Listen to four empowering speakers on current topics of interest for a healthy community. Speaker will present at the top fo the hour from 11am – 2pm. Your emcees will be Sara Mansfield, M.S. and Kurt Schleyhan.
Below are brief descriptions of our presenters and their topics.
Kemia Sarraf MD, MPH
genH Coalition Founder & Director
Presenting – “Healthy Kids Initiative” – 11:00am
genH (generation Healthy!) Coalition Founder and Director, Kemia Sarraf, M.D., M.P.H. will speak about the health risks facing today’s children due to the poor quality of their diets, inadequate physical activity and sleep deprivation. The genH Coalition is working in Sangamon County to make improvements in the health of every child through education, empowerment, increased physical activity and improved nourishment. This lecture will cover both the breadth and scope of the health crisis facing our children, as well as individual, family and community-based solutions that are currently being implemented by the genH Coalition in local schools and community groups.
Kemia Sarraf, MD, MPH "Healthy Kids Initiative"
Kemia is a Board Certified physician in Internal Medicine. She completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, after receiving her Medical Degree from the University of Utah School of Medicine, and Master’s of Public Health from the University of Utah Department of Family and Preventive Medicine.
Kemia served for three years on the Executive Committee of the Association of American Medical Colleges, and was National Chairperson of the Organization of Student Representatives for the Association. During her tenure at the AAMC, she worked on topics ranging from NIH funding, to improving medical education and physician communication skills, to end-of-life training for physicians.
The education and health of children is Dr. Sarraf’s driving passion. She currently is not in private practice, opting instead to devote her time and energy to her family and to the genH Coalition and its Mission to improve the health of all children.
Joyce Surbeck-Harris, PhD
Seven Feathers
Presenting – ” 7 Miracles of Healing” – noon
Traditional American Indian healers have long believed the animals are here to teach us how to survive and the plants contain everything we need to be healthy. Healing is considered a journey rather than a destination and it is a partnership between the individual with dis-ease and a healer whether that healer be an allopathic physician, a counselor, a priest, or an alternative practitioner. This presentation will highlight those seven factors that make for medical miracles. They are simple things each of us can do. Learn how to become an active partner in your own healing whether it be on the physical level, the mental, emotional, or spiritual level.
Joyce Surbeck-Harris, PhD "7 Miracles of Healing"
Joyce grew up on a farm in West Central Illinois. She earned a PhD in the design and implementation of education programs for adult learners. Joyce’s career includes being a teacher including college and university levels, public school administrator and working for the US Senate Select Committee on Individuals with Disabilities, working for state government in Minnesota and Illinois. She studied American Indian healing practices with three separate healers for over 34 years.
Joyce is a medical intuitive, Healing Touch Practitioner, Healing Touch for Animals Practitioners, and Pranic Healer. She has been in private practice as a healer for 10 years and has a private practice for education therapy for individuals with brain injury and adults with ADHD.
Sister Sharon Zayac, OP
Jubilee Farm
Presenting – “Heal Earth, Heal Ourselves” - 1:00pm
The fundamental reality of our Universe is that we are all interrelated, interdependent. “To be” is to be in intimate relationship with the whole. Our planetary household is in great crisis. The toxins we humans have unleashed into the air, water and soil have become part of the fabric of life. How can we humans be healthy on a sickened planet? What must we do to return health to our greater self?
Sister Sharon Zayac, OP "Heal Earth, Heal Ourselves"
Sister Sharon Zayac is a Dominican Sister of Springfield, Illinois. She spent ten years in education, thirteen years in healthcare administration, and is now passionately engaged in her present ministry, as she attempts to live the sustainability she preaches. In 2001 she received a Masters in Earth Literacy from Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods College, IN. She is that program’s first graduate.
Sharon is Director of Jubilee Farm, her congregation’s 111-acre center for ecology and spirituality, which lies just west of Springfield, IL. She writes, lectures, gives days of retreat and reflection, and travels the country speaking on any number of ecological topics. In October of 2008 she joined 139 others for training by Al Gore to present his award winning An Inconvenient Truth from a faith-based perspective.
Linda Murphy, MA, RRT, RYT
Director St. John’s Hospital Center for Living
Presenting – “Health Redefined” – 2:00pm
When asked what one is most thankful for, people will often say their health. And yet, with all of the information we have about health and healthy lifestyles, being healthy and whole is a personal journey that requires knowledge, self-awareness and personal commitment. During this presentation, participants will explore their health from a holistic perspective and reflect on various aspects of self-care that contribute to their overall health. Presented Linda Murphy will lead participants through various self-awareness exercises that help them listen to their body’s subtle language, think with its wisdom and connect to the universal call to wholeness and healing.
Linda Murphy "Health Redefined"
Linda has an undergraduate degree in Wholistic Health Care and a masters in Communication. She is a registered respiratory therapist, nationally certified yoga teacher and biofeedback practitioner. She has studied yoga at the Himalayan Institute, Harvard Medical School’s Mind-Body Medicine Institute and completed the Ananda Teacher Training Program form the Expanding Light in California. She is also a certified Yoga of the Heart® instructor.
Linda has completed Harvard Medical School’s Mind-Body Medicine program and the National Institute of Behavioral Medicine’s certification program in Mind-Body Medicine. Linda’s expertise in program development, combined with her passion for wholistic healing make her a sought-after-speaker, educator and practitioner of the healing arts.
