Doing More than “Just Living With It”
In early June, ATA hosted its 6th annual Jack
A. Vernon Walk to Silence Tinnitus. It was a wonderful occasion and a much appreciated sunny day in Portland! Many of you joined us from Oregon, Washington, and California, while others walked in spirit by making a donation to ATA’s research, education, and support programs.
The strong support for our walk event is just one example of what makes ATA and our membership so special: we are a community of tinnitus patients who are taking proactive steps to build a better, quieter future—both for ourselves and for others. Many people with tinnitus are told to “go home and live with it.” Our members refuse to accept this dead-end diagnosis. Instead, you take control of your own health by actively supporting ATA programs and research that can reduce the burden of tinnitus today and one day silence tinnitus forever. I cannot think of another association where patients have a more immediate and direct impact on the future of their own healthcare condition.
If you are reading these words, you have already taken the first step in doing more than “just living with it.” You are educating yourself about tinnitus, learning about the latest research and the most scientifically-validated management therapies. As an ATA member, you have gone even further, by directly supporting the advanced science behind many of these treatments. I commend you for taking positive action in your journey to silence tinnitus, and urge you to continue this effort by exploring one of the management therapies that have helped so many others.
In the coming months and years, ATA will develop new resources and programs to help tinnitus patients further take control of their health. When our new website launches later this year, it will include a patient roadmap that outlines incre- mental steps for managing tinnitus, key questions to ask your healthcare provider, and a compre- hensive, comprehendible list of available treat- ment options. We will also develop more effective ways to connect patients to healthcare providers with specific expertise in tinnitus management, so that no one is ever told to “just live with it.” And, of course, ATA will continue to invest in the most innovative research as part of our relentless search for a definitive cure.
ATA is laying the foundation for better tinnitus patient care; to help patients become fully informed, empowered, and invested in their own tinnitus management. It is through your enthusiasm, dedication, and generosity, that ATA will achieve this and more.
We have so much good work to do together. Let’s start as we did at the Jack Vernon Walk, by putting one foot in the front of the other.
Thank you,
It was exciting to meet so many enthusiastic tinnitus patients and ATA supporters at the Jack A. Vernon Walk to Silence Tinnitus.
Cara James
Executive Director American Tinnitus Association
Spring 2014 | Tinnitus Today 3
ASSOCIATION UPDATES
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