Parts of downtown will carry a blue hue in recognition of Autoimmune Awareness Month.
SAN ANTONIO — Drive around the heart of the city after the sun goes down this week, and you might notice that some of San Antonio’s biggest landmarks have taken on a blue hue.
The Alamodome, Gonzalez Convention Center, Tower of the Americas and Marriott Rivercenter hotel are adopting the temporary new look this week. The reason: Recognition of Autoimmune Awareness Month, a time to recognize diseases that affect more than 50 million Americans, according to the Autoimmune Association.
Dozens of such diseases impact people around the world, including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. According to Rheumatology Associates of Greater Houston, the ailments “occur when the immune system erroneously targets and damages the body’s tissues.”
Symptoms of autoimmune diseases can be wide-ranging, with some affecting blood and blood vessels, others the brain and glands, and others still a person’s muscles, skin and spinal chord, according to CHRISTUS Health.
The effort to illuminate parts of downtown in order to bring more awareness to autoimmune diseases is a collaboration with San Antonio-based ICI City Smart Lights.
“By illuminating these landmarks, we are helping bring visibility to conditions that often go unseen,” Director of Operations Eduardo Orozco Jr. said in a release.
The landmarks will be lit up in blue through Thursday.