If finding the perfect Mother’s Day gift is troubling you, consider encouraging your mother to attend the Women’s Health Fair, May 9. The day after Mother’s Day is the perfect time to encourage every woman in your life to receive free preventative screenings and a free well-woman exam. It is sponsored by the Health Science Center’s departments of pathology and family and community medicine and the University Health System. It will take place from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. on the third floor of the University Health Center downtown.
All women who attend will have the opportunity to receive free preventative screenings, and a free well-woman exam will be available to the first 100 women without health insurance. The exam includes free breast exams, Pap smears and STD screening. Stations for checking blood pressure; screening for diabetes, cholesterol and osteoporosis; and nutrition information will all be part of the free fair and available to all women who attend.
Carlos Jaén, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chairman of the department of family and community medicine, volunteered to provide service during the health fair.
“San Antonio has one of the highest rates of cervical cancer deaths in the country,” he said. “The reason is partly because there are more than 240,000 people in San Antonio who don’t have health insurance.”
The health fair coincides with National Women’s Check-up Day, the nation's largest preventive care check-up event and a component of National Women’s Health Week.
Sasha Loffredo, M.D., assistant professor in the department of family and community medicine, is one of the lead organizers of the event and hopes it will soon become an annual event.
“We are offering several ways for women to learn about their health,” Loffredo said. “Cervical cancer is preventable with regular Pap smears, but many women can’t afford to have yearly exams.”
Loffredo said opportunities to talk to doctors will also be available.
“We are going to have ‘ask the pharmacist’ and ‘ask the doctor’ booths set up,” she said. “This is a perfect opportunity for women to receive free, quality screenings and exams, and should be taken advantage of by every woman.”
