Media
News Briefs and Testimonies
ASA Media Moments
AJC
Home Edition
Thursday, 9/22/2005
News
A1
Atlanta acts to snap up events bounced by storm
LEON STAFFORD / Staff
lstafford@ajc.com
Atlanta hospitality officials, walking a tightrope that requires much
more tact than is normal in the highly competitive convention business, have
quietly won several big meetings from rival New Orleans.
Just weeks after Hurricane Katrina washed away the Big Easy's hospitality
business for the year, Atlanta has landed two big conventions --- the American Society of
Anesthesiologists and the American Society of Hematology --- that were supposed
to be there in October and December, respectively.
And that may not be the end. Planners for a handful of smaller meetings --- the
kind that can be accommodated by a hotel's meeting space --- have either signed
contracts to come here or are considering such a move, Atlanta officials say.
The meetings went up for grabs after New Orleans officials
said damage at the Morial Convention Center would cause them to cancel conventions through March
31. Other venues, including hotels, also have canceled shows.
That put on the market hundreds of meetings, big and small, in an industry that
has seen the number of convention facilities outstrip the shows to fill them.
"Many of them came to us, " Mark Vaughan, executive vice president of sales and
marketing for the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, said of meeting
planners looking for a venue change for their groups.
"We put together our availability and what we had to offer. We tried to be sensitive
to what was going on and did not want to take advantage of the situation, " he
said.
The two new Atlanta meetings bring with them attendance of about 15,000 each, while
the smaller gatherings will add thousands more.
Though the wins are a result of tragedy, the additional convention business is
good news for Atlanta.
The Georgia World Congress Center, the fourth-largest convention center in the country, closed
the books in June on one of the worst financial years in its history.
The center lost $1.96 million in fiscal 2005 due to a combination of problems,
including the venue change of two large events, the National Hockey League lockout
and lower-than-anticipated parking revenues. In fiscal 2001, a strong year, the
center ended with an operating profit of $3.2 million.
While much of the economy has rebounded from the downturn that began in the first
months of the new century, business in the meetings industry remains sluggish.
The GWCC still is reeling from the loss of its biggest convention, the National
Association of Home Builders, which was to be here in 2007 and 2008. The group
would have brought an estimated 100,000 people to Atlanta
for the meetings, and direct spending was estimated to be $119 million annually.
In addition to business headed to the center, the Georgia Dome might benefit
from New Orleans' woes. It would host
the Sugar Bowl if LSU's Tiger Stadium in Baton
Rouge, La., could not, the game's executive director said
this week.
Paul Hoolahan said he'd prefer to keep the game, which has been played at the
New Orleans Superdome, in hurricane-ravaged Louisiana, but only if there were enough hotel rooms and city services
available to accommodate visitors.
"They [Atlanta] host the SEC championship
game every year. These people know the drill, " Hoolahan said. "The city
can provide the hotel rooms, the transportation and the venues for entertainment
that we need. That is why it is such a viable option."
If the Sugar Bowl moves to Atlanta, the Georgia Dome would get three big games in the span of
four days: the Peach Bowl on Dec. 30, the Falcons on Jan. 1 and the Sugar Bowl
on Jan. 2.
The last Sugar Bowl brought 77,349 people to the Superdome, roughly
the same size as the SEC championship here. It's tough to gauge the exact
economic impact of such games until the teams are announced; hotel and restaurant
proceeds shoot up if teams are from far away.
The economic impact of the anesthesiology and hematology conventions
also is uncertain, visitors bureau spokeswoman Lauren Jarrell said.
Each was expected to add an estimated $15 million to the New Orleans economy, she said. Whether that will be matched in Atlanta depends on how many people attend.
Heywood Sanders, a professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio who has studied the convention
industry, said cities that get the conventions can't bank on economic impact
parallel to what New Orleans had predicted.
"Even if you get the event, you don't necessarily get the people, " he said.
To accommodate the new conventions, Atlanta moved at least
one convention to another hall in the Georgia World Congress Center. Local officials also met with hotel executives to map out room
availability, Vaughan said. The center tried to keep its costs in line with what
the convention groups would have paid in New Orleans.
"We have pledged a package that will be the same cost or lower than Morial's, " said
Katy Pando, GWCC spokeswoman.
Atlanta officials also offered New
Orleans hospitality leaders, with whom they have partnered on tourism initiatives,
space to work, and they offered to put some up in their homes, Jarrell said.
After it became clear that the New Orleans convention center would not be open anytime soon, convention
sales representatives from that city called their counterparts in Atlanta
and other cities on behalf of their clients.
The Atlanta representatives then put together a package
of open dates, Jarrell said.
Atlanta is not the only city picking up business from New
Orleans. Chicago, Las Vegas, San
Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington and San
Antonio all booked displaced conventions.
