Legacy of Excellence Digital Flipbook

LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE

delineate our unique expertise in treating patients with sinus and allergy disease along with their related disorders. It is up to us to answer the call and perpetuate our preeminence. If the grassroots membership will embrace this effort and spread the word, we will enhance our position greatly. If we do not, we may find ourselves in the same boat as the pulmonologists, who lost asthma as a main patient base,” shared coalition Chair, James C. Denneny III, MD, in the July 1998 Bulletin . Initial endeavors included the creation of a speakers’ bureau with well-known national and grassroots speakers as well as materials distributed to societies to assist in the education of primary care physicians regarding appropriate assessment, treatment, and referral of patients. In discussing how pharmaceutical companies, allied health professionals, and physicians from other disciplines attempted to stake primary claims as providers for treating sinus disease, Dr. De la Cruz said in the February 1998 Bulletin , “As otolaryngologists head and neck surgeons, we know better. We know that our residency training, continuing education programs, and access to new medical research studies prepare us to offer the best quality care to the sinus sufferer and those with surgical complications. Our collective effort to create an identification of rhinosinusitis with otolaryngology will have a direct impact on the future of our residency programs and our practices, large and small alike. This is one of my top priorities and I hope you will join with me as we start this most important and exciting effort.” Starting in February 1999, the Academy sponsored Sinus Pain Awareness Month, which was supported in part by Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc., to expand the attention to this issue beyond the house of medicine. The campaign poster was titled, “Got Sinus Pain? Get Over IT!” Other media were included such as a video

outcome for the patient. As we collectively deal with all the changes in medicine and in the healthcare delivery system, let us ever stay focused on our calling to the individual patient. Otolaryngology, indeed all of medicine, will remain a noble calling in the service of others,” shared John G. Campbell, MD, 1999-2000 President in the December 1999 Bulletin . PATIENT INFORMATION AND OUTREACH Sinus and Allergy The Coalition on Sinus and Allergy was formed in 1998 and officially launched at COSM, May 14-16, 1998, in Palm Beach, Florida. It initially included the AAO-HNS, American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy (AAOA), and American Rhinologic Society (ARS) and was a major grassroots education program to enhance the specialty’s current position in treating sinus and allergic disease. It was initiated in part to respond to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology’s aggressive targeting of the treatment of sinusitis and homing in to become the primary caregivers for patients with sinus disease. “Otolaryngologists have been the premier caregivers of sinus disease for many years. We need to clearly

The internet, media, and patient information leaflets in primary care physicians’ offices provide battlegrounds for the various specialties regarding who is best

qualified to treat disorders of the ear, nose, and throat. Your Academy staff has been charged to ensure that the public is informed through a variety of media that an otolaryngologist will offer the best care.” - Harold C. Pillsbury III, MD, 1998-1999 President, June 1999 Bulletin

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