H.O.P.E.+ Initiative

Step Eight: Health fair activities, communication, and recruitment 

Continuous communication between all agencies is needed throughout the planning of the health fair. Inform all the agencies who will be in attendance, the participating organizations, and the set-up of the event. Plan meetings with the collaborators as often as necessary, at a minimum twice before the event. This can allow for updates, changes, and concerns to be discussed before the event. Some of the things to discuss during these meetings can be: 

• What time should agencies arrive to set up? 

• What time does the health fair start and end? 

• Will there be assigned booths for each agency? 

• What equipment and materials will and will not be provided to the agencies?  

• Where to park? 

• Will there be restrooms available and where? 

• Provide directions to the venue location. 

• Provide an overview and a map of the health fair. 

• Share event flyers. 

• Provide a list of the services and resources that will be present at the event. 

• What additional contributions for participants? 

• What documentation expected for follow up/referrals identified?  

• Approximate amount of people you expect to attend.  

• Open Q&A during meetings 

Another important part of the planning is to think of volunteers. Depending on the scale of your health fair, volunteers can help with the set-up, help during the health fair, and help with clean up at the end. Volunteers are essential for helping participants access the various services available. To gather volunteers, reach out to partners and collaborators, professional health organizations in the community, and institutions participating to involve individuals as volunteers. Having incentives for volunteers can be a way to motivate them to participate. For example, high school students usually need to complete community service hours to graduate, boy and girls scouts need to volunteer a certain number of hours to get insignias and awards. Targeting these groups during the recruitment phase can be instrumental in securing dedicated individuals who can help during the event. 

H.O.P.E.+ example: As the planning and organization of the health fairs were being finalized, we held zoom meetings where all the agencies and partners of the initiative were present. During these meetings we would review the location and what services would be provided. We also would share updated event flyers, map of the event, time of arrival, and parking details. Additionally, we would go over the importance of the referral forms and how our outreach team follows up with these individuals to see if they need to seek further care. Lastly, we would remind everyone to bring a prize for the raffles we held for the event participants.