But some associations that planned to meet in New Orleans, including AARP, formerly
the American Association of Retired Persons, have canceled or postponed their
conventions rather than deal with a last-minute relocation.
Making a quick change of venue is fraught with problems, among them finding hotel
rooms, redirecting exhibitors and scheduling a date agreeable to members. And
the cost of changing airline tickets may make the trip more expensive for some
attendees.
American Society of Anesthesiologists spokeswoman Gina Steiner said the group's
leaders thought hard about whether to go forward. But they were able to schedule
the Atlanta conference on the same days it was booked for New
Orleans, which they think will help maintain projected attendance.
"That was very important because we might have lost some people, " she
said, explaining that anesthesiologists have to plan time off far in advance
to make sure operating rooms are covered.
The Illinois-based group has had only seven weeks to make the rearrangements.
Generally, it picks the venue 12 to 13 years in advance.
"It was a hard decision, " Steiner said. "Our officers were
hearing it from our members both ways."
Staff writer Tony Barnhart contributed to this article.
©2005 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Reprinted
with permission from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Further
reproduction, retransmission or distribution of these
materials without the prior written consent of The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, and any copyright holder identified
in the material’s copyright notice, is prohibited.
Today's
SurgiCenterOnline
American Society of Anesthesiologists Announces
New Task Force and Fund to Benefit Hurricane Victims
Source: American Society of Anesthesiologists
9-15-05
CHICAGO -- In the days following Hurricane Katrina, anesthesiologists
from all over the country rushed to ask the same questions. They wanted to
know how they could help as physicians, and how they could donate to relief
efforts on behalf of their profession.
"The outpouring of concern by our members has been amazing," said Eugene P. Sinclair, MD, president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). "Instead of worrying about what would become of our annual meeting in a few weeks, they were much more concerned about providing assistance to those in dire straits in the Gulf region." ASA's
annual meeting, planned for an estimated 16,000 attendees in New Orleans on
Oct. 22-26, was displaced by the disaster.
ASA has appointed an ad hoc task force to establish connections with
members in the stricken states to assess short- and long-term needs
of the affected population, the physicians and the hospitals. This task
force will share information with members about volunteer or charitable
opportunities in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, ASA has
been publicizing volunteer opportunities available through other national
organizations since the first days of the tragedy. Many ASA members
have been involved in treating and helping victims in the first hours,
days and weeks after the disaster struck. Some of their accounts from
the field can be read on ASA's Web site at http://www.asahq.org/news/katrinaresources.htm.
To help its members provide monetary relief to those affected by Hurricane
Katrina and its aftermath, ASA has established a special
fund to which its members can donate. Donors can designate their contributions
to go to national relief organizations, or specify that their donation
go to discretionary projects to help colleagues, healthcare
facilities, or people who have suffered losses from this disaster.
The Anesthesia Foundation-ASA Disaster Relief Fund has been kicked
off with $30,000 that was donated by ASA members in honor
of the society's 100th anniversary. Funds also will
be added that would have been spent on social events at the group's
annual meeting, and additional sponsors and donors are being sought.
ASA has relocated its annual meeting to Atlanta next month. ASA officers
decided to cancel or postpone all social events related
to this year's meeting out of respect for the suffering of the hurricane
victims, and will focus the society's resources only on the
scientific, educational and business portions of the
meeting. The Centennial Gala, which was originally planned for New Orleans
to commemorate the founding of the society in October 1905, has been
postponed until next year.
Numerous anesthesiology residents have been
displaced from their programs in the affected regions,
and other programs have offered to take them in. A portion of the proceeds
from the Anesthesia Foundation-ASA Disaster Relief Fund will
go to provide grants for anesthesiology residents who
have suffered from this disaster to help them continue their training.
Other potential uses for the funds are to help hospitals and clinics
in affected areas to repair or restock their facilities, and to help
defray other costs of providing care to people in need.
Donors who are
not members of ASA are welcome to contribute to the
fund at https://www2.asahq.org/donations/web/ or
by sending a check made out to AF-ASA Disaster Relief Fund to: American
Society of Anesthesiologists, 520 N. Northwest Highway, Park Ridge,
Ill. 60068-2573.
San
Antonio Current
When the levee breaks
By Michael Cary, photos by
Mark Greenberg
9-08-05
Major James Johnson,
a cardio-thoracic anesthesiologist stationed at Wilford
Hall, inserts an IV saline pouch to a critically ill
patient before she is loaded aboard an Air Force C-130
cargo plane, bound for Ellington Airport in Houston.
The patient ultimately would receive treatment at an
area medical facility.
The crew included nurses, technicians,
and an additional three-member Critical Care Air Transport
Team, including Major James Johnson, a cardio-thoracic
anesthesiologist, Captain William Wolfe, a critical care
nurse, and Sergeant Sybyl Thibodaux, a critical care
technician, all from Wilford Hall Medical Center’s
59 th Medical Wing. At 6 a.m., the pilot lifted the aircraft
off the runway and sped into the predawn, set to arrive
at Armstrong Airport less than two hours later. The seven-man
flight crew and the medical teams were taking help and
hope to thousands of severely traumatized New Orleans
residents.
