When it comes to staying healthy, early detection of problems is often the key to solving medical issues.

Stony Brook Medicine offers a variety of free health screenings for the community to check symptoms before they become big concerns.

Neighbors takes a break for a blood pressure check through Stony Brook Medicine’s outreach at Smith Haven Mall.

Stony Brook health care professionals provide a wide variety of screenings at health fairs and community events throughout Suffolk County. They go out into the community to make a health check easy and convenient. By helping individuals and organizations gain access to services at Stony Brook Medicine, friends and neighbors can live healthier lives.

Some of the screenings look at blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels which can often reveal early warning signs for heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

In addition, screenings for prostate cancer, glaucoma, vascular disease, memory loss, anxiety, osteoporosis, and more are offered on at various times from Stony Brook Medicine.

Other ways of reaching the community for health promotion and disease prevention are lectures and workshops offered at locations around the community.

For 10 years, the Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB) has hosted the “College 101: A Day at Stony Brook”  program, offering students from challenged backgrounds an opportunity to view college life.

This year, the members and former members of the SAAB fraternity brought 31 students from the High School of Public Service in Brooklyn to campus.

High school students from Brooklyn visited the Stony Brook campus to learn about the college experience.

The volunteers from SAAB see the importance of helping others just as someone  once helped them.

The event is a program coordinated by The Association for the Social Advancement of People (ASAP), a non-profit organization. The focus of ASAP is to teach financial literacy and social responsibility to high school students, particularly males, who reside in financially underprivileged communities.

A student panel made up of campus leaders from SAAB, the EOP Student Association and Sigma Lambda Upsilon Sorority shared tips on how to prepare for the college application process. They also presented ways to balance academics and social responsibilities and finding a major that matches their passions and goals.

The program was held at the Charles B. Wang Center on campus. The students enjoyed a breakfast while listening to a guest speaker before splitting up into two groups at attend information sessions led by the Financial Aid Office and EOP/AIM Admissions.

The visit ended with a campus tour down the Academic Mall and the Campus Recreation Center.

Stony Brook University has dozens of fraternities, sororities, clubs and organizations, drawing hundreds of campus students for membership.

A new fraternity chartered this fall is the Stony Brook chapter of Pi Kappa Phi. The group is focused on being a positive light through campus involvement and community service.

Members of a new fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, are helping people with disabilities.

Pi Kappa Phi held a bike-a-thon, their first outdoor event, in October. The goal was to raise awareness for children with disabilities.

The group set the stage by placing stationary bikes under a tent on the Academic Mall. Students took turns pedaling away, with members riding on the bikes at all times during the 8am-6pm day.

Many students, faculty and staff stopped by the event to inquire about the activity and offer support.

Pi Kappa Phi  had a fundraising goal of $500 and was able to surpass that to $640 through the  interest of the campus community. Funds are donated to the Ability Experience, a nonprofit philanthropic organization created and managed by the national fraternity making a difference for people with disabilities.

The bike-a-thon is modeled after a national fundraising event called the Journey of Hope, where participants pedal from the west coast to Washington, D.C. to create awareness and improve the lives of people with disabilities.