Tangible Change through Innovative Programming
We are pleased to announce our newest national strategy in the war against Lyme
disease: The Lyme Educational Awareness Development Series (LEADS). This
program’s design is inspired by our largely successful local Lyme Disease Educational
Awareness Series, in which community members opened up their homes, over the past
few years, and held small fundraisers that highlighted the importance of
understanding Lyme disease.
Components of the local Lyme Disease Educational Awareness Series that led to its
success were the presence of a Lyme-literate physician to discuss the latest
developments in the world of Lyme disease and answer any questions; a video that
discussed Lyme disease and TTC’s role in funding innovative research projects; and a
fundraising component that has contributed to the dollars responsible for so many projects TTC has been able to facilitate. The goal was to educate as many people as
possible about the dangers of Lyme disease and the importance of early diagnosis
and treatment. We also hoped to raise people’s consciousness on everything from
how to check for ticks and remove them to how prevalent the disease has become
around the world.
In envisioning how TTC could reach more people affected by Lyme disease across
the country, we realized that we could easily make this program available to people
around the world. This enables people in communities outside of New York City, where
TTC is located, to host their own educational event, host a physician that is Lymeliterate
and raise money for a cause that has meaning to them.
TTC plans to create a tool kit that has instructions for advertising the event,materials
to distribute at the event, an agenda for the evening and a video that discusses Lyme
disease and how TTC is making a difference in this field. One of the highlights of this
program is that if a town qualifies, they can send a physician from their community
to study with a Lyme-literate physician through TTC. This extension of the program
allows for the education to last a lifetime and for the programs we create to be
sustainable.Most of all, we hope that through this program, people who have not had
the opportunity to learn about Lyme disease will be able to receive the education
they are entitled to and the opportunity to heal that they deserve.
We hope to launch this program in 2007, so please stay tuned for more information.
|