Associated
Press (printed in the Boston Herald)
Signs of Life Appear in New Orleans
No author listed
9-10-05
An excerpt of the AP article also appeared on the Web
site of WTVM 9 and FOX 54 WXTX
As soldiers and police have tried to convince people
living on flooded streets to comply with an evacuation
order, the luckier residents have quietly been allowed
to go about their lives.
And they have.
“I think you have to do the things that give you
strength to get through this,” said Frank Rosinia,
an anesthesiologist perspiring as he rode a racing bicycle.
He’s been working at a hospital since Hurricane
Katrina hit.
NBC
2/ WGRZ-TV Buffalo
A Lick of Thanks
Reporter Lynne Dixon
9-12-05
The couple says an anesthesiologist at the hospital
offered to stay behind and care for all of the pets as
best he could…but the doctor at the hospital stayed
for days on the rooftop of the hospital, giving the animals
minimal amounts of water and food. Finally, after nearly
a week, the Bennett’s say, help came.
“It made me feel the world wasn’t as bad
as I thought it was,” said Lorne of the many people
involved in rescuing and reuniting the pets. He said
it gives him faith in God and in the human race.
Associated
Press
With La. Conventions unlikely, other cities stepping
in
By Kristen Wyatt
9-01-05
For the [American Society of Anesthesiologists], planning
to bring 16,000 to the convention center in October,
Hurricane Katrina's destruction means a conference planned
for 12 years will have to be rearranged in less than
two months. Considering that big meetings require airline
tickets, hotel rooms and speakers _ not just a big room
to meet in _ some conventions planned for New Orleans
this fall and winter may have to be scrapped or broken
into smaller pieces, said [ASA]'s spokeswoman, Gina Steiner.
``There are only a few places that can handle our size,''
said Steiner, speaking from the society's Chicago headquarters.
``We may have to scale things back.''
USA Today
Economic Fallout will be massive
By Barry Williams
9-01-05
The [American Society of Anesthesiologists] was set
to celebrate its centennial in New Orleans next month
-- a celebration 12 years in the making that included
a black-tie gala for 1,500 people. But on Wednesday,
the group canceled.
It was particularly disappointing for Orin Guidry,
a New Orleans resident who is the society's incoming
president.
Wednesday, he had other things on his mind. "Frankly
any disappointment about the meeting pales in comparison
to the suffering of many of the victims of this storm.
... Concern about when I take over the office (of president)
is the furthest thing from my mind," he wrote in
an e-mail from his brother's home in Lafayette, La.
Los
Angeles Times
Groups Seek New Sites for Meetings: But associations
with conventions scheduled in New Orleans this fall have
few options
By James S. Granelli and Kathy M. Kristof
9-02-05
The American Society of Anesthesiologists, which was
planning to bring about [16,000] members to New Orleans
for its annual meeting starting Oct. 22, has opted for
the same as the business aircraft group—looking
for a new site.
Chicago Tribune
Aid arrives for hospitals battered by Katrina
By Judith
Graham
9-04-05
Dr. James Hicks of Portland, Ore., who flew to New Orleans
Thursday as part of a disaster medical assistance team,
described the scene at the airport as “seething
mass of desperate humanity.” About 3,000 refugees
had gone to the airport from New Orleans, and sanitation
was “marginal,” the doctor reported to colleagues
at the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
Denver Post
Denver set to gleam New Orleans conventions
By Julie
Dunn
9-04-05
The American Society of Anesthesiologists, which is
planning to bring 16,000 attendees to New Orleans in
late October, is searching for a new location.
NBC
5 ( Chicago)
Target 5: Travel Industry shifts in response to Katrina
Reporter
Lisa Parker
9-07-05
The American Society of Anesthesiologists, based here
in Chicago, says it's greatly relieved.
Just a few days ago, The New Orleans Convention Center,
which was supposed to host its 16,000 members next month,
made it official. That facility is out of the question.
"We were looking forward to doing (the convention)
in New Orleans, where it's historic and very festive," said
Gina Steiner, of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. "So,
we felt bad mostly for the victims, but also we felt
bad that we couldn't go down there and give our business
to the city we had planned to (visit)."
New Orleans has long been one of the hottest convention
sites, Parker said. The anesthesiologists booked their
plans 12 years in advance.
They were able to find another site. Atlanta will now
host the convention at the end of October.
Testimonies
from anesthesiologists regarding hurricane relief efforts
Account by Susan Dobbs Curling, M.D. , Houston, Texas
(9-09-05)
The arms, wallets, and hearts of everyone have opened
here, and the medical needs are