Aggie health club gives back

The Aggie Health service club focuses on service opportunities emphasizing health, said Jackie Neid, director of Aggie Health.

According to the USU Service Center website, Aggie Health is a service organization which provides health-focused volunteer opportunities for students on campus and in the community. The club provides service through clinics, educational opportunities and supporting health oriented organizations, projects and events.

Neid, a junior majoring in nutrition and food science, said, “Aggie Health works with bigger service agencies like Intermountain Donor Services and Friends For Sight.”

In collaboration with Intermountain Donor Services, Danielle Schwarz, a junior majoring in psychology, said the Aggie Health club used a committee of volunteers who wanted to participate in health fairs to educate about donating organs and tissue.

According to Schwarz, who is on the Aggie Health council, Aggie Health also works with a non-profit organization, Friends for Sight, that gives free eye exams and glaucoma screenings at high schools and senior citizen health fairs.

“The first thing I did with Aggie Health was working with Friends for Sight to do the glaucoma screenings and that’s what got me excited about the club,” Tim Bikman, a junior majoring in business administration, said. “We give senior citizens free eye exams so they know whether or not they will pass at the DMV when they go to get their license renewed.”

Bikman was the director of Aggie Health last year and said the club has done many other health-related activities.

“Aggie Health has set up booths at the USU health fair to raise awareness about diabetes and we have also done volunteer work,” Bikman said.

The club volunteered at a 5K run at a local high school during red ribbon week to raise awareness about drug abuse. Bikman said they work on smaller events in the fall, like the health fairs, but their biggest event is in spring semester. Last year, Aggie Health set up an on-campus competition based on TV’s “The Biggest Loser” and according to Neid, it was a big success.  

“Right now we’re working hard on getting things set up for the Biggest Loser competition in the spring,” Neid said. “If you’ve ever seen the television show, it isn’t anything like it.”

Neid said the competition on campus lasts about nine weeks. Last year, Aggie Health had about 20 participants who lost an average of 15.5 lbs. Some also saw up to a six-inch decrease in their waist size and everyone saw reduced cholesterol levels.

Neid said they have activities twice a week for contestants during the competition. One activity is exercise-based and the other is an educational or inspirational speaker to aid contestants in their weight loss journey.

“We provide a lot of different types of weight loss activities. Last year, we had the ROTC and Sports Academy each set up an activity for the contestants,” Neid said.

The Biggest Loser isn’t just about weight loss, Neid said. The competition sets up a point system and contestants get points for coming to the activities, listening to speakers and participating in a nutrition assessment, as well as points for their weight loss.

“We try to focus on a positive lifestyle change,” Bikman said. He said the competition helps contestants to focus on exercising a lot, eating healthier, getting enough sleep and other things that contribute to being healthier, physically and mentally.

The Aggie Health club works with psychological and medical professionals to help their contestants, Bikman said.

“We also have a blood panel that checks HDLs and LDLs,” Bikman said. HDLs and LDLs are good and bad cholesterol levels.

Neid said the biggest loser competition is taking applications now, which can be picked up from the service center. Applications are due Dec. 6 and contestants are chosen based on their applications.

The Aggie Health service club meets on the third floor of the TSC, Mondays at 3 p.m. Schwarz said they are mostly working on planning their competition for spring right now, but anyone is welcome to come find out about upcoming health events and help volunteer.  

 

–  nikki.lives6@aggiemail.usu.edu