Dear Friends: I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving and that you also had an opportunity to review our recent message about making a year-end contribution to the SVS Foundation.

If you haven’t already donated, #GivingTuesday would be the ideal time to do so.

Celebrated this year on Nov. 27, #Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration. By contributing on this special day -- which traditionally begins the season of charitable giving -- you will be illustrating your commitment to the SVS Foundation while inspiring others.

The Society for Vascular Surgery is creating a private online community, SVSConnect, with a number of resources for SVS members and their peers. This new collaborative online community will let members connect and engage with, and learn from, fellow members and peers on an infinite number of topics. It is expected to launch by late 2018.

Members will enjoy:

Member Directory Search: Locate colleagues by name, location, practice or area of interest

User-Friendly Forums: Connect and communicate with fellow members on topics large and small via computer, phone or table.

The turkey has been reduced to sandwiches and a wishbone and the mashed potatoes are just a memory. And between the frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping promotions, you’ve put a dent in your holiday shopping.

#GivingTuesday – and a contribution to the SVS Foundation – give you the chance to do something for others. #GivingTuesday is a global day of giving to kick off the charitable season, when many people focus on holiday and year-end giving. It is celebrated annually on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, coming closely on the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

The dynamic environment in which vascular surgeons are currently practicing has created abundant opportunities for physicians to move into administrative leadership positions across the spectrum of healthcare. An advanced business degree teaches a surgeon the “language” of health care business. Moreover, the degree can provide the surgeon an important level of credibility in dealing with non-physician business contemporaries working in the healthcare space.

Are you an active member or Distinguished Fellow? Let everyone know The SVS Executive Board has announced that all SVS Active Members in good standing will now be considered Fellows of the Society of Vascular Surgery™ (FSVS™). 

The SVS Foundation is releasing its second new patient information flier – on diabetes and vascular disease – just in time for National Diabetes Month in November.

The fliers are great for sharing with your patients and other physicians or for anytime you provide information to the public. The SVS Foundation is producing a total of nine new fliers in English and Spanish on common topics for vascular patients. A flier on PAD was released in September.

Dr. Norman Rich decided his career path early in life, listening to the doctor who delivered him relay the horrors of the amputations of World War I. “‘Someday, blood vessels will be repaired,’ he told me,” said Dr. Rich of his early mentor, Dr. Otto Utzinger of Ray, Ariz. “And I thought, ‘I’d like to be involved with that.’ It set my career!”

Diabetes can put patients at risk for vascular disease and limb loss

INSULIN-DEPENDENT PATIENTS MAY HAVE WORSE VASCULAR SURGICAL OUTCOMES

CHICAGO, Illinois, November 1, 2018 – People who have type 2 diabetes can live a long and healthy life if they take good care of themselves. But part of staying healthy means knowing how to manage the risk of diabetes-related vascular disease, according to the Society for Vascular Surgery.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have found that obese patients were more likely to have longer procedures and to lose more blood than those who were not obese, and obese patients were more likely to have post-operative problems such as renal failure or wound infections.

Watch We'll Meet Again

(or check your local PBS listings)

Two meetings, 50 years apart, one in an operating room in Vietnam; the second in an emotional reunion captured for television. And in between the two: a bloody battle, another surgery patient and a famous war photo of the Tet Offensive at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.