To Prevent Heart Attack, Stroke, Amputation, and Death: A National "Pad Coalition" is Formed

The Vascular Disease Foundation has taken the lead in creating a unique coalition in partnership with 14 other major national public health organizations and professional vascular societies. The inaugural meeting of the PAD Coalition was held on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus in Bethesda, MD on June 17, 2004, in cooperation with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the NIH. At its inaugural meeting, the Coalition identified as a top priority the need for a unified, long-term national public awareness campaign about peripheral arterial disease (PAD), designed to improve the clinical outcomes of individuals with PAD.

The important daylong meeting brought together vascular healthcare professionals from around the country to create the Coalition's structure. In addition to the Vascular Disease Foundation, participating organizations include the American Association for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation; American College of Cardiology; American College of Physicians; American Diabetes Association; American Heart Association; American Podiatric Medical Association; American Radiological Nurses Association; Peripheral Vascular Surgery Society; Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery; Society of Interventional Radiology; Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology; Society for Vascular Nursing; Society for Vascular Surgery; and the Society for Vascular Ultrasound.

We are excited about this new collaboration as well as the launching of a multi-year PAD awareness campaign that will result in increased public recognition of the disease, knowledge of its devastating effects and the value of early diagnosis and treatment. To read the press release about the inaugural meeting of the PAD Coalition, visit our web site at www.vdf.org.