Help Support Funding for Public Education on Sleep Apnea

SLEEP ADVOCACY ACTION ALERT!

Help Support Federal Funding for Sleep and Sleep Disorders Activities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) and member organizations of the National Sleep Awareness Roundtable (NSART), including the American Sleep Apnea Association, are seeking funding for sleep programs at the CDC this year. This money will allow the CDC to start data collection and surveillance activities, create education and awareness materials for the public and health care professionals, and establish fellowship opportunities for promising researchers at universities and colleges. We need your help by contacting Congress today! For more information, please visit http://www.sleepfoundation.org/advocacy.

You can help secure funding for sleep-related programs at the CDC by e-mailing, calling, or faxing a letter to your Representative and Senators today.

Step One

For a draft email/letter, click here http://www.sleepfoundation.org/atf/cf/% ... tter_2.doc. (or visit http://www.sleepfoundation.org/advocacy/actionalert to find a copy). Please personalize this letter with information about how sleep apnea affects you, your family members, or your patients.

Step Two

Click here http://www.house.gov/writerep/ to find your Representative and how to contact him or her.

Click here http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_i ... rs_cfm.cfm to find your Senators. Click on the “Web Form” link below your Senator’s name for contact procedures.

Should you wish to call your Representative and Senators, you can find talking points here, http://www.sleepfoundation.org/advocacy/talkingpoints.

Due to security precautions it is best to fax, email or call when communicating with Congress.

Step Three
Please send copies of any e-mails or letters you send to NSF’s Government Affairs Manager John Rancourt at jrancourt@sleepfoundation.org or let him know that you called. This will allow us to follow up personally with your congressional members to make sure they received your message.

Step Four

E-mail this action alert to friends or family members today and ask them to help you let Congress know that Americans deserve to know how good sleep can improve their health, safety and well-being.

Thank you for you help in this urgent matter. Please contact me at jrancourt@sleepfoundation.org if you have any questions.

John Rancourt
Government Affairs Manager
National Sleep Foundation

We can be assured now that all our sleep problems are about to be solved.

Another government program that spends zillions of dollars.

Maybe something good will come of this,

In response to the last post,

I'm not sure I fully understand what the post means, but I can add a few details.

1. We are seeking a relatively small amount of money, $10 million dollars. Please visit http://www.sleepfoundation.org/advocacy/actionalert where you can read our issue brief.

2. We are hoping that these funds will be the first step toward future programs.

Thank you for posting. We look forward to having your support.

Again, if you have any questions, please contact me at 202 347 3471 ext. 203 or jrancourt@sleepfoundation.org

Sincerely,
John Rancourt

The best way to make the public aware of Sleep Apnea, is for a drug company to develop a pill that's overpriced and doesn't work. Then they run ad's on T.V., and everyone will make their Dr.s write scripts for it.

Since some won't have apnea, some will appear to be cured,(except for the side effects), excessive drowseness, and bloating. Problem solved, everyone wins, maybe not. Jim

Goofproof wrote:The best way to make the public aware of Sleep Apnea, is for a drug company to develop a pill that's overpriced and doesn't work. Then they run ad's on T.V., and everyone will make their Dr.s write scripts for it.

Now I'm wondering - why don't the xPAP manufacturers run commercials?

SleepySandy wrote:

Goofproof wrote:The best way to make the public aware of Sleep Apnea, is for a drug company to develop a pill that's overpriced and doesn't work. Then they run ad's on T.V., and everyone will make their Dr.s write scripts for it.

Now I'm wondering - why don't the xPAP manufacturers run commercials?

Because patients aren't allowed to buy from them, they only sell to DME's and Medical Pro's. They have sales reps instead. Jim

They want nothing to do with the end users.

There is a DME in my area who has advertised their xpap equipment on TV. They didn't give you any info about OSA, just showed some of the equipment they sell to OSA patients. I haven't seen their ad in awhile, so maybe they decided it wasn't profitable. It might have been profitable if they had given the symptoms of OSA and recommended people call the local hospitals for sleep doc references.

