About the Nonprofit
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Our Vision: Knowledge, Empowerment, Innovation, Collaboration, Community
Our Mission:
To serve our community, we will offer personalized health education to our patrons. To foster wellness, we will raise awareness about the diseases that impact the community the most. To prepare our youth for a brighter future, we will provide education and inspiration for the health sciences. To promote accessible care, we will provide local health resources, educational content, and avenues for safe and meaningful engagement with the healthcare system. In doing so, we will stay in tune with the needs of our community and establish ourselves as allies in the healthcare profession. We humbly offer all of these services for free to ensure meaningful access for all members of our community.
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 education, including, but not limited to, blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, vision, and dental health.
- To provide patrons with resources and information about local clinics to facilitate continuity of care and establishment of a medical home.
- To provide an avenue for patrons to access local healthcare resources to voice their concerns and have their questions answered and needs addressed.
- To promote a healthy lifestyle through good nutrition by offering personalized nutrition education and healthy recipes tailored to our community.
- To introduce families to the functions of the human body, importance of good health and hygiene, and ways to practice self-care in exciting and compelling ways.
- To cultivate our youth's interest in science by creating educational demonstrations and hands-on experiments.
- To create an immersive, engaging, and fun event for entire families to enjoy together.
- To empower the families of our community with knowledge to improve the health of future generations through community support and involvement.
- To train students on effectively communicating the health issues that affect underserved populations.
- To promote inclusivity by offering healthcare services to our community in English and Spanish as well as those with other communication needs or preferences.
- To maintain meaningful relationships with our community partners and hosts who make this project a success.
- To unite UT Southwestern through volunteerism, servant-leadership, and a common goal of interacting with our surrounding community.