9Health Fair
Affordable Healthcare in Denver. DMH Rotary is helping make it happen.
No matter where you turn, healthcare is expensive and, increasingly, becoming a big challenge for families regardless of income or insurance coverage. Thankfully, in Denver, we have an amazing resource in 9Health.
For 40 years, 9Health has helped Coloradans access preventative medical screenings and healthcare education. Their success is due in large part to thousands of volunteers. They are the largest volunteer-driven, non-profit health, wellness and prevention effort in the country, and thanks to the support of over 12,000 medical and non-medical volunteers, they’ve saved thousands of lives. Since 1980, they’ve impacted more than 2 million individuals, earning them endorsements from the Colorado Medical Society, the Colorado Nurses Association and the Colorado Hospital Association.
Among those volunteers are dozens of Rotarians from the Denver Mile High Rotary Club (DMH). Former club member Patricia 
Fiske initiated the group’s involvement in the Villa Park neighborhood assisted by Linda Sue Shirkey. For more than 15 years, Linda Sue has led the charge on behalf of DMH, managing and overseeing medical staff, non-medical volunteers, event publicity, along with site setup and event operations. “It’s a labor of love. If I’ve helped save one life, it’s all been worth it,” she often says.
Fiske initiated the group’s involvement in the Villa Park neighborhood assisted by Linda Sue Shirkey. For more than 15 years, Linda Sue has led the charge on behalf of DMH, managing and overseeing medical staff, non-medical volunteers, event publicity, along with site setup and event operations. “It’s a labor of love. If I’ve helped save one life, it’s all been worth it,” she often says.Working alongside Linda Sue, over the months of prep and on the day of the 9Health Fair, are countless numbers of DMH volunteers who do everything from staffing the event to hanging posters around the neighborhood to get the word out.
As an added bonus, the DMH-sponsored 9Health Fair was relocated a few years ago to CEC Early College in Northwest Denver which is also the home of the Interact Club that Denver Mile High sponsors. This change has brought a host of benefits to the local community. Not only has it provided more opportunity for the Interact Club members to engage with DMH members; it also provides an unique real-world experience for CEC’s Certified Nursing Assistant (CNT) students. By hosting the event, CEC is also able to better serve their students and families by bringing affordable healthcare services to the neighborhood.
DMH Rotary has undoubtedly made a difference for this community. This year, the CEC 9Health Fair provided low cost testing for over 132 individuals with over 50 discovering they needed further evaluation – 50 people who may have not otherwise gotten checked. That’s saving lives. And that’s DMH Rotary making a difference.
