Health care checks bring hundreds to Manatee Expo

EAST MANATEE — Linda Volino brought her husband Mike to the community-wide Wellness Expo on Tuesday.

It was their 42nd wedding anniversary

“We’re approaching the age where we need to monitor and check everything,” Linda Volino said. She’s 61 and he’s 64.

They were among hundreds who attended the Expo with its 80 vendors, organized by the Manatee school district and Woodland – The Community Church.

First stop for the Elwood Park couple was the hearing aide station for him, and skin care for her. Both had picked up wooden back scratchers early on.

One of the first stops for Haile Middle School teacher Scott Redmon was the Stretch for Health space with Shea Daignault.

“Your hamstrings are tight,” Daignault told Redmon.

“That’s never been stretched in its whole life,” Redmon replied, flat on his back and one leg in the air with Daignault pushing on it.

“I like the pain. It feels good,” Redmon said.

A long line waited with others wanting to experience the Daignault stretch.

“If you did this type of stretching for a few weeks, you would see a big difference,” Daignault said.

Daniel Beasley, of Myakka City, started out with something a little less intense.

ACE Homecare’s Laura McSeaton slid a monitor onto one of Beasley’s fingers and showed how it could provide telemonitoring of his vital signs long distance.

It doesn’t replace a nurse, but it does provide a snapshot of the patient’s health, and the person on the other end could summon 911 or a doctor if the readout warranted, said ACE’s Mark Black.

In another area of the church, John Evans was assisting his wife, acupuncture physician Cynthia Evans.

“I’m the most acupunctured guy in Manatee County,” John Evans said, adding that he has used it to treat knee, shoulder, neck and back pain.

Cynthia Evans said many patients stopped by with pain issues, but said acupuncture can be used to treat many other concerns, such as hot flashes.

Tina Yoder, volunteer coordinator for the event, said organizers were hoping to top last year’s attendance of 500. A highlight of the evening was a talk by Dr. Richard Couey professor emeritus of Health Sciences at Baylor University. He spoke on whole body wellness and illness prevention.