Libraries are offering free health and wellness classes across the US

MILWAUKEE (AP) With a blood pressure cuff and a mental health questionnaire ready, the Aurora Health Care Mobile Medical Clinic staff waited calmly at a table in the main hallway of the expansive downtown branch of the Milwaukee Public Library. They called out to patrons who paused, “Do you have any questions about your health?”

One man did this Tuesday afternoon. He complained of joint pain to the team’s nurse practitioner, Carolyn McCarthy. Additionally, he stopped taking his calcium channel blocker, a blood pressure drug, because he knew that calcium was necessary for strong bones.

McCarthy explained to him in detail, using straightforward language, how the drug affected his cells, why it was necessary to take, and how it had no effect on the way calcium was stored in his bones.

McCarthy hoped that he left with a little more knowledge.

Across the United States, libraries of all sizes—from huge urban systems to small rural town libraries—offer a variety of health programs, including the mobile clinic. They provide cooking lessons, food pantries, fitness programs, talks about mental health and loneliness, and even blood pressure monitors that are available for check-out like books.

Public health initiatives make use of libraries’ standing as trustworthy information sources and their capacity to connect with people outside of official healthcare settings. There are no restrictions on age, money, insurance, language proficiency, or identification needed. Everyone is welcome.

According to Jaime Placht, a health and wellbeing specialist at the Kansas City Public Library system in Kansas City, Missouri, libraries are the last real public institution. There is a full-time social work team within the system. The library is a place for public health.

The American Heart Association’s Libraries with Heart initiative includes the Kansas City Public Library, Milwaukee, and a number of other libraries. Blood pressure stations at many branches in Kansas City have been used 13,000 times, according to Placht, and take-home blood pressure kits have been checked out almost 100 times. About a year ago, the program had its start there.

We have customers who say, “I went to see my doctor for the first time in a long time because I used the blood pressure monitor at the library,” Placht said.

The little Texas town of Jarrell, which is situated between Austin and Waco, does not have a public health office. However, a charity library can help clients find mental health resources. The St. David’s Foundation, the charitable arm of one of the biggest health systems in the state, funds nine rural libraries in central Texas.

Brave conversations take place at the Jarrell Community Library and Resource Center. “The library brought in local experts to teach about end-of-life planning after a senior card game group got into a debate about which crematorium in town was the best,” said Susan Gregurek, library director. Seven women sought information from the library last year about obtaining restraining orders against their spouses.

Gregurek stated, “This is mental health, but it’s clearly larger than mental health.”

Smithville, Texas’s public library, which also receives funding from the Libraries for Health program, has developed programs to help parents, teens, and senior citizens deal with loneliness and keeps boxes of extra food from local farms. In the neighborhood southeast of Austin, the library’s peer support specialist now serves around 60 people each month, up from four to five previously.

Judy Bergeron, director of the Smithville library, said that the St. David’s Foundation’s more than $3 million investment in the program over the course of three years is crucial when she hears questions such, “Why are we funding the library so much?” Nowadays, no one reads.

The mobile health clinic has been in Milwaukee’s libraries for a year and a half, and on average, it sees eight visitors per visit. According to McCarthy, several patients have returned to say they had a life-saving treatment at the hospital. There have also been patients who passed away without seeking assistance.

McCarthy described the clinic’s actions as a Band-Aid solution to a dysfunctional healthcare system.

Chef Sharrie Agee has been running a weekly after-school program at the Mitchell Street branch of the Milwaukee library since 2022, which teaches children about good eating practices.

According to Agee, whose class learns how to make snacks from many continents, some parts of Milwaukee don’t have the same opportunity to (get) nutritious ingredients, healthy food sources, and the knowledge behind how to use those ingredients.

This month, she asked the other guests, “What country is pizza from?” as four young cooks assisted her in chopping cheese and tomatoes for a pizza. What ingredients does the recipe call for?

Ruby Herrera, 40, brought her kids so they could taste new dishes and learn how to create a healthy meal. Everything is prepared in the air fryer by her elder children.

Seven-year-old Yareni Orduna-Herrera smiled as she ran to her mother after finishing her tomato-slicing assignment.

In addition to wanting to learn how to prepare rice and beans, she stated that she would try the dish at home once again. She had to try the pizza first, though.

“The one I made,” she remarked proudly.

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