Health fair to teach students about their bodies

The fair will feature 20 to 25 health organizations including the People with AIDS Coalition, the March of Dimes and The Pima County Health Department.

"The Student Health Advisory Council tries to make students aware of our own health and issues like AIDS," said general biology senior Jon McGreevy, director of the Student Health Advisory Council.

Free and confidential AIDS testing will be offered as part of the fair. Tests will be given in three confidential locations within five minutes walking distance from the Mall, McGreevy said.

The Wellness Center will give body composition tests and host a program on nicotine and tobacco cessation.

McGreevy said the fair benefits students in two ways: it provides them with hard-to-get information and presents opportunities to volunteer.

"It is important to let students know what options are out there in terms of family planning, AIDS Information," McGreevy said. "Ten thousand students cross the Mall daily. This way they can get a name and number."

Jim Ader, a liver transplant recipient, will give a speech titled "The Miracle of Transplant" from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Memorial Student Union Tucson Room. The presentation will last about a half hour and the rest of the time will be devoted to questions and answers.

Ader, a retired FBI special agent, received the transplant at the University of California-Los Angeles in May 1996 and said his speech will take students "to the edge and back again.

"I am alive because of the completely unselfish act of a stranger," Ader said.

Ader and his wife, Sheila, dedicate their lives to educating and inspiring others about the benefits of transplants. The couple, who pay their own travel expenses, said they have given more than 120 presentations, hoping to give someone else a chance at life.

Jim Ader said telling family members about organ donor preference is the best way to become a donor. Having a donor card or "yes" on a driver license, he said, does not guarantee donation.

"You must have family support. A family member can change your decision," Ader said. "You are sharing life by sharing that decision."

Eight to 10 people die each day from organ or tissue disease, and one donor, he said, can change the lives of 75 people.