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Hi Barb,

You asked for suggestions for spreading the word in regards to your PD
support group meetings, the Udall bill, and other PD information.  No
matter how many people are informed, as long as new people are becoming
PWP and because new people move into your city, there will always be a
continuing need for public awareness.  You have made important
beginnings already.  Here's a few more suggestions.

Most pharmacies have racks for literature.  If your city is large, ask
the pharmacy chains if their main local office or rep. could distribute
your support group flyers to the city/state pharmacies.  Churches too,
often have racks for  literature.  Make sure the senior citizen centers
have a constant supply of flyers.  Grocery stores also often have public
announcement bulletin boards.

Contact the local reps who work for the manufactures of PD meds--Dupont,
Upjohn, etc., and give them stacks of your brochures to distribute to
the WAITING ROOMS of doctors' offices and clinics.  Make sure to stress
the importance of getting the brochures into the waiting rooms--doctors
are notorious for shoving the brochures into a drawer somewhere and
forgetting to hand them out!   Also, a patient without PD sitting in the
waiting room might just have a relative with PD and take a brochure to
him or her!  Ask those in your support group to take stacks of flyers to
their doctors' waiting rooms on their next appointment days.  They could
also check at their pharmacies to see if the flyers are arriving there
from the main offices.

In addition to your newspaper ads, don't forget the newspaper's
community service section where they should be announcing support group
meetings without charge to you.  Don't overlook all the local
neighborhood and county newspapers, sometimes read more thoroughly than
the large papers.  Sometimes there is one newspaper conglomerate
responsible for the publishing-- so the task of contacting these
numerous papers may not be as enormous as you might first think.  If you
keep your meeting place and time regular (e.g. first Sunday afternoon of
each month, etc.) you can most likely have a standard notice running
without need for monthly re-contact with the newspapers.

Health fairs, county and state fairs, fund-raiser events, anywhere booth
set-up is possible--places where a large volume of people pass in a
short length of time--are great places for contact.  Don't worry if the
event will be attended by many PWP or not--you can be sure relatives of
PWP are everywhere and are willing to bring information to them.  Having
your own booth is best but if you haven't the help, time, or money,
check out who IS having a booth and see if they are willing to leave a
stack of your flyers on their table.  Often you can find some health
group who will have a booth--perhaps they would even have you  join them
in their booth.

Contact your county and state health departments and ask them how they
might help you distribute the information through their newsletters,
events, publications, clinics, etc.

Ask the national organizations to supply you with information about PD.
Their flyers and brochures are great educational hand-outs.  The
pharmaceutical reps also have literature available.

These are just a few suggestions for starts.  I'm sure to think of more
after sending this off.
Keep up the good work!

Lyn Coles, RN
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