Every Fall, the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce (founded in 1895!!) organizes a Business Expo that takes place at the Crowne Plaza in Cromwell. The Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC) is a member of the chamber and has participated in the Expo for 15 years. By partaking in the Expo, each organization is assigned a booth and able to present their business or a message to the hundreds of people who attend the daylong event. Currently, the Chamber has over 2,000 member businesses and although not everyone attends the expo, the number of participating booths is well over 500.  I can speak from experience when describing CHC’s creativity and enthusiasm year after year when it comes to choosing a theme for our booth. This year, the idea to promote the Affordable Care Act, also known as ‘OBAMA Care’ was an easy choice. CHC has established a strong workforce behind the recent health care reform law, especially throughout this past month and we wanted to promote our services to the public of Middlesex County who attends the day portion of the event. This past Tuesday, October 29^th, our EXPO booth promoted the message: “Don’t Let the Affordable Care Act Scare You this Halloween Season!”

Aside from our spooky and fun decorations, we had an ACA-centric PowerPoint displaying photos from recent enrollment fairs and outreach events along with basic facts about the new law. We also had plenty of CHC handouts and brochures filled with information for people to take as they please. Another large component of the business expo booth is the wardrobe choice for staff. Although a business expo can be determined a formal event, we like to take that extra step and coordinate outfits that fit our booth’s theme. Seeing that we are a health center, promoting a Halloween theme, the choice of dressing up as “Zombie Doctors” was a fun way to get people excited about a somewhat sensitive topic. All in all, it was a great experience speaking with a variety of people about OBAMAcare. We received positive responses to our festive booth, crazy wigs & zombie makeup along with sincere appreciation for promoting the new law.

I also would like to add a special THANK YOU to Walter Squier, a member of CHC’s facilities team. Every year, Walter goes above and beyond to make sure the Expo setup and operation runs smoothly. Without Walt and his hard work and dedication, we would never be able to have such a wonderful setup.