Virtual health-wellness expo set Jan. 30: Chesney

Dr. John-Mark Chesney, owner/physical therapist of Simply Physio at 111 Loudoun Road in Farragut, is organizing a virtual health-and-wellness expo for Saturday, Jan. 30.

“We’re planning it from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” Chesney said. “Our plan is to have scheduled speakers so each health expert will have a topic that they’re presenting, from 20 to 30 minutes.

“The general public will be invited with access to the event,” he added.

Once registered, attendees can listen to all the presenters or just a selected speaker.

One such speaker will be Dr. Raye-Anne Ayo with Family Care Farragut, who will be speaking on what factors should be considered in deciding whether or not to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

Others include Dr. Mark McColl, a Hardin Valley physician who will talk about insulin-resistance and how it affects diabetes; Dr. Nicholas Panella, an ear, nose and throat specialist, who will talk about allergies; and Emily Kopek, owner of Restorative Functional Medicine.

Register at www.simplypt.com/health-expo/ or by calling 865-351-0615.

Chesney said the event would give “people an option to regain their health when all these live events have been cancelled.

“We know people are suffering, and we want to help people during these challenging times,” he added.

In researching possible expos in the area, Chesney discovered in-person events have been cancelled.

“I thought, ‘we can do better than this,’” he noted. “We don’t just have to cancel everybody’s health.

“What I’ve learned this year is to give people a little bit more grace and understanding, but also there are more ways to do things if you just think a little creatively,” Chesney added.

While such an event can’t be held in-person in the middle of a pandemic, “People still need help more than ever because people are shut in, people have home offices, people aren’t going out to their gyms,” Chesney said.

“There are a lot of things that have come up, as far a overall, just (concerning) the general public’s health,” he added, “So if there’s a time more than ever to have some sort of health expo, it’s right now.”

Chesney also offers an online podcast, “Stay Healthy Knoxville,” which features local medical experts.

For more information about the event, call Simply Physio at 865-351-0615.

“I love getting connected with people, but I also love connecting other people with the wealth of expert health and wellness providers that we have in the area,” he said. “I’ve developed a lot of connections in the area, so it’s allowed me to more easily see a need.”