August 2007 | Vol. 25, No. 8

SVU Members Urged to Participate in September’s National PAD Awareness Month

SVU urges its members to participate in the National Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) Awareness Month in September. Last year only one week was dedicated to PAD awareness. This year the P.A.D. Coalition, of which SVU is a Founding Member, is asking for a whole month (September) be dedicated to PAD awareness by consumers and health care providers. We urge you to write to your U.S. House Representative and both U.S. Senators to urge them to support either House Resolution 433 or Senate Resolution 221 which designate September as National PAD Awareness Month. For sample letters to send to your Members of Congress please visit the P.A.D. Coalition website (www.padcoalition.org). If you don’t know your Members of Congress, go to www.house.gov and www.senate.gov for help in finding them.

The National PAD Awareness month is part of the “Stay in Circulation” national public awareness campaign to help the public and health care providers take steps to learn about Peripheral Arterial Disease (P.A.D.). The “Stay in Circulation” campaign is a joint effort of the P.A.D. Coalition, with more than 50 member organizations, in conjunction with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, and the Vascular Disease Foundation.

P.A.D. affects 12 million Americans and raises the risk for heart attack and stroke. However, the disease is still largely unknown, and its symptoms too often are regarded by many as an inevitable consequence of aging. First launched in September 2006, the “Stay in Circulation: Take Steps to Learn about P.A.D.” is a multi-year, national awareness campaign to increase public and health care provider awareness about P.A.D. and its association with other cardiovascular diseases.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) – part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) – and the P.A.D. Coalition have worked cooperatively to develop this campaign, which includes media outreach, partnership activities, and a full suite of patient education materials. The P.A.D. Coalition is remarkable for its size since it is an alliance of more than 50 national organizations and professional societies, including SVU, who are concerned with P.A.D. The SVU liaison to the P.A.D. Coalition is SVU Secretary Judy A. Fried, RN, RVT, CVN, FSVU.

SVU urges its members to get involved in the “National PAD Awareness Month” in September and the “Stay in Circulation” campaign and inform their patients and others in their community about this new national public awareness campaign regarding peripheral arterial disease. For details on how you can participate in the multi-year “Stay in Circulation” Campaign in your local community, go to either www.aboutpad.org or the SVU website at www.svunet.org to download the “Stay in Circulation Community Action Tool Kit” that will provide you with everything you need to get involved in this public education campaign about peripheral arterial disease.

SVU also welcomes hearing by email (stayincirculation@svunet.org) about SVU member activities during the “National PAD Awareness Month” or the “Stay in Circulation Campaign” so that we can share them as an inspiration in a future e-Spectrum newsletter. Thank you for your participation in the “National PAD Awareness Month” in September and the “Stay in Circulation Campaign.”