Maria Pardo: Helping people where they are

The Health on the Hilltop Fair offered services and resources to the local community.
(Credit: Maria Pardo)

Health care access and affordability are among the biggest barriers facing Americans today. More than a third (36%) report putting off care in the past 12 months because of cost, and 43% say they’ve delayed filling prescriptions because of cost.

Second-year MPH student Maria Pardo was originally hired as additional support at Hilltop Pharmacy in Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood. Still, when her boss, pharmacy owner Alex Rothey, PharmD (PHARM ’18), learned she was pursuing her MPH, the conversation turned to how they could help the community. 

“We wanted to do this health fair to allow the community to gain access to resources that they might not have easy access to,” said Pardo.  “We also wanted to introduce people to local clinics and organizations that specialize in serving medically underserved populations.” 

The fair featured on-site health screenings and resources like harm reduction supplies, such as Narcan and drug testing strips, as well as sexual health and reproduction kits. 

One of the biggest challenges Pardo says was the uncertainty about whether people would attend. 

“I spent a lot of time creating flyers, distributing them to local clinics and businesses, handing out informational cards to pharmacy customers, and promoting the event on social media,” she said.  “It taught me the importance of focusing on what I could control—building strong community partnerships and meeting people where they are. That building trust and awareness takes time, even when an event is well planned.” 

When the day arrived, that anxiety melted away as people turned out in droves and, perhaps more rewarding, gave overwhelmingly positive feedback. “My biggest takeaway was seeing how much people appreciate when their community invests in them, said Pardo, adding that seeing the success of the fair reinforced what data say: increasing access to health resources makes a meaningful difference. 

In addition to volunteer work that taught her to be an open ear and ask important questions, Pardo says the Managing Health Programs and Projects course she took during her first year helped prepare her to manage a large-scale event like this. 

“[This] course taught me that a clear line of communication is key when executing a health program, and the same can be applied when coordinating a health fair,” she said. “It also helped me in developing marketing strategies” 

She also credits other courses like Social and Behavioral Science for helping her understand the social-ecological framework and that improving health requires impacts multiple levels of influence and not just individual behaviors. 

As she turns her focus towards the second year of studies, Pardo says the experience was a defining moment in her professional growth and has deepened her passion for developing and advocating for policy that improves health equity and expands access to quality healthcare for underserved communities.

- Mike Friend