FAER Centennial Activities During 2005 Annual Meeting

his year marks ASA’s 100th anniversary! The Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) is pleased to join with the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology and the Anesthesia Foundation in saluting ASA and its members on this exceptional accomplishment. This inspiring milestone deserves considerable reflection on where ASA began, respect and appreciation for where it is today and excitement about what it can accomplish down the road while expanding and enhancing the domain of anesthesiology.

The Society’s achievements have made it an important voice in American medicine and the foremost advocate for all patients who require anesthesia or relief from pain. In acknowledgement and celebration of ASA’s 100th anniversary, FAER, in conjunction with the ASA Ad Hoc Committee on ASA’s 100th Anniversary, is developing and coordinating several special centennial programs with the intention of raising much-needed funds for ASA-affiliated foundations. The net proceeds from these programs will be shared among the foundations.  These special centennial programs include:

• A corporate Centennial Fund Development Campaign as well as an ASA member solicitation drive to benefit ASA’s four foundations.

• A special Centennial Outreach Campaign to increase the layperson’s and professional’s recognition of the history, scope and impact of anesthesiology on all of medicine. 

• A Centennial Gala and Special Celebration Reception to be held during the ASA 2005 Annual Meeting on October 22-26, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Remember to save these dates!

The Centennial Fund Development Campaign aims to raise funds and to develop a culture of philanthropy that will sustain the missions of the foundations for years to come. The four foundations, which are integrally linked to ASA, require special reinvestment and replenishment of their endowments and operating funds to continue improving programs essential to the progress of ASA.

The campaign includes a sponsorship and education program that will solicit corporate sponsors to participate at one of five different levels ranging from $5,000 to $100,000. As an ASA member, you will see these sponsors in campaign packets, on the ASA Centennial Web page and elsewhere. The campaign also includes a solicitation drive for ASA members, encouraging them to support this once-in-100-years effort.
The Centennial Outreach Campaign includes a national crossword puzzle promotion that will allow participants the chance to win 1 million frequent flyer miles. To become eligible, contestants will complete a crossword puzzle using anesthesiology-related terms and return it to FAER.

The Centennial Gala and Special Reception are the highlights of the festivities for 2005 and will be held during the Annual Meeting in New Orleans. As a centennial supporter, tickets to the Gala and Special Reception are included at various donation levels ranging from $250 to $2,500.

The reasons to become a part of the centennial celebration are many, including the often-cited fact that anesthesiology does not receive proportionate funding from the National Institutes of Health.

As noted in the article by Immediate Past President Roger W. Litwiller, M.D. (see page 2) earlier in this issue: “In the Emery A. Rovenstine Memorial Lecture at the 2004 Annual Meeting, Jerome H. Modell, M.D., challenged anesthesiologists to be a part of the solution to this problem. He stated that if every anesthesiologist returned 0.8 of 1 percent of his or her income to the specialty, more money would be raised for anesthesiology than what is presently received from the National Institutes of Health!” Dr. Litwiller also said: “Leave anesthesiology a better specialty because you were an anesthesiologist … What a legacy we would leave for the generations who will follow us by starting, in this centennial year, to invest in the future of anesthesiology.”

As a valued ASA member, you will be asked to support the Centennial Fund Development Campaign. With your financial assistance and active participation, the drive to fortify the present and ensure the future of anesthesiology will be very successful.

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