Bismarck science center promoting wellness with Gateway to Health event

Bismarck wellness event draws 800 to Gateway to Health science fair

Sarah Mills | GlobalBeat

The Gateway to Health fair pulled 800 residents into Bismarck’s North Dakota Heritage Center on Saturday for free blood pressure checks, gut-health demos, and a walk-through colon.

Organizers ran out of screening slots by 2 p.m., turning families away for the first time in the event’s 7-year history.

The crush signals mounting concern over rural North Dakota’s climbing obesity and diabetes rates, state epidemiologist Kirby Kruger told reporters. “People want numbers they can trust, and they want them locally,” Kruger said.

Visitors started lining up at 8 a.m. for the 10 a.m. kickoff, forming a snake of parkas past the museum’s dinosaur skeleton. Inside, 42 booths offered cholesterol finger-sticks, balance tests, flu shots, and cooking lessons that swapped lard for lentils. A synthetic-waste display let kids stir fake poop to learn fiber’s effect on digestion.

Event founder and University of Mary nursing dean Connie Miller said planners expected 500 at most. “We printed 750 maps. Gone in 45 minutes,” Miller said. The North Dakota Department of Health footed the $24,000 bill, twice last year’s budget, after legislative Democrats tacked on emergency wellness funds in January.

Governor Tammy Miller, touring with her 12-year-old daughter, tried a virtual-reality headset that simulates diabetic vision. “Distorted, like swimming in syrup,” the governor told reporters. She pledged to request another $30,000 for 2027, asking university researchers to “bring the science to the supermarket aisles people actually walk.”

Rural turnout surprised organizers. A fleet of 11 senior-center buses arrived from towns 90 miles away. Eighty-two-year-old Harvey Bender rode 2 hours from Ashley to check blood sugar he last tested in 2019. “Our clinic closed Thursdays. This is easier than a three-hour round trip to Fargo,” Bender said. His A1C read 9.4 percent, prompting an on-the-spot referral to a traveling endocrinologist.

Local vendors sold out. Schulte and Sons Produce shifted 300 bags of “Bismarck beets” advertised as nitrate-rich heart helpers. Yoga-for-You owner Rachel Tang handed 120 trial passes after demonstrating desk stretches with office chairs. “I normally see 12 walk-ins on a weekend,” Tang said.

St. Alexius Medical Center staffed a 10-bed tent offering free sleep-apnea screening. All 60 appointment slots filled by noon, forcing techs to recruit volunteers from the cafeteria line. Respiratory therapist Gil Orrante said half tested positive for moderate obstruction, a rate double last year’s state average. “People gained weight during the pandemic and never lost it,” Orrante said.

Background

North Dakota’s adult obesity rate hit 35.6 percent in 2025, up from 30.9 percent in 2020, according to state BRFSS data released last month. Diabetes prevalence rose to 10.8 percent, the first time the figure has cracked double digits since tracking began in 1996. Rural counties fare worst: McIntosh County posts a 42 percent obesity rate, compared with 28 percent in urban Cass County.

The legislature slashed public-health grants by 18 percent in 2023 but reversed course this winter after hospital associations warned emergency-room diabetes visits cost $84 million annually. The turnaround funded Gateway to Health plus a mobile screening van due to launch in June.

What’s Next

Miller wants to double 2027 capacity and add mental-health booths after surveys showed 1 in 4 attendees report anxiety. State officials will meet vendors May 5 to scout the Bismarck Event Center, a hall three times larger. If funding clears the June appropriations committee, tickets will still be free, but pre-registration will open online to prevent another overflow.

For now, organizers email results to 712 residents who left contact info, urging follow-ups within 90 days. St. Alexius has already booked 43 new-clinic appointments, and the state diabetes hotline saw a 300 percent spike in calls over the weekend, numbers that hint the one-day fair may translate into longer-term care.