Letter from the Editor

Dear Readers:

It is with great pride that I introduce our winter 2009 issue to you, our valued readers! This issue features its usual dose of educational information about vascular disease, including one patient's experience of a trip to the "angio suite," an article on thrombophilias which can increase a person's risk for developing blood clots, a discussion of heparin reactions, and an article to encourage our readers who are still smoking to quit.

You may also notice something new in this issue. We have inserted a reader survey (page 13) that we're sincerely hoping you'll take a few minutes to complete. Like all businesses, volunteer organizations are also feeling the effects of our nation's economic downturn. 2009 looks as if it may become be a difficult year financially for many worthy nonprofit organizations. While VDF remains strong, we are experiencing rising costs and difficulty getting funding, as are so many others.

To keep our costs down, VDF is considering reducing the number of copies of this printed newsletter. Keeping in Circulation is currently one of VDF's largest expenses; if we can cut down our printing expenses of this newsletter, we can reduce our budget. In 2007, we launched an online version of Keeping in Circulation which has been successful, and now we'd like to find out how many of you would be willing to give up your printed copy and only receive the online version.

VDF has also considered starting a membership program in the coming year, so we are interested to know if you would be willing to pay for a membership to VDF, which would include a free subscription to Keeping in Circulation. The more subscriptions or memberships to VDF we can generate, the more our operating costs can be leveraged so that we can continue to provide the newsletter and other important programs.

I strongly encourage each of you to take the time to complete our survey and help us decide how to best serve you. I also ask that you take a moment and include a small donation of $15 or $25 to help us continue to print and distribute Keeping in Circulation to the over 20,000 readers who enjoy our publication each quarter. This small donation may help us continue to publish the newsletter and distribute it to you free of a mandatory subscription or membership fee. Your gift is tax-deductible and helps us keep Keeping in Circulation free to you, our valued readers.

Thank you for your continued support of our organization!

Sincerely,

Christa Saracco
Communications Manager and Editor