Mary Marzullo, a certified natural health practitioner, believes people should have a choice in their health care. That's why she is organizing an Alternative Medicine Day at Pennsylvania Dutch Farmers' Market Saturday.
"We're doing this to expose people to these forms of alternative medicine," she said. "It's to get people familiar with their body and let them know they have a choice as to what they can do."
From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Ms. Marzullo and several other alternative specialists will be at the front of the market offering information, samples and demonstrations of nonmedicinal, natural forms of healing.
Participants will include:
* Ms. Marzullo, herbal healing and natural skin care. She is also a registered cosmetologist.
* Kalman Markus, a certified natural health practitioner from Waynesboro, Pa. He will offer iridology, or reading the eyes to tell about the body, and muscle testing. He's also an herbalist.
* Yasuako Nelson of Easton will offer Shiatsu, the Japanese method of walking on the back, and skin care.
* Steve Zimmerman, an Eldersburg chiropractor, will offer information on good health through chiropractic care, which focuses on proper alignment of the spine.
* Nancy Barkhimer, a therapeutic massage therapist from the Gamber-Eldersburg area.
* Debbie Smith of New Windsor, a massage therapist and reflexologist who uses points on the feet and hands to control pain.
* Carroll Water Systems will provide information on the need for healthy water and will offer water samples.
As a certified natural health practitioner, Ms. Marzullo has expertise in herbal healing, natural skin care, iridology and muscle testing. She has a business, Herbs for Health, in the Pennsylvania Dutch Farmers' Market and in her home near Gamber.
She is certified through the Institute of the National Association of Certified Natural Health Professionals, from which she took college-level classes in such areas as nutrition, body system functions and body works, which includes muscle testing and eye reading.
Ms. Marzullo said that medicine grew from natural healing with plants.
But she said that "not everything works for everybody." An herb, or combination of herbs, that heals one person's problem may not work on someone else with the same ailment.
"I have asthma and it took me six months of experimenting to find the right combination of herbs to help it," she said.
Ms. Marzullo emphasizes that, as a natural health practitioner, she cannot diagnose or prescribe anything. But she can recommend herbs for symptoms a person is experiencing. "I just let them tell me what's wrong and how they're feeling," she said. "I ask them what medicines they're taking and I tell them, well, if it was me, I'd do thus and so."
She must be careful when she suggests herbs, because some interact with certain medications and some contain ingredients that can compound a problem. Licorice root, for instance, will increase blood pressure.
"If somebody comes to me with an acute problem, I recommend that they see a physician," she said, adding that herbs don't cure everything.
"My husband has a bleeding ulcer and we've tried every kind of herb, but sometimes it just gets the best of him and he has to take medication," she said.
Ms. Marzullo's business includes skin care, which she also will demonstrate Saturday.
"I think there's a need to show people there's skin care, then there's skin care," she said. "Makeup is not skin care. The first thing is to keep the skin clean."
She has a variety of natural products to combat oil buildup, prevent wrinkles and clean skin properly.
Alternative Medicine Day will provide information to help people learn what they can do to take care of and heal their bodies naturally.
Ms. Marzullo stressed that while the programs are free, people shouldn't expect more than a brief demonstration of a healing art.
"A complete muscle testing takes two hours and costs $35, and needs to be done in private," she said.
The Pennsylvania Dutch Farmers' Market is in Crossroads Square Shopping Center, Routes 140 and 97, in Westminster. Information: 876-8100.