Shonda Schilling, Wife of Boston Red Sox Pitcher Curt Schilling, Teaches Sun Safety to 4th and 5th Grade Students In Baltimore County

Thursday, April 26th, 2007 at 2:46 pm · Blog

Students enter SunWise with Shade Poster Contest

Baltimore County, MD — Shonda Schilling, the Founder of the SHADE Foundation of America and wife of Boston Red Sox Pitcher Curt Schilling, shared impor­tant infor­ma­tion about sun-safety with stu­dents at Colgate Elementary School in Baltimore, MD today. Statistics indi­cate 1 in 5 kids will grow up to develop skin can­cer, the most com­mon form of can­cer in the U.S. Shonda, a grad­u­ate of Colgate Elementary School, is a melanoma sur­vivor who is pas­sion­ate about her work to pre­vent future cases of skin cancer.

“My hope is by speak­ing to these kids I can help reduce or elim­i­nate the alarm­ing sta­tis­tics. I remem­ber the scare that I went through after being diag­nosed with can­cer. If I can save even one fam­ily from hav­ing to deal with the pain my fam­ily and I dealt with, it will be worth it,” said Shonda Schilling.

Shonda uses the SunWise cur­ricu­lum to drive home her mes­sage with the kids. The SunWise pro­gram is a free envi­ron­men­tal and health cur­ricu­lum cre­ated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency that over 20,000 edu­ca­tors across the coun­try have signed up to use. Shonda informs stu­dents of the respon­si­ble sun-safe behav­iors and encour­ages stu­dents to enter the SunWise with SHADE Poster Contest. The con­test calls for stu­dents to cre­atively incor­po­rate the basic sun-safety mes­sages in a poster to win prizes. The basic mes­sage includes:

  • Do not burn and avoid sun tan­ning and tan­ning beds
  • Generously apply sun­screen (SPF 15+)
  • Wear pro­tec­tive cloth­ing– sun­glasses, hats and full length shirts and pants
  • Seek shade and be extra care­ful near reflec­tive sur­faces includ­ing water, snow and sand
  • Watch for the UV Index– a mea­sure of UV inten­sity included in many weather forecasts

EPA rep­re­sen­ta­tives joined Shonda today to explain the con­nec­tion between the ozone layer, known as the Earth’s sun­screen, and skin can­cer. They pointed out the impor­tance in talk­ing to young kids.

“Reaching chil­dren at an early age and edu­cat­ing them about sun-safety is key in the fight to erad­i­cate skin can­cer,” says Drusilla Hufford, U.S. EPA’s Stratospheric Protection Division Director. “That is why EPA’s SunWise Program is a proud part­ner with the SHADE Foundation and encour­ages all chil­dren from kinder­garten through eighth grade to enter the SunWise with SHADE poster con­test before May 10th.

SHADE Foundation of America is a 501-C3 launched in 2002 that is ded­i­cated to erad­i­cat­ing melanoma through the edu­ca­tion of chil­dren and the com­mu­nity in the pre­ven­tion and detec­tion of skin can­cer and the pro­mo­tion of sun safety.

EPA’s SunWise Program is a free envi­ron­men­tal and health edu­ca­tion pro­gram that helps teach the pub­lic how to pro­tect them­selves from over­ex­po­sure to the sun through the use of classroom-, school-, and community-based com­po­nents. For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.epa.gov/sunwise.

The SHADE Foundation offers the fol­low­ing tips for com­bat­ing skin cancer:

  • Pick the right sun­screen – You should always pick a sun­screen with at least SPF 15, how­ever your search shouldn’t end there. The sun emits UVA and UVB rays, both of which can be very harm­ful to the skin. UVB rays, which are the pri­mary cause of skin can­cer, are usu­ally blocked by win­dows or glass which UVA rays can pen­e­trate through. Make sure when pick­ing a sun­screen, you choose a prod­uct that pro­tects against both of these harm­ful sun rays.
  • Reapply sun­screen every 90 min­utes – Many peo­ple think apply­ing sun­screen once dur­ing the day pro­vides them with the nec­es­sary pro­tec­tion. However, a strong sun­screen needs to be applied every 90 min­utes to achieve the nec­es­sary cov­er­age and protection.
  • Stay out of the sun dur­ing peak hours – Seeking shade or stay­ing indoors dur­ing the suns most intense hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. greatly increases your chance for sun safety.
  • Avoid Burns – Prolonged expo­sure to the sun enhances the chance of get­ting sig­nif­i­cant sun­burn which greatly increases the chance of devel­op­ing melanoma. In fact, receiv­ing five or more sun­burns dur­ing your life­time dou­bles your risk of devel­op­ing skin cancer.
  • Beware of Reflective Sunlight – Most peo­ple think if they’re out of direct sun­light they are out of harms way. However, often sun­light reflected off con­crete, wind­shields, awnings, water and even snow can be just as harm­ful and unavoid­able as direct sunlight.
  • Check Your Skin Regularly– make an annual appoint­ment to see your dermatologist

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