The Foundation Receives Major Grants: Major Initiatives Begin

New AMD Awareness Kits Empower ASRS Practices

Lori Clawges
Director of Communications
American Retina Foundation

An AMD Educational kit was recently sent out to all ASRS members from the American Retina Foundation in January; this marks the first step of the American Retina Foundation AMD Awareness Campaign.

Each kit contains:

• 10 AMD buttons
• 10 AMD Patient Education posters
• 20 AMD Patient Information brochures
• 2 American Retina Foundation donation brochures

The posters, buttons and brochures are not designed for use in your own practice; you should distribute the kit materials to the doctors in your community to increase patient education about AMD. These kits are a marketing tool for your practice-it will encourage patients to see you, and encourage primary care doctors to send their patients to you for referrals.

The official campaign will launch in February 2004, which has been dedicated as National AMD Awareness Month. Once you receive your kit, we are asking you, the ASRS member, to use your kit to increase awareness of AMD among patients and the community. In February, the Foundation will seek to build awareness by sending out press releases and a human-interest article targeted for health publications such as Reader's Digest and Prevention. Further, a radio press release about AMD will be aired in the month of February, targeted for radio stations such as NPR and other networks. The public will also be directed to an 800-fulfillment number and an education program on www.savingvision.org.

We will literally reach millions in the public regarding AMD and the importance of seeing the retina specialist.

How To Use This Kit

Our goal is to have you use these kits to empower your practice!

The CD-ROM contains a PowerPoint presentation that will enable you to educate medical professionals about AMD, perform an outreach initiative in your community, and serve as an information resource for local media. The presentation itself can be modified if you download the file to your PC.

The buttons and posters are designed to draw the attention of the primary care patient and educate them about the warning signs, prevention and treatment of AMD. Primary care staff should be asked to wear the buttons, and have posters hung in areas of primary care offices where patients will be able to view them easily.

As an ASRS member, you are a critical part of this campaign.

We hope this will be a well-rounded campaign that will involve you, your patients, and those physicians that refer patient to your practice. Please consider this program not just a patient outreach tool, but as an "opportunity" to market your practice in your local community. On behalf of the American Retina Foundation, we hope that you will choose to actively participate and help provide valuable information to your patients and fellow medical professionals.

Lastly, if you would like to give us feedback, please do so. Let us know if you see the article in a publication or newsletter, hear the news release, or if you see that the program is an effective way of bringing patients to your practice. This will help us design future programs that will educate patients and empower the retina specialist.

DONATIONS

The American Retina Foundation is grateful to all individuals who have given a donation in 2003 and would like to thank the following contributors for their generosity:

Corporate Supporters
Alcon Laboratories
ASRS

Special Research Grant Donors
Paul and Susan Prudler

Supporters
Neal H. Atebara, MD
Abdhish R. Bhavsar, MD
Neelakshi Bhagat, MD
Steven Bodine, MD
Edwin E. Boldrey, MD
Michael J. Bradbury, MD
Stuart Kevin Burgess, MD, FACS
Moiz M. Carim, MD
John A. Carver, MD
Famin Chou, MD
Mandi D. Conway, MD, FACS
M. Coleman Driver, Jr., MD
Nancy Efferson-Bonachea, MD
Scott G. Foxman, MD
Eric S. Friedman, MD
Wayne S. Fuchs, MD
James Graham Hall, MD
Julia A. Haller, MD
R. Mark Hatfield, MD
Luis Hernandez-Cott, MD
Randolph L. Johnston, MD
Robert G. Josephberg, MD
Masayuki Kazahaya, MD
Jaime I. Krepostman, MD
Scott I. Lampert, MD
Sanjay Logani, MD
Charles F. Mahl, MD
Louis M. Maisel, MD
G. Philip Matthews, MD
Thomas H. Matsko, MD, PhD
Matthew M. Menosky, MD
Alice R. McPherson, MD
C. Mark Millsap, MD
Saralyn Notaro Reitz, MD
Severn Richard Ombres, MD
Samir C. Patel, MD
Peter Reed Pavan, MD
Julio E. Perez, MD
Barbara A. Phillips, MD
Joseph R. Podhorzer, MD
James G. Randall, MD
John P. Rosculet, MD
Jeffrey S. Rubin, MD
Edwin H. Ryan, Jr., MD
John B. Saer, MD
Ramin Sarrafizadeh MD, PhD
Mi-Kyoung Song, MD
Richard F. Spaide, MD
Nabil E. Srouji, MD
Theodore J. Stransky, MD
James Su, MD
Paul F. Torrisi, MD
Gregory Trubowitsch, MD
Alan E. Uliss, MD
Ali Vagefi, MD
Samuel J. Vainisi, DVM
Michael P. Varenhorst, MD
Thierry C. Verstraeten, MD
Joseph P. Walker, MD
Thomas G. Ward, DO
Robert W. Wehner, PhD, MD
James M. Weisz MD
George A. Williams, MD
John D. Zilis, MD