Boonshoft School of Medicine Center for Healthy Communities to host community picnic, dance extravaganza

The Center for Healthy Communities will host a free community picnic and dance extravaganza Sept. 17 at Island MetroPark, 101 E. Helena Street in Dayton. (Contributed photo)

The Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine Center for Healthy Communities will host its second annual community picnic and dance extravaganza on Saturday, Sept. 17, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Island MetroPark, 101 E. Helena Street in Dayton.

The event is free and open to the public. It will feature a food tent, wellness village, kids area, music and dancing. The wellness village is sponsored by Buckeye Health Plan.

Dance demonstrations will be given by Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Belly Dancing by Bronwen, Dayton Urban Ballroom, DeJa Vu Ballroom and Keith Mefferd (Zumba).

For more than 25 years, the Center for Healthy Communities, administratively housed within the Boonshoft School of Medicine, has worked in partnership with the Greater Dayton area to improve the health of the community. The center is a community-academic partnership committed to improving the health and well-being of the community, educating its health professionals and serving as a force for change.

Through the center, the Kinship Navigator Program supports grandparents and other caregivers linking them with needed resources to support their grandchildren who are in their full-time care. Community health workers provide an extension of the primary care team, meeting with patients in their homes and helping to ensure people get needed services and get to follow-up medical appointments. Additionally, the center facilitates coalitions that improve coordination of services across sectors.

For more information about the community picnic and dance extravaganza, call Cindy Bradley at 937-775- 8248.