondered on, my notebook clutched to my chest, my cheeks pink with excitement. I couldn't wait to greet old friends and make new friends and see what this year's venue was.

We walked into the main entrance room and looked around puzzled. I understood why the  majority of the crowd was of an older generation. The topic would appeal to them and a number of them were into health and nutrition. What I didn't understand was why there were so few people and why there was only the one table by the doors to the lecture hall. The table belonged to cancer connection and they just had a few things on it. A donation box, a couple brochures and the pamphlet that said what was being served for lunch.

We strolled to a corner of the room and looked around disappointed. They guys immediately told me they were ready to go. They had mostly come for the booths and the free lunch and without the booths, the lunch just wasn't much of a draw since the topic wasn't one that interested us much.  Part of me wanted to stay. Surely there would be something good to know from the lectures. But most of me was confused where were all the booths? Where was everyone? I waited for a break in the almost non existent crowd and went over to the table to ask the people manning it about things.

They polity informed me that since a lot of those booths were represented at the city health thing that goes on (what city health thing?) and a lot of the same people attend that and get free health screenings (free health screenings? thats the thing that is mostly put on by the hospital. I went to it once, there was no free health screenings. Every itty bitty thing costs money. Anywhere from $10 to $170. I didn't get anything valuable out of that thing and I've never gone back. I've also never heard anything positive from anyone about the event) Also the space they use for the events costs money and since they're depended on things like donations they want to spend that money on other things like the apartment. This last bit about the apartment was rather pointedly and defensively said to me.

Now I understand that they're a not for profit and that funds are small because of the recession and all. And Cancer Connection does a lot of other good things. The apartment thing mentioned is this apartment they rent in Seattle for people and their families when they're going through Cancer treatment. It costs so much money to fly people out of Juneau down to Seattle and make them stay there for so long to get treatment. It's great that Cancer Connection has that apartment there for them that helps lesson the cost and stress of the families going through that horrible thing. That is a great great thing that they do. But no men's health forum, no booths full of information, no out of town great speaker and not even a topic that is going to appeal to a lot of people. Oh and no mention anywhere that for format was going to be different then how they've done it in the past. I was, am still so increadibly dissapointed.

I feel like I wasted my time and the time of others. I also feel like a fraud. I told people to go to the event even though they might not be interested in the topic. Go, I said, Go and meet the people at the booths and listen to the lecture. You'll get something good out of it, I promise. That's right, I promised people. I don't make promises unless I keep them. I believe that promises should only be made if you will keep them no matter what. Except if you die.

So I'm terribly disappointed and I'm not ashamed to say that I left. Why would I stay? Because I might, just might get some kind of information that I'll appreciate in the future, or that someone else will. Well blah. I'm going home, I'm venting online and I'm taking this thing out of next year's schedule. If the topic looks good, I'll go. I might even suffer through the stupid non-city city health thingy. Maybe.