Traveling Health Exhibit Educates, Entertains

An 18-wheeler customized to haul a rather unusual cargo -- a trailerful of family-oriented health exhibits -- may soon be headed your way.

Beginning Aug. 5, the Total Family Health Tour -- an initiative spearheaded by the Discovery Health Channel in partnership with the AAFP, American Diabetes Association and other organizations and sponsored by PepsiCo's Smart Spot program -- takes to the road. As part of that initiative, a 53-foot tractor-trailer rig housing a traveling health exhibit will make stops at summer festivals throughout the United States for eight consecutive weekends.

"By going on the road, Discovery Health Channel reaches out to families in their communities to provide resources about the most relevant health issues and empowers families to achieve healthier, longer and more fulfilling lives," said Eileen O'Neill, senior vice president and general manager of Discovery Health Channel in a news release.

The mobile exhibit will offer families across the country health care resources and information in a unique and interactive setting. Information on nutrition, fitness, preventive health care, family balance, parenting and some specific diseases gives participants a road map to achieving and maintaining healthy lifestyles.

As a partner in the project, the AAFP has provided literally tons of patient education materials, including 30,000 copies of the 2005 edition of Family Doctor -- Your Essential Guide to Health and Wellbeing and 35,000 copies each of patient education brochures on such topics as childhood vaccinations, prostate cancer and breast cancer.

In addition, computer kiosks inside the big rig will feature content from AAFP's online patient education resource, familydoctor.org. AAFP constituent chapters have been tapped to provide family physicians as spokespersons for local media.

Quarterly television specials and a strong online presence at the Discovery Health Channel Web site are also key components of the Total Family Health initiative.