Just a reminder about the Educational Seminar going on this Saturday, offered through the Oregon Chapter of the Scleroderma Foundation. Even if you don’t have this particular disease, the information covered is offered by medical specialists, it is a disease that shares similar symptoms and challenges as lupus, and involves wonderful patients, group members and chapter officers who welcome opportunities to meet with others locally. I have been impressed with all that this group has done over the past years and I recommend that you join them this weekend for a few hours, to meet them yourself.
Here is their invitation to you and a little information about what their afternoon plans to offer:
“The Oregon Chapter of the Scleroderma Foundation has announced that Dr. Catherine J. Markin – a noted specialist in pulmonary disease and critical care medicine at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center, and Director of the Legacy Pulmonary Hypertension Program – will present the 9th Annual Cheri Woo Education Seminar ’s keynote address scheduled for Saturday, March 13, 2010 at Tuality Health Education Center in Hillsboro. The free public seminar runs 10am through 2pm.
Dr. Markin will offer “Lung Disease in Systemic Sclerosis: New Insights and Treatment Options” as part of the chapter’s daylong line-up of expert presentations intended to increase overall education and raise regional awareness of scleroderma, also known as systemic sclerosis.
In addition to Dr. Markin, the seminar is scheduled to present Dr. Anna A. Bar, an Assistant Professor of Dermatology and Dermatologic and Cosmetic Surgery at Oregon Health & Science University. Her seminar topic is Cutaneous Manifestations of Scleroderma and Laser Treatment. Justin Elson, DMD, of Gentech Dentist Hillsboro, will speak at the seminar on Scleroderma and Oral Health.
Scleroderma (pronounced sclare-a-derma), or systemic sclerosis, is a chronic connective tissue disease generally classified as one of the autoimmune rheumatic diseases. The term comes from two Greek words: “sclero” meaning hard, and “derma” meaning skin. Symptoms can range from extreme sensitivity to heat and cold to hardened skin to diminished lung capacity and disfigured face and limbs. Scleroderma can be fatal, and there is no known cause or cure. An estimated 300,000 people have scleroderma, of which 80,000 to 100,000 people in the US have the systemic form of the disease. Scleroderma affects four times as many women as men, usually between the ages 46 to 65.
The annual spring education seminar by the Oregon Scleroderma Chapter is always free and open to the public. Breakfast and lunch are provided with every registration.
For more information, and to register online .
