Hundreds turned out at the Rosemead Community Center on Muscatel Avenue on Saturday for a health and fitness clinic and exercise demonstration.

Sponsored by both the city of Rosemead and Joy Kung Fu, those who came could get free health screenings - such as blood pressure monitoring, blood sugar level testing and even dental screenings - and were treated to shows of eastern culture that featured martial arts acts and tai chi demonstrations as the event was geared heavily toward the local Asian community.

"Today's important to the community," said Rosemead Councilmember Steven Ly. "Basically, today is about promoting two things: one is physical fitness, and two is cultural awareness. Today, it's about learning martial arts, eastern and western health, and it's an event that bridges the communities together. We hope to do it again."

Many people came from around the community to volunteer to make the event a reality. Minh-Vu Nguyen, a pre-med student at UCLA, said the event is necessary for the Asian community as many in this country don't have enough access to proper health care.

"There's a lot of underprivileged in the Asian community," Nguyen said. "Our job is to volunteer to provide the help they need for health care."

Nguyen added there are many reasons why Asian Americans are not receiving proper medical care.

"A lot of people, because of linguistic and cultural barriers, they cannot visit doctors and get the proper health care," he said. "We're here to provide free health screenings to adults. After that, we follow up and find them free clinics for health care."

David Montgomery Scott, parks and recreation director for the city, said he hopes Rosemead will be able to join up again in the future with Joy of Kung Fu to keep this event going.

"The Joy of Kung Fu has conducted it several years now and this was the first they asked us to partner with them, so there's a good chance it will happen again next year," he said.

Mei Ling Su, coordinator for Joy of Kung Fu, agreed.

"We did a community service and had many people do health screenings," she said. "Others received Chinese medical treatment. Also, kids were fingerprinted. We will continue to do this service."

(Shel Segal can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)