Norwich, CT (Norwich Bulletin, September 9, 2020) — The Healthy Living Festival, the Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce’s popular annual event, is undergoing a change.

“Each year it was growing , and becoming a really popular event,” said Angela Adams, the executive director of GNACC.

Instead of a singular Healthy Living Festival, GNACC will be holding two separate events during the same weekend, with the Better You, Better Together events on Sept. 18 and 19 at the Senator Thomas J. Dodd Memorial Stadium.

Adams said maintaining social distancing is a reason to keep the events separate.

During the first event from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 18, there will be a food drive and performance from local band Don’t Tell Lisa in order to “celebrate the efforts of our local healthcare and essential workers.”

“They have been working so hard, so this will give them an evening with the family and the community,” Adams said.

Adams is also hoping people will come Friday to pre-register for Saturday and get 500 donors for the drive.

The second event, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept 19, will continue the food drive and will feature COVID-19 testing, health screening, mask giveaways, and a food pantry, among other things.

“It’s not just about the disease itself, but it’s also about the stress that’s related to the disease,” Adams said.

Edith Ouellet, an RN and the division director of nursing and allied health at Three Rivers Community College, is a member of the committee. Each year, she brings other faculty and seniors in the nursing program to the events to provide education to the public about staying healthy, including staying in touch with primary care physicians and managing chronic conditions.

Ouellet said officials will be screening everyone who comes to the festival for COVID-19, wearing face shields along with their masks.

“We’re going to make sure that everyone that attends the event doesn’t have a temperature or have any high risk symptoms, so we make sure everyone’s healthy that attends,” Ouellet said.

Even though the pandemic is on everyone’s minds, Ouellet wants the public to know that they still need to take care of themselves in other ways.

“We want to stress to the public that you can’t stop taking care of yourself,” Ouellet said.

 

— By Matt Grahn, Norwich Bulletin staff writer

The original article can be found here: ‘GNACC to hold health events at Dodd Stadium’