BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A Juneteenth celebration on Buffalo’s East Side is helping connect residents with health and wellness resources, all while bringing the community together.
Community Access Services hosted its sixth annual Juneteenth kickoff event Friday on Bailey Avenue, offering free rapid HIV testing, community vendors, food, music and activities for families.
For resident Rosyln Blackmon, the event was a reminder of why access to healthcare matters.
“Health is wealth,” Blackmon said. “If you go to the doctor, get a checkup, you'll be able to live a healthy life. You don't have to struggle through the ups and downs and the pains, the ins and outs. So, it's in the community, right at your hands. Get help — if you don't go, you can't get help.”
WATCH: Community Access Services hosts Juneteenth kickoff to connect Buffalo with health resources
The nonprofit, which focuses on healthcare access and addressing the HIV epidemic in communities of color, said the event is designed to bring resources directly into neighborhoods where barriers to care often exist.
“We bring partners to the community to bring resources that folks may not necessarily always have access to on a daily basis right to their neighborhood,” said Kim Brown, executive director of Community Access Services.
Brown said communities in Buffalo’s 14215 zip code are often disproportionately impacted by social determinants of health, including transportation challenges, housing instability and financial barriers that can make it difficult to access health care services.
“Those communities are often disproportionately impacted by social determinants of health, lack of access to transportation, adequate housing, and just finances to be able to leave out of their communities to seek out services that are not directly here,” Brown said. “So our goal is to bring it to the community, so they don't have to leave the comforts of their homes or their neighborhoods to get what they deserve.”
In addition to free health services, the event featured bounce houses, a food truck, a DJ and local vendors focused on wellness and community support.
“It feels really, really beautiful inside and out to see everybody out gathering, trying to get information, and care about themselves,” Blackmon said.
Community Access Services says its mission to expand healthcare access is continuing beyond the event. The organization is planning a new health hub at Bailey Avenue and Kensington Avenue that will include primary care services and a pharmacy — helping address what leaders call a pharmacy desert in the neighborhood.
