We all know that Martha is very interested in wellness – she’s just created the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mt. Sinai – a center devoted to aging. I applaud her for that. I recently heard a Dr on a talk show that aging is one of the last frontiers in medicine. We now know how to prolong life, but we don’t have a handle on improving quality of life for the elderly. I think Martha’s center will truly do good things.

Martha now has a monthly feature in Living about health and wellness. I love that she includes this now. What good is it to eat wonderful food or live in beautiful surroundings if you are essentially unwell when it comes to health.

In the June issue is a topic I am familiar with – skin cancer. As a fair-skinned, blue-eyed person who had several bad sunburns as a child, I am at high risk for skin cancer. Add to that the fact that my father has had a melanoma and my risk goes through the ceiling. Because of this, I see my dermatologist yearly and this year I had a basal cell carcinoma removed. Not fun (and no, sorry, no photos!).

In our house, I am the sunscreen Nazi. No one goes out into the sun without it on. Ever. I hope that you read and take to heart the advice in this column. Checking your skin and seeing your Dr with any abnormalities is a small “Martha” thing you can do for yourself every day.