Holly Zachariah The Columbus Dispatch @hollyzachariah

MARYSVILLE Stephenie Headings, with the unchecked enthusiasm that only a 7-year-old could muster when facing a couple of hours of medical exams, asked the same questions time and again.

Is it my turn yet, Mom? she asked, bouncing on tiptoes in her cowboy boots and running over to peek in a room where a man in camouflage fatigues was testing someones hearing. Can I go in?

Rebekah Headings laughed. Dont worry, she told her youngest of four daughters as she corralled them through a free health-care clinic Saturday morning. Youll get to go in there, too.

The Headingses, a family of six, were among those who visited the Ohio National Guards GuardCare, an annual clinic presented each summer or fall in a different medically underserved community in the state in partnership with the Ohio Department of Health and local health departments.

This weekend, GuardCare is visiting the Union County Health Department, 940 London Ave. in Marysville; a similar event was held in Madison County this past weekend. The program continues from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday and no appointment is necessary.

Anyone can make use of the services offered. No proof of income, insurance or residency is required. Thats not what GuardCare is about. Its about training. And so much more, said Maj. Gen. Mark E. Bartman, adjutant general of the Ohio National Guard.

He said most people know about the Guards federal and state missions to deploy overseas to assist a U.S. war effort and to help when called upon in state disasters. But thats not all.

Our third mission is our community mission. We have soldiers and airmen that live in almost every county in the state of Ohio," Bartman said. "GuardCare is an opportunity for them to give back to the community in which they live.

People this weekend can visit any or all of 17 medical stations set up in conference rooms, hallways and offices at the health department, depending on their needs. There are the routine screenings found at most health fairs: vital signs, blood work, hearing checks and the like. But the event in Marysville is expanded to include such things as dental exams, screening for sexually transmitted diseases, Pap tests and full general physicals.

Jennifer Thrush, spokeswoman for the Union County Health Department, said the departmentworked hard to make sure advertising reached particular groups such as the working poor, the self-employed, senior citizens and families with young children.

For so many hard workers, there still is a barrier to health care, Thrush said. High deductibles, not being able to find a primary-care physician, expensive co-pays. This event helps remove those and provides free access to health care and preventive services in our backyard, in one day, for everyone, anyone at all.

Union County health-care providers, medical students and others volunteered, along with more than 100 National Guard personnel, to deliver the services.

For the Headings family, the day couldnt have been more important.

ThoughRebekah's husband, Dennis, gets a stipend through his job, the family of cattle and sheep farmers from Plain City spends a lot out of pocket on health insurance, and last year, the children lost their insurance.

This is a huge deal for us, Rebekah Headings said about Saturday. She pointed to a nasty scar on the left knee of one of her girls, one that came from a fall in the barn in February. We can use our health savings account for the unexpected, stuff like that, and get our basic needs taken care of here.

Both parents got vaccines, and cholesterol and blood-sugar checks. Dennis had an EKG. The kids got vaccines, and one found out she has some cavities that need to be addressed. They also got physicals for the sports they play after school.

Attending the health program used up a few hours of a nearly perfect summer Saturday morning, but no one in the family minded. Their health, after all, comes first.

Were so grateful, Rebekah Headings said.

Stephenie, for her part, pretty much charmed her way through every station and delighted in the freebies everyone gave her, including a water bottle, a toothbrush and her favorite a purple latex glove blown up like a balloon.

Ohio Army National Guard Spc. Adam Hagelberger administered her vision test even though she had to stretch her neck to reach the machine.

"OK. Read me the next line," he told her.

K-D-S-O-N

"And the next one?," he asked.

S-D-O-H-N.

Not perfect, he said. But good just the same.

She giggled.

Hagelberger, a combat medic with the Guard, said GuardCare each year is invaluable for him.

"You can sit through all the PowerPoint presentations in class that you want, but theres nothing that helps us more than hands-on training, he said. We are part of the U.S. Army, yes, but we are the Ohio National Guard. Thats important. Giving back to Ohio matters to us.

hzachariah@dispatch.com

@hollyzachariah

See original here:

Ohio National Guard brings health-care clinic to Marysville - The Columbus Dispatch