NHLBI, Vascular Disease Foundation and 15 Organizations Meet on Peripheral Arterial Disease: Developing a Public Awareness Campaign

After nearly a year of planning, representatives from seventeen different vascular and medical fields and members of the public assembled in Bethesda, Maryland in January for a unique strategy meeting to increase public awareness of Peripheral Arterial Disease or PAD. The meeting provided an opportunity for a coalition of health care professionals to create consensus regarding the science-based messages that should be offered to the public—both those "at risk" for developing PAD and those already affected by the disease. The first day of the two-day meeting was a workshop created by The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The highlight of the meeting came during the workshop from listening to a focus group made up of individuals who have suffered with PAD. All five participants recounted their struggles of having a disease and symptoms that they had never heard of prior to its diagnosis.

As hoped, the meeting ended with participants voicing an interest in taking the next steps to create a national PAD awareness campaign. In addition to the NHLBI and the Vascular Disease Foundation, organizations which participated included the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, American Association for Vascular Surgery, American College of Cardiology, American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, American Podiatric Medical Association, The American Radiological Nurses Association, Peripheral Vascular Surgery Society, The Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography, The Society of Interventional Radiology, The Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology, The Society for Vascular Nursing, The Society for Vascular Surgery, and The Society for Vascular Ultrasound.

If you are interested in participating in the efforts to bring about the public awareness campaign, contact Sheryl Benjamin at 1-866-PADINFO. The Workshop findings will be published by the NHLBI and posted on www.vdf.org late this Spring.