Medical News

Waltham, Mass. ? Sept. 16, 2003 ? Massachusetts physicians and their families will fan out across the state on Saturday, October 25, as they volunteer to help those affected by domestic violence.
   

The Massachusetts Medical Society Alliance and the Massachusetts Medical Society & Alliance Charitable Foundation are sponsoring the first annual ?Physicians and Their Families Make a Difference Day,? conducted as part of the national ?Make a Difference Day? coordinated by USA Weekend Magazine and the Points of Light Foundation.
   

The statewide effort will focus on securing comfort items for families in local shelters for domestic violence.
   

Vanessa P. Kenealy, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society Alliance, said that a great need persists for items that most of us take for granted.
   

?Survivors of domestic violence often flee their homes on a moment?s notice,? said Kenealy. ?They leave a lot behind, and our effort is to try to make their time at the shelter more comfortable.?
   

An attorney and Hopkinton resident, Kenealy is enlisting volunteers to distribute and pick up donation bags in communities and neighborhoods across the state. The volunteers will distribute the bags during the first week in October, and then return on or about October 25 to pick up the filled bags, which will then be delivered to shelters across the state
   

The physicians and their families seek personal care and comfort items such as combs, shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrushes, baby food and formula, disposable diapers, socks and undergarments for adults and children, children?s books and magazines, feminine products, and small luxuries such as nail polish and lip gloss.
   

Kenealy, noting that most guests at shelters are women and children, encourages everyone to make a donation to the cause, saying ?every gift, large or small, does indeed make a difference to those forced to stay in a shelter.?
   

For more information on ?Physicians and Their Families Make a Difference Day,? contact Jennifer Day, program manager, at 781-434-7044 or jday@mms.org.
   

For information on the Medical Society?s Campaign Against Domestic Violence, with listings for hotlines and services available, visit www.massmed.org/pages/dv_campaign.asp
   

The Massachusetts Medical Society Alliance is the organization of physicians? spouses committed to advancing the health and well being of the medical family. In conjunction with the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Alliance advocates and promotes good health among the citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
   

The Massachusetts Medical Society and Alliance Charitable Foundation is a supporting organization of the Massachusetts Medical Society and the MMS Alliance. Since its inception, the Foundation has made more than $330,000 in allotments, supporting such services as medical care for the uninsured and underserved, childhood injury prevention, and rape crisis and services for battered women.
   

The Massachusetts Medical Society, with more than 18,000 physicians and student members is dedicated to educating and advocating for the physicians and patients of Massachusetts. Founded in 1781, the MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country. The Society owns and publishes The New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal Watch family of professional newsletters, AIDS Clinical Care, and produces HealthNews, a consumer health publication. For more information, visit www.massmed.org.