Carnaval de Salud (Carnival of Health) is a free community health fair that provides hundreds of Dallas residents with health screenings, sports physicals, cooking demonstrations, interactive health education, science exhibitions, and a carnival of games.  Our annual health fair will be held on April 22, 2023. We ask for your valuable support in making this event possible. 

Our Mission: 

To serve our community, we offer screening services and personalized health education to our patrons. To foster wellness, we will raise awareness about the diseases that impact the community the most. To prepare them for a brighter future, we will educate our youth about the health sciences. In doing so, we stay in tune with the needs of our community and establish ourselves as future leaders of the health professions. To demonstrate our commitment to volunteerism and charity, we offer all of these services for free.

Our Project and Goals:

UT Southwestern’s annual Carnaval de Salud is an effort driven by students with the aid of faculty and staff from UT Southwestern Medical Center.  Based on the United to Serve initiative of the University of Texas System, the health fair was established in 2004 with the aim of organizing services that cater to the healthcare and educational needs of our local and underserved community.  Our students have developed a rapidly growing and widely encompassing health fair that aims to accomplish the following goals:

• To provide an opportunity for the community to participate in free health screenings, including, but not limited to, blood pressure measurement, cholesterol measurement, body mass index (BMI) calculation, visual acuity check, and general dental examination.
• To provide patrons with resources and information about local clinics to facilitate continuity of care and finding a medical home.
• To maintain meaningful relationships with our community partners and hosts who make this project a success.
• To create a comfortable environment that provides important health information in a format that is both engaging and easily understood.
• To introduce children to the functions of the human body as well as the importance of good health and hygiene in an exciting and hands-on setting.
• To provide an avenue for which attendees may access local healthcare resources in order to voice their concerns and have their questions answered.
• To empower the families of our community with knowledge they can share to improve the health of future generations.
• To promote participation in healthy lifestyle through community support and involvement.
• To follow up with community members, and to improve their access to local primary care clinics, and reduce their health risk factors through the Health Awareness Project.
• To train students on effectively communicating the health issues that affect underserved populations in a way that prepares them to share their health-related knowledge and skills with their patients, peers, and families.
• To unite UT Southwestern through volunteerism and a common goal of interacting with the surrounding community.