Minutes - Oct. 22, 2011

The K.C. Chapter, Vasculitis Foundation, meeting was held on October 22, 2011 in the Fountain Dining Room at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, MO at 1:00 p.m with the following members in attendance.
Jerry and Judy Niebaum,

Mary and Julie Tanner
Glenn and Arlene Kullman
Joyce Kullman
Sondra Schmidt
Shannon Morgan
Bob and Sharon Schoonover and
new member, Kelly Dougherty.

Jerry and Shannon talked about the  recent survey of VF chapters;  61%  of the surveys were returned.

We welcomed a new member, Kelly, who has recently been diagnosed with Bechet's.   She spoke about how long and difficult it was to get a diagnosis; she believes her younger brother may also have Bechet's but he hasn't wanted to take the time to be diagnosed; he has a family and a job that keep him occupied.  Jerry told her it is unusual that a brother and sister have the same disease.

It was mentioned that Dr. Abdou was seen in his office suite recently when we believed he had retired.
His retirement was officially July 1, 2011. 

Joyce announced that there will be a 1-day Regional Symposium on April 21, 2012 in Chicago.   She said there will more of these 1-day  symposia instead of the International one held every 2 years.  

At the time of our meeting, she was also working on finding a speaker who could lead a  1/2 day  symposium in the Kansas City, MO area next May 5.   For this meeting, the expenses would be an honorarium, and transportation for the speaker.    Perhaps, a small fee of say $25, each, would be charged for attendance.   A big problem is finding a location for the meeting as well as handy parking for the attendees. This meeting would be in place of an annual walk.

Arlene will invite Karen Higgins, RN to be our speaker for the December 17th meeting.  Karen is the daughter of the VF's Founder, Marilyn Sampson.

Upcoming meetings:

December 17, 2011

March 10, 2012

May 5, 2012