We're working for you
Five days a week, 51 weeks a year (we "shut down" for a week in December), CFIDS Association staff members work diligently to make meaningful progress in the campaign to conquer CFIDS.

Nova Bouknight, CSN Membership Services Coordinator and an employee since 1993, recently remarked: "Through my work with support groups, I have spoken with hundreds of people with CFIDS and those who care about them. So many of their stories are tragic, others are hopeful. Yet every one strengthens my resolve to help drive the campaign to conquer CFIDS."

Here's what several other Association staff members have done lately:

As part of the Association's strategy to reach out to people suffering from CFIDS, Communications Director Renée Brehio has completed the first in a three-part series of articles that will be distributed to small newspapers around the country through the North American Precis Syndicate. These articles should each reach between 300-500 hometown papers and thousands of readers.

Renée also has done some aggressive media pitching that has resulted in coverage of CFIDS. See the Media Watch section this issue for more details.

The Association has partnered with the Illinois Area Health Education Center to launch a CFIDS training program for health care providers. Terri Lupton, Coordinator for Educational Opportunities, says the program, which will include video and Web-based study modules, will increase the pool of health care professionals able to recognize and manage this complex illness.

The Association has held two training workshops this year and attended five medical conferences, most recently the American Academy of Family Physicians in Kansas City, Mo.

As the Association redesigned www.cfids.org, we worked to ensure the "new" site would be a gateway to the wealth of vital CFIDS information available through the Association. And given the sheer volume of what we wanted to share, we also strived to make the Web site easy to navigate and interesting to visit. Administrative Assistants Kim Almond and Margie Thompson have uploaded hundreds of Chronicle and Research Review articles, research briefs, stories and fact sheets.

We hope www.cfids.org will provide you the information you're looking for. If not, send us an e-mail at webmaster@cfids.org -- this site was created for you.

Annual Report
The Association's 2000 Annual Report mailed to 1,700 donors on June 22. To view the report, visit http://www.cfids.org/about/annual-reports.asp. Copies are also available by calling the Resource Line at 704-365-2343 or by sending your request to: The CFIDS Association of America, PO Box 220398, Charlotte, NC 28222-0398, Attn: 2000 Annual Report.

Association welcomes new staff members
Mark Giuliucci joined the staff as editor of The CFIDS Chronicle and The CFS Research Review. Mark has medical reporting experience in newspapers, magazines and the Internet. He has written or co-written more than a dozen consumer health care books, working with publishers such as Time-Life Books and Rodale Press.

Julie Moss joined the Association staff in May as a part-time Information Technology Specialist. She is responsible for the Association's computer network and internal database and will also help manage Web site-related projects and technical issues. Julie has more than five years of experience in the computer technology industry.