L.E.A.P. Arizona
Lyme Education Awareness Program
P.O. Box 2654
Mesa, Arizona 85214-2654
480-219-6869 Phone 480-830-2788 Fax
www.leaparizona.com
L.E.A.P. Arizona has kicked off the New Year with a new fundraising effort. During the month of January, we have donation boxes placed at New Frontiers Natural Marketplace in Sedona, Arizona. In February, we will begin placing these donation boxes throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area. During 2007, we hope to continue to increase the number of donation boxes placed throughout Arizona. Our intent is to raise funds to be able to provide that much-needed assistance to patients for their testing, treatment and necessities of life.
L.E.A.P. Arizona supports Attorney General Richard Blumenthal with his Civil Investigative Demand of the 2006 updated Lyme disease treatment guidelines published by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Our President, Tina J. Garcia, has been assisting Mr. Blumenthal’s office regarding issues pertinent to their investigation.
L.E.A.P. Arizona is now providing complimentary copies of a newspaper dedicated to Lyme disease and other chronic illnesses published in Texas. This newspaper is called the Public Health Alert and it contains valuable information on what’s happening in the Lyme community each month. We hope you have the chance to pick one up in your doctor’s office, but if not, you may access all issues on our website at www.leaparizona.com. We will be continuing our educational efforts by posting new information on our website this year. As soon as we have done this, we will be sure to let you know. If you haven’t already visited our website, we invite you to do so. There is a lot of information there already.
Due to the Prosecutor becoming ill, Dr. Jones’ hearing in Hartford, Connecticut, which was scheduled for Thursday, January 18, 2007 has been cancelled. It has been rescheduled for next week.
L.E.A.P. Arizona provides flyers of information relating to Lyme disease. If you would like to receive these flyers, please email your name and address to us at leaparizona@yahoo.com. We will mail the flyers to you.
Soon we will be releasing information on a new fundraising program that Lyme patients can participate in. We are really excited about this program and hope it will bear good fruit and provide an adequate fund for us to be able to assist patients. We know how difficult it is for Lyme patients to donate, so we have come up with an idea that enables Lyme patients to participate without having to part with funds that they need for their treatment, etc. We encourage Lyme disease patients to become involved in helping each other, and this new program will enable patients to do so without it being a financial hardship for them.
Our President has been writing to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for nearly two years. Although L.E.A.P. Arizona is not directly involved in this correspondence, L.E.A.P. is disappointed that the CDC has failed to respond in a positive manner and has failed to take any actions whatsoever in favor of better diagnosis and treatment for Lyme disease patients. The CDC’s response to her latest letter dated October 19, 2006 will be posted on L.E.A.P.’s website soon under the ADVOCACY section. More than 200 people signed on to that letter to the CDC. The sign-ons included people in Arizona, across the United States and in Europe, also, where cases of Lyme disease are growing rapidly. Each sign-on was individually printed onto a piece of lime green paper and included in a large package which was sent to the CDC and IDSA.
It is also regrettable that the CDC has posted on its Lyme disease website the IDSA Treatment Guidelines that are currently under investigation for possible antitrust violations by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. L.E.A.P. Arizona supports INFORMED CONSENT and this means that the CDC should post both the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) Treatment Guidelines along with the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Treatment Guidelines. By posting only the IDSA guidelines on its website, the CDC is failing to provide INFORMED CONSENT to physicians and patients worldwide. This is an issue that must continue to be addressed and our President, individually, will continue to work toward this goal.
In addition, should it be determined that the IDSA violated antitrust laws in developing their 2006 Lyme Disease Treatment Guidelines, L.E.A.P. Arizona will conduct a public campaign to demand that those guidelines be removed from the CDC website and retracted from publication.
We wish you a very Happy and Healthier New Year in 2007. We have great hope that we will eventually be able to provide assistance to patients. This is a monumental task that, unfortunately, requires a great deal of time and effort, but we will persevere on your behalf.
Healthy Habit Health Foods
6029 North 7th Street Phoenix, Arizona 85014
602-252-6000
David C. Korn, D.O., D.D.S., M.D.(H)
6628 E. Baseline Road, Suite 101 Mesa, Arizona 85206
480-354-6700
Warren M. Levin, M.D.(H)
407 Church Street, Suite E Vienna, Virginia 22180
703-255-0313
Greg Muchnij, D.C.
350 East Bell Road, Suite 206 Phoenix, Arizona 85022
602-866-3505
