The Vascular Disease Foundation has taken the lead in creating a unique Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) Coalition in partnership with 14 other major national public health organizations and professional vascular societies.
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). Another priority area is to coordinate PAD educational efforts to clinicians. These activities will be designed to improve the clinical outcomes of individuals with PAD. 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.
This important day-long meeting brought together vascular healthcare professionals from around the country to create the Coalition’s structure. The Coalition was first conceived of at a strategic planning meeting held in January 2003, at which initial consensus was reached and the rationale underlying the goals of such a national PAD awareness campaign was solidified. The PAD Coalition is co-chaired by Alan T. Hirsch, M.D., past-president of the Vascular Disease Foundation, and Marge Lovell, RN, CCRC, CVN, a current officer of the Foundation.
“Individuals with PAD have traditionally not enjoyed the healthcare opportunities afforded individuals with established heart disease. The beneficial impact of the Coalition and its public education campaign is thus expected to be particularly powerful”, said Dr. Hirsch, who added that members of every major PAD-focused healthcare organization will be working together to design accurate, science-based, PAD-focused educational messages.
Ms. Lovell said, “We should emphasize that the establishment of this unique vascular Coalition is precedent-setting, permitting us to amplify our common mission of serving the public.”
In addition to the Vascular Disease Foundation, participating organizations include the American Association for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation; American College ofCardiology; 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 of Vascular Ultrasound.