Further your knowledge. Form new friendships.
September 15-18, 2011
Las Vegas, NV
Hundreds of TMA members and their families streamed into the Fabulous Flamingo Thursday for TMA’s largest Annual Patient Conference ever. As always in Las Vegas, there was plenty of glitz and glamour. Tara, a Las Vegas showgirl, helped TMA staff greet members at the registration desk. As members registered, they had the opportunity to bid on silent auction items donated by myositis support groups and their local businesses. This year, the auction and raffles raised more than $4,000 for TMA.
Before sessions started, TMA Executive Director Bob Goldberg greeted first-time Conference attendees in a special session designed to help them get the most out of their days at the Conference. Goldberg counseled them to take the time to learn from each other as well as from the Conference sessions.
Get-acquainted sessions allowed everyone to break into groups for specific diseases, with an additional group for caregivers. After meeting each other, the crowd gathered in the Flamingo’s beautiful Twilight Ballroom for a special performance by Archie Bell, long-time R&B performer, best known for “Tighten Up” (with the Drells). Bell lost his brother, football great Ricky Bell, to dermatomyositis. Joining him were Janice Whaley, a polymyositis patient, who spent years laying down every track for every song of The Smiths, British alt-rock legends, whose music still stuns each new generation and Lisa Sniderman (performing as AEODE ),a dermatomyositis patient, whose original compositions and haunting melodies have made her a favorite with California fans.
After the concert, individual sessions began: a Classroom introduction to aquatherapy; Myositis for beginners; and What you and your family need to know – tax, legal and financial considerations; and managing chronic disease.
Throughout the Conference members had the opportunity to receive personalized insurance counseling.
Friday “earlybirds” chose enlightening early-morning sessions: Meditation; Healing and inspiration; Remaining close to your partner.
Breakfast began on a high note in the Twilight Ballroom with a welcome from TMA’s Board Chair, Marianne Moyer; then everyone chose a session to attend: Occupational and physical therapy and myositis; Aquatherapy in the hotel pool; Emotional aspects of chronic disease; a repeat of the Myositis Conference PDF of John Suttle’s Slides Financial consideration sessions from Thursday; and Nutrition for inflammatory disease.
At lunch, attendees were shown videos of how support dogs can assist with daily living tasks and then Hemi and Pele, two support dogs from Canine Assistants, demonstrated these feats live, then broke into afternoon sessions: a repeat of Remaining close to your partner; Finding strength through faith; and the second part of Occupational and physcial therapy for myositis; Myositis for beginners; and The educated patient.
After the sessions, the KIT support group meeting allowed support group leaders and those interested in becoming a leader to share information and strategies for effective meetings and outreach. If you’d like to know more about TMA’s support groups, email TMA.
Saturday earlybirds included Introduction to Chinese medicine; Tools for independence; and Parenting solutions before meeting for breakfast.
After breakfast, members went to sessions designed to answer questions about their specific form of myositis: Managing IBM streamed live over the internet; Managing PM, Managing DM; and Caregivers’ forum.
Everyone gathered for a general session that introduced members of TMA’s medical advisory board. TMA’s international board of myositis experts talked about their interests and ongoing research, while their presentations streamed live over the internet. There was also an Aquatherapy session occurring concurrently in the Flamingo’s hot tub.
After lunch, there was a full afternoon of sessions: Coping with prednisone; Myositis and Cancer; What your auto-antibodies mean and Myositis and your lungs; Myositis and heart disease; IVIG; Overlap syndrome; and Dysphagia.
Dr. Ingrid Lundberg’s Exercise for every level streamed live and included demonstrations of exercise for every muscle, despite limitations of muscle disease.
On Sunday, early risers chose Finding strength through faith; Mind-body medicine ; and IVIG – Its use and insurance coverage.
Sunday breakfast brought attendees together again by disease group. Afterwards, they were introduced to the TMA Board of Directors and heard about the extreme adventures of Leanne Opperman, a South African hereditary IBM patient.
TMA Board Chairman Marianne Moyer concluded the Conference with a vision for TMA: A world without myositis. Speaking about her own journey with polymyositis, Moyer invited the group to join her in remembering the painful process from diagnosis to treatment. Discovering TMA, Moyer said, meant that she did not feel so alone anymore. She asked members present to support TMA so that no one with myositis will ever feel alone. Moyer announced that TMA will move towards being a dues-free organization so that no one will be excluded.
Before concluding the Conference, TMA Executive Director Bob Goldberg announced that the next conference will likely be in Orlando, FL.