By Patrick Olivero
Representatives from the Parker Family Health Center were on hand to offer information during the Two River Theater’s annual Women’s Health Fair in March. PATRICK OLIVERO
RED BANK – Two River Theater hosted its third annual Women’s Health Fair in Red Bank during Women’s History Month, bringing together more than 25 community partners for a day centered on resources, education and wellness.
The event was held March 14 in conjunction with the theater’s production of “A Doll’s House,” which organizer Jennifer Pisano said connected naturally with the fair’s broader focus on women’s health and well-being.
Pisano, marketing campaign specialist at Two River Theater, said the event grew out of the theater’s belief that “art is health” and is part of a larger holistic wellness effort. She said planning for this year’s fair took about six months and included more than 25 community partners, along with four presenters offering sessions on topics ranging from Pilates and anxiety management to Social Security benefits and reproductive health resources.
Inside the theater, community groups and health organizations staffed information tables as visitors moved through the lobby, asking questions, collecting pamphlets and learning about local services. Tables from medical, nonprofit and community organizations lined the space, reflecting the event’s effort to offer a wide range of support in one place.
Among the participants was Patricia Hessinger, a registered nurse with Hackensack Meridian Outreach, who said her team was offering wellness screenings during the fair. Those screenings included blood pressure, pulse and oxygen saturation checks, along with finger-stick tests for total cholesterol and blood glucose. Hessinger, who said she has worked as a nurse for 35 years, described outreach work that also includes education, angiography screenings and other wellness services.
Pisano said the fair was organized in conjunction with the borough of Red Bank’s Mayor’s Wellness Campaign and thanked Mayor Billy Portman’s office, Suzy Dyer, executive director of Parker Family Health Center in Red Bank, and Adriana Medina-Gomez, a board member at Two River Theater, among others involved in supporting the event. She also pointed to a wide network of participating organizations, including 180 Turning Lives Around, Hackensack Meridian Health, HABcore, Lunch Break, the Monmouth County Health Department, Parker Family Health Center, the Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Central New Jersey, the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center, Count Basie Center for the Arts, The Feast warming center, Village Lift and the Visiting Nurses Association of Central Jersey.
For local residents, the fair offered a chance to connect face-to-face with providers and organizations serving women and families across the area. Pisano said the goal was to give visitors information they could use in the future. “We hope that there’s something that they can learn today that they can carry forward with them for more holistic wellness in their personal life,” she said.
The article originally appeared in the May 7 – May 13, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
