By ROBERT A. DEFRANK

Times Leader Staff Writer

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Dozens of senior citizens from across Belmont County visited a health fair at the J.B. Martin Rec Center recently.

The American Association of Retired Persons put on the event, which included about 20 vendors for such services as hospice, assisted living, home care and hearing centers providing information.

Charity May, registered nurse with the Skin Cancer Center at Wheeling Hospital, was guest speaker. The topic of her talk was raising awareness of the risk of skin cancer and the protective measures to prevent skin cancer or reduce risk. May went on to add that the skin is the body’s largest organ and many people often fail to consider the dangers of skin cancer.

She said these risks are greater among senior citizens.

“You’re at a much higher risk over the age of 60 for developing skin cancers due to the increase and exposures you’ve gathered over the years of your life. Generally these things do pop up over age 60.”

However, May said they are also rising numbers of cases where young people are developing these ailments as well.

“We’ve been seeing an increased risk in younger people due to things like tanning bed use, decreased use of sunscreen, those type of things,” she said.

May said it is recommended people avoid excessive sunlight if possible. If not, she recommends using sun protection factor 30 sunscreen.

“Once every hour is all you need, and sun-protective clothing, and just limit sun exposure between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. That’s the most important,” she said.

“We have a lot of skin cancer cases,” May said. “It’s very common.”

She spoke about the three chief types of skin cancer. Basal cell carcinoma often manifests as shiny red bumps and scars. Squamous cell carcinoma cancer usually appears as scaly, red patches, growths, lesions and open sores.

Both types usually appear on the arms, face and chest, which usually see the greatest sun exposure. Both are also usually localized.

Melanoma usually appears as dark brown or black spots. May said this invasive form of cancer is more likely to spread to lymph nodes and other organs. She stressed the importance of early detection and recommended regular mole checks for suspicious growths.

May also mentioned Wheeling Hospital’s melanoma center offers services to reduce the frequency of biopsies and associated costs.

“We use total body photography and dermoscopy to help reduce biopsy rates and monitor lesions over time instead of biopsying everything,” she said. “We want to help reduce the cost of that, and everybody doesn’t want everything that looks suspicious cut off immediately.

“You want to make sure it is actually something before removing it.”

Kathleen Bock, AARP project director, pointed out the wide variety of resources available at the health fair.

“I think it went pretty well. It was the first time we had it this year. August is Health Fair Month,” Brock said. “We had a lot of the nursing homes and extended facilities. It’s for people who are aging and need to take better care of their health, and be aware of wellness and of what resources are out there.”

Poochie Meder of Shadyside said the health fair provided valuable information. She said hospice services had been needed by a relative who had battled cancer. She also pointed out such activities as movercise.

“I belong to a Movercise class. They meet in Shadyside at the community center every Tuesday. We go through a lot of motions to keep our bodies active,” Meder said.

Josie Czahorosai of Shadyside said friends of hers have made use of assisted living.

“They were all interesting, but I’m not ready for that stuff yet,” she said.