posted
I've been thinking... While legislation will ulitmately change our availablity to health care resources, we must ALL take action now. We know that ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Dissease Society) hosts the Physician Training Program needed to educate our doctors so they can save our lives or give us a better quality of life until a cure if found. ILADS can't do this without funding and Turn the Corner Foundation is a big part of helping them do that, as well as, private funding.
We could drastically change our situation if we each made an effort in asking our local hospital administration to look into the ILADS program. Ask hospital administration through a phone call or letter, to make a sincere effort to consider sending at least one of their doctors to take the course. Lyme literate communities need to be our goal and our hospitals need to know they must be leaders in making this happen. The program costs about $1500 for a physician to complete and ILADS has funding for only a few. Our hospitals can afford this program, we need to make them understand how many people they can help from gaining this knowlege and making the investment in the Physician Training Program. Your story should be enough to get a promise for them to look into ILADS.
I don't believe our hospitals can dispute the facts ILADS.org puts forth regarding TBD's and if we can get a promise from them to take a look into the ILADS training program, I believe we will succeed in finding more LLMD's across the nation.
Both ILADS and Turn the Corner Foundation are important charities to us and to our families, however, they need contributions to exist. Asking your employer to make a donation is also a great way to be part of the solution.
We have nothing to lose by including our local hospitals in our community awareness campaigns.
lymewreck36
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4395
posted
This is a good idea...but what is really going to happen is they are going to look up the IDSA guidelines and determine that to be cost effective, the training is completely unnecessary.
Who needs to be trained to give 10 days of antibiotics?
I hate to sound pessimistic, but I fear that is what will happen after we spend a lot of energy on the effort.
I've tried with so many doctors. They go right to some book and look up the "guidelines," ( hear the earth shattering booms from heaven and choirs of angels sing...) and then decide they have been "trained."
So.....despite this, I still try from time to time......but I have gotten a little better and discerning who is open to hearing and who is not.
Switzerland is hopeless!!!!!!!!
With that said, thank you Trish for all y ou do for all of us. Without people like you, we wouldn't get anywhere.
Mary
Posts: 1032 | From North Carolina | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I believe with the amount of Lyme now being diagnosed in our ER's doctors are much more willing to listen. This is based on our personal ER experience. It won't happen overnight but if each and every one of us doesn't submit something our numbers will not be recognized for more than a number on paper. With real life people and stories bombarding our local hospitals, we will be heard. We then must believe, in time, we will make the difference needed to see change. Regards, Trish www.S-L-A-M.orgPosts: 142 | From Sturbridge, MA | Registered: Jul 2006
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