It is the “giving” time of year. The SVS Foundation asks that your giving plans include the Foundation, to fund not only things – research awards, patient education fliers, community awareness projects – but also people.
People: as in the patients who have been and will continue to be the ultimate focus of everything the Foundation does.
In the 2019 SVS Foundation Annual Report (vsweb.org/FoundationReport19), Misty Humphries reports how her Foundation grants have impacted her patients:
“The SVS (Clinical Research) Seed Grant allowed me to treat rural patients through telemedicine. One of the best times of my day is doing a consult with one of my TOS patients. Most recently we had a wonderful patient who plays pickle ball. She had an exceptional result after her surgery, even though she had been debilitated for several years. It was hard for her to drive the 2.5 hours to our clinic, so telemedicine was a great opportunity. Our whole clinic staff could see her on the screen, smiling, raising her arms up and just ecstatic. That really means a lot.
The greatest thing about my SVS Foundation funding is that the work I do touches patients every day. These are patients that have become my family. Several years ago, I did the first bypass on a lovely woman from the South. She knew that I was from Texas and that I rarely got really good Southern food in Northern California. When she came to see me, she would always bring me various types of Southern delicacies. That was always a special time. This year, she came in with a very severe case of arterial thrombosis and it ended up in her demise. Her family and I had a long hug and talked a lot about what a wonderful woman she was.
I think for her, and for her family, knowing that they were working with a physician who was part of the SVS and doing SVS research really comforted them. They felt they were working with somebody who was on the cutting edge of vascular surgery. My grants have helped me investigate ways to improve mortality for these patients.”
Each SVS member has similar stories to tell, of longtime patients who become friends and family. We ask that you think of them when contributing to the SVS Foundation this year and remember the SVS Foundation mission: to optimize the vascular health and well-being of patients and the public through support of research that leads to discovery of knowledge and innovative strategies, as well as education and programs, to prevent and treat circulatory disease.
Please give at vsweb.org/GIVE.
Add ‘Smile’ to Holiday Shopping List
It is easy for SVS members to donate to the SVS Foundation, all while shopping online.
For those who purchase items online at Amazon, please remember to start your shopping at smile.amazon.com, with the SVS Foundation your designated charity. The Foundation will receive 0.5 percent of the cost of eligible purchases.
If it’s your first visit, you will need to select the SVS Foundation as your charitable organization. The website will remember your selection and, if you start your shopping on the “smile” site, will result in the Foundation receiving donations from your holiday purchases.