Alisha

Goofproof wrote:

SleepySandy wrote:

Goofproof wrote:The best way to make the public aware of Sleep Apnea, is for a drug company to develop a pill that's overpriced and doesn't work. Then they run ad's on T.V., and everyone will make their Dr.s write scripts for it.

Now I'm wondering - why don't the xPAP manufacturers run commercials?

Because patients aren't allowed to buy from them, they only sell to DME's and Medical Pro's. They have sales reps instead.

But you could say the exact same thing about pharmaceutical companies.

Medications

• Pharmaceutical companies have sales reps
  
  Patients can't buy from pharmaceutical companies
  
  Pharmaceutical companies sell to pharmacies
  
  Doctors prescribe medications to patients
  
  Patients obtain their prescribed medications from pharmacies

xPAP

• xPAP manufacturers have sales reps
  
  Patients can't buy from xPAP manufacturers
  
  xPAP manufacturers sell to DMEs
  
  Doctors prescribe xPAPs to patients
  
  Patients obtain their prescribed xPAPs from DMEs

It seems like the same thing to me.

SleepySandy, I think the point is that with all the meds being advertised so much on TV directly to the patients, the doctors are now even asking the patients if they have a certain drug in mind they want to be prescribed for them. My GP actually asked me that on one of my visits.

So if a drug manufacturer advertized a new product on TV that would cure or dramatically help the symptoms of OSA, a lot of people who snore, are fatigued, overweight, depressed, or sleepy during the day would go to their doctors and request the drug. The drug advertisements would get their attention, and they would ask for the drug. There is no OSA-warning advertisements on TV directed to the patient, so people aren't going into their doctors' offices and asking for a sleep study.

Jim may have been making a joke, but what he said is pretty much the truth.

Regards,

Alisha

I cannot help but wonder who is supposed to benefit from this 10 MILLION DOLLARS.

Make patients aware?
Make docs aware?
And what is wrong with the existing industry ??- (EVERYTHING!!)

And where does this 10 million dollars come from?

tomjax- The token libertarian

Alisha wrote:I think the point is that with all the meds being advertised so much on TV directly to the patients, the doctors are now even asking the patients if they have a certain drug in mind they want to be prescribed for them. My GP actually asked me that on one of my visits.

So if a drug manufacturer advertized a new product on TV that would cure or dramatically help the symptoms of OSA, a lot of people who snore, are fatigued, overweight, depressed, or sleepy during the day would go to their doctors and request the drug. The drug advertisements would get their attention, and they would ask for the drug. There is no OSA-warning advertisements on TV directed to the patient, so people aren't going into their doctors' offices and asking for a sleep study.

Hi Alisha

That's kind of my point. If xPAP manufacturers advertised, those advertisements would get attention. People might go to the doctor and ask about sleep apnea. Or, at least start to become aware that sleep apnea is real.

The xPAP manufacturers could easily adopt the same role as the drug companies. Make some snazzy commercials showing people with more energy. DON'T show any pictures of people with a mask on

Sandy

It would seem to me that educating the general public that sleep apnea is a REAL condition and to seek help when they exhibit the corresponding symptoms would be a great place to start. A lot of people, for example, think that snoring is just an annoying habit that keeps their spouse awake but never associate with a very real medical concern. I've had people tell me they think this whole sleep apnea/cpap machine thing is just a scam

Conversely, educating GP docs about sleep disorders, their seriousness and their connection with other health problems would be the flip side of the same coin. A patient may present with clear symptoms indicating further investigation of their sleep, but most GP's will order every test BUT a PSG and look at every angle BUT a sleep disorder. They just don't know too I guess.

I would venture to guess that a majority of the denizens of this forum were NOT diagnosed correctly, initially, and that sleep was looked at sometimes as a last resort issue.

I think the idea of federal funding is a step in the right direction. What I think is sad is that no one can seem to take it on it's face value as a good thing. The government dollars are going to be there no matter what. The key is to get them spent on good causes like this. The National Sleep Foundation is a rather big deal and I'm glad to see them involved on the federal level for those who are suffering from a sleeping disorder uneccesarily due to ignorance.

Guess I timed out....sorry for the guest post.