Show dailies enhance conventions in many ways; but few have had the impact of one published by the organizers of the New Cardiovascular Horizons (NCVH) Annual Conference.
First, a bit of history.
During NCVH 2013, a CustomNEWS show daily reporter attended a session in which a speaker described the impact that attending NCVH had on his approach to treating patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI) and peripheral artery disease (PAD). Dr. Claude Minor explained that before attending NCVH, he had always thought amputation was the only treatment option. But then he heard Dr. Craig Walker, NCVH’s chairman, speak about endovascular treatment alternatives that save limbs, and he was hooked. Those comments were included in an article for the conference’s highlights issue.
Fast forward five years.
That same reporter is meeting with Dr. Walker to interview him about his goals for NCVH 2018. The conversation then moves onto NCVH’s impact, and the reporter shared her story about hearing Dr. Minor speak back in 2013.
Over the next three days, Dr. Minor’s story would become a key component during Dr. Walker’s many addresses to the audience. That one attendee would take away so much from the conference – “I came to NCVH performing amputations and left doing limb salvage,” Dr. Minor had said back in 2013 – really resonated with Dr. Walker.
Dr. Minor has not missed an NCVH Annual Conference since 2003, and now brings his entire team with him from Monroe, La. By the time he arrived at this year’s conference, he’d heard about his new-found fame as a key player in Dr. Walker’s remarks. He was able to make time to speak with the reporter and shared in greater detail just how much of an impact NCVH has had on his outlook as a vascular surgeon.
Shortly before attending NCVH in 2003, he had to perform a bi-lateral above-the-knee amputation on a teenage girl, due to renal failure. Within six months, she had died from depression that set in after the surgery. It was then that Dr. Minor said to himself, there has to be a better way.
A few months later, he heard Dr. Walker speak about the role of endovascular procedures in treating non-surgical candidates, and he was hooked. He walked right up to Dr. Walker and said, “I have to learn how to do this.”
Dr. Minor then spent two years learning from Dr. Walker – but his new skillset wasn’t well-received by other surgeons and radiologists in his hometown, who felt that endovascular surgery was not the way to go. Now, it is the standard of care.
NCVH’s mission is to educate healthcare providers about alternatives to amputation for CLI and PAD patients, and to raise awareness about these deadly diseases. Now they have a “poster boy” for their cause. And thanks to the show daily, more limbs and lives can be saved.