‘Healthy Do List’ Event Comes to Centralia College Next Week

Providence Centralia Hospital and Centralia Rotary Club are set to host Healthy Do List next week — an event to promote general health and educate people on questions they should ask their healthcare providers.

“People don’t know what to ask,” said Arnie Guenther, a Centralia Rotary Club member who has been instrumental in planning September health events with Providence for the past six years. “They’re hesitant to talk to their doctor like a real person, sometimes.”

The event will cover health screenings and questions people should ask their providers, healthy communication in relationships and provide samples of healthy food. The free event includes multiple speakers and resource tables.

The healthy menu has easy-to-make gourmet food, with recipes people can take home. The menu lists three appetizers, three entrees and two desserts. 

Appetizers include smoked salmon dill capers crostini, zucchini “sushi” rolls and polenta-olive tapenade bites. Entrees listed are cilantro lime roasted chicken, mashed potato with beets and balsamic parmesan roasted asparagus and tomato. The desserts are cheesecake stuffed strawberry and chocolate avocado pudding.

Cobie Whitten is with the Providence Regional Cancer System. She will speak at the event about communication and relationships and take questions from Providence’s Facebook page.

Chris Thomas, who is the communication senior manager for Providence Health & Services in Southwest Washington, said Providence will Facebook Live the event on its page for the first half hour or so of the event.

“If folks have questions for Cobie, they can send them in,” Thomas said. “We will ask them to her live on the Facebook Live video.”

Although this is the first Healthy Do List event, Providence Centralia Hospital and Centralia Rotary Club have hosted September events for the last six years. They began after Guenther had a health scare.

“Six years ago this month, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer,” Guenther said. “(I) had surgery in November of 2012. Then when I was home for a couple of weeks, and stayed pretty close to home, the idea of trying to do some sort of program to educate men about prostate cancer (came to me).”

Guenther said that prior to his diagnosis he didn’t know much about prostate cancer and hadn’t been to the doctor for a “long, long time.”

Guenther spoke with other members of the Centralia Rotary Club and Thomas. The Centralia Rotary Club partnered with the hospital and hosted the first event in 2013.

“He got the screenings done and had the surgeries done,” Thomas said. “Then he got energized about promoting prostate cancer awareness.” 

For the first two years, the event was about men’s health and prostate cancer awareness. For the next couple years, the event focused on overall cancer awareness, cancer education and new treatments. Now, event organizers are calling it “Healthy Do List” to promote overall health.

“The Healthy Do List is a little bit more of a general health type thing on how to talk to your doctor and what to ask,” Guenther said. “It just kind of morphed into that. … I think you try to reinvent yourself a bit with these kinds of programs, so you’re not always trying to provide the same information.”

This event takes place from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27 at TransAlta Hall at Centralia College. To register for this free event, go to www.provregister.org or call 360-330-8656.