Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

ALBANY — It’s not often that people exuberantly celebrate the act of getting a shot. But that was pre-COVID-19.

Rudine Ward was in line early Saturday morning, less than 30 minutes into Albany Area Primary Health Care’s seventh annual Community Health Fair, held from 8-10 a.m. at the Exchange Club Fairgrounds, happy to be there and singing the praises of the dozens of AAPHC employees and volunteers who conducted free health screenings and — in Ward’s case — administered free flu shots.

“I don’t miss this ever,” Ward, a school nutritionist in the Dougherty County School System, said as she rolled up her sleeve in anticipation of the flu shot. “I love what these folks do; I’m a part of it every year. This is such a good thing for this community; it’s a way to stay healthy.”

More than 100 cars had made their way through the gantlet of volunteers by 9 a.m., directed to the various sites where they had their blood pressure and blood sugar levels checked, received an HIV screening or got a flu shot, among other screenings. Participants also had the opportunity to register to vote, to check out the goodies offered by 17 community resource vendors and to register for various giveaways.

“I’m kind of surprised a little by the response we’ve had,” AAPHC Director of Operations David Morris said. “This is the first time we’ve had to adapt to something like the pandemic, but there was never a question that we would be here.

“You look out here at all of our employees — who are unpaid, volunteers — students at Albany Tech and other various medical students, and you see why this is, year after year, such a good event for our community.”

Michael Farley, who is the operations manager of the Miriam Worthy Women’s Health Center, and Missy Vicks, who manages Albany Area Primary Health Care’s West Albany Dental Clinic — joined by her son, Anthony Potts — were also on hand for the health fair. Farley recently moved to Albany to join the AAPHC team.

“It was surprising; I got out here early and there were already about 50 cars waiting,” he said. “It’s exciting to see this kind of response to a community event.”

And while Vicks said the pandemic excluded oral screenings this year, it is a typical part of the health fair.

“People want us to do (the oral screenings), but we have to be cautious (about the virus),” she said.

Kelley Davis and John Rutledge, physician assistant interns who volunteered for the fair, as well as Alecha Burns, who works at Lee Medical Arts, provided blood pressure and blood sugar screenings for participant Bobby Barnwell.

“This is a nice opportunity to be involved with patients and to be in a setting outside the office,” Davis said. “This is definitely beneficial for us as interns and for the community.”

Barnwell, who recently moved to southwest Georgia from Orlando, Fla., was a first-time participant in the health fair.

“This is a nice thing the do,” he said. “To provide these services free of charge; man, you can’t beat that.”

Brandy Church, Albany Area Primary Health Care’s public relations/media spokeswoman, said the agency easily shifted to a drive-thru health fair concept.

“Our CEO said we were going to have it, so the talk was never about not doing this; it was about adapting,” Church said. “It was about ‘How can we do this?’ Once we had a plan in place, it was just a matter of getting extra PPE for everyone. I think you see that the public has responded well.”

Staff Photo: Carlton FletcherStaff Photo: Carlton Fletcher