Atlanta, Georgia Chapter
We are the Atlanta Area Vasculitis Support Group
Our area is a100 mile radius from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Ga.
Our chapter was started in April, 2007. Carolyn Letko, a patient with GCA, had moved into the Atlanta area and contacted me after seeing our names listed as area contacts in the Vasculitis Foundation Newsletter. Carolyn had previously worked with support groups of various types and was interested in starting a Vasculitis Support Group here in Atlanta. Since Carolyn wasn't physically able to develop the group on her own, she asked me if I would help her. I am a nurse at Emory University Hospital and have a real interest in the medical aspects of vasculitis plus, my husband, Joe has WG, so I agreed to help. We have patients representing 9 different vasculitic diseases in our group with an age range of 14-75. Many family members also come to the meetings and are very supportive of the group. There=2 0is a core group of about 20 people who have attended each meeting and have become friends. We always have new people attend the meetings and have reached around 50 people total who are affected by vasculitis and have attended a meeting ( or more ) in the 16 months our group has been organized. We have even gone " international " with a patient contacting us from Ecuador to meet with us while she was here for a checkup with her MD and another one who was moving from Japan ( had lived there for 10 yrs.) to Brazil and needed to see a physician while he was here on his way down to Brazil. The Internet has been a great blessing in allowing people to view the VF website and then to contact people in their area.
Our meetings are held at Emory University Hospital quarterly. We also had our first Awareness Week Celebration in May ( annual ) and support the Keesha Vessell walk in Sept.
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