A guest speaker who will discuss folk medicine and a 5K run/walk to help Stone Oak Elementary School students purchase a sun shade for their playground are this week’s upcoming events.

Guest speaker to discuss curanderismo and folk medicine

Eliseo Torres, author of “Green Medicine,” “The Folk Healer” and “Healing with Herbs and Ritual,” will present “Mexican & Mexican American Folk Medicine & Folk Beliefs: Curanderismo & Hierbas Medicinales.” The presentation will take place from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, March 8, in the Dental School lecture hall, Room 1.284T.

Torres is vice president of student affairs at the University of New Mexico where he has a summer program focusing on traditional folk healing which is associated with the medical school health care clinic, the pueblo community and Mexico.

The lecture is sponsored by the center for integrative health as part of the Health Science Center’s South Texas Health Research Center.

For more information, call 210-567-7826 or visit cih.uthscsa.edu


Elementary School Runs to Fight Skin Cancer

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The phrase “Run for Cover” has taken on a double meaning at Stone Oak Elementary.

Parents from the school are planning a 5K walk/run as part of an effort to raise awareness about the risk of skin cancer and to raise funds to purchase a protective cover for the school playground.

The Health Science Center’s National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health is participating in this event because “healthy women mean healthy families,” said Martha Medrano, M.D., one of the center’s co-directors. “Women are the gatekeepers of health in our families and in particular, for our children. Preventing skin cancer to keep our children and ourselves healthy is what women’s health is all about.”

The run/walk is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 3, at McAllister Park Pavilion #2, and is open to all runners and walkers. All proceeds from the run will be earmarked for a sun shade structure to cover playgrounds at Stone Oak Elementary.

"The sun is the main cause of skin cancer and most of our sun exposure — up to 80 percent — happens before we turn 18 years of age,” said Dr. Thomas Mayes, professor and chairman of the department of pediatrics at the Health Science Center. “Sun exposure in early childhood and adolescence contributes to skin cancer. Two or more blistering sunburns as a child or teen increase the risk of developing skin cancer later in life. It is vital to protect babies and children from sunburn.”

Sun exposure is the only avoidable risk factor for melanoma. Basal and squamous cell cancers are caused by cumulative exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. Students play at recess and have physical education during the time the sun’s rays are the strongest — 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Students at each grade level have been learning how to protect themselves from harmful ultraviolet rays and want to take their efforts one step further by raising money for a sun shade structure.

“I'm a prime example of the risk of childhood sun exposure and the development of skin cancer as an adult,” Dr. Mayes said. “Despite spending the last half of my life inside and out of the sun, I developed skin cancer from exposure to the sun and all too frequent sunburns as a child in West Texas."


For more information about the event, please contact Kathleen Schenken at 210-264-3996, koschenken@sbcglobal.net or Chrystal Payne at 210-393-7992 quadpayne@aol.com.

To register online for the run visit the Stone Oak Elementary Website at www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1390368.