For many Gainesville residents, the high cost of healthcare means postponing doctor visits for years — sometimes even decades.
On Nov. 16, the Parkview Baptist Church became a sanctuary of relief as the nonprofit Children Beyond Our Borders led its free health fair event from 8 a.m. to noon, offering a lifeline to those who might otherwise go without medical care.
With a team of volunteers and healthcare providers, the event aimed to fill immediate healthcare gaps, but it also planted seeds for long-term well-being in the community.
The event served over 70 patients and had services scattered throughout the church like screening stations as well as mobile buses parked outside. Volunteers also served food for patients after they completed their checkups. Patients were asked to call ahead and schedule appointments, but walk-ins were also an option.
Alex Zorrilla, a 34-year-old Gainesville resident, born in Colombia and raised in the United States, became a volunteer with CBOB as a UF undergrad and became invested in the nonprofit’s vision.
Zorrilla grew up with parents who only spoke Spanish, and observing their difficulty of navigating healthcare barriers shaped his drive to serve. He was part of the health fair’s planning process.
“It takes a little bit of pre-planning and just kind of getting it down mapped, so that we can have efficiency when the patients start arriving,” Zorrilla said.
With services ranging from internal medicine to mammography and pediatrics, this year’s health fair included translators for five different languages, including Vietnamese, Creole and Spanish, aiming to make it as inclusive as possible.
Evelyn Martinez, the 24-year-old clinical supervisor at the Mobile Outreach Clinic, with Cuban and Spanish heritage, provided gynecological services through Mobile Mammography as part of the Mobile Outreach Clinic team.
Martinez also volunteered with CBOB during her UF undergrad, she said.
“About three years ago, we got reconnected with them [CBOB] and started coming to the health fair, and I’ve been really active with the health fair since then,” Martinez said.
The Mobile Outreach Clinic also collaborated with the UF Cancer Center during the health fair to provide cervical cancer screenings.
Martinez said event accessibility was an important element of the fair, ensuring patients could easily navigate the different resources provided for them without overcomplicating anything.
Martinez noted the free services, combined with a Saturday schedule, ensure working residents can attend without sacrificing their income.
“There’s an ever-present need to have free healthcare in general,” Martinez said. “Health fairs in particular are super great because there’s usually so many services in one place.”
Jamie Hensley, a 39-year-old representative from the UF Health Cancer Center, highlighted the importance of increasing cancer screening services.
“Early detection saves lives,” Hensley said, referencing mammograms, colorectal cancer kits and patient education offered at the event.
Hensley also spoke about equity in healthcare.
“Everyone deserves high-quality care, regardless of their income status, their place of birth or their native language,” Hensley said.
The UF Health Cancer Center team ensured it followed up with patients receiving screenings after the event.
Hensley also said connecting the patients to specialty care and social support for food and housing insecurity is part of the program’s holistic approach to health.
Hensley said by organizing these events regularly, the health disparity could slowly but effectively start closing.
Contact Eneida Escobar at eescobar@alligator.org. Follow on X @EneidaMariaEsc.
Eneida Escobar is a junior majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Business Administration and a writer and translator for El Caimán. She was born in Cuba and raised in Miami and since childhood, she's had a love for learning languages, and currently knows English, Spanish, Italian, and a bit of French. She also likes learning various programming languages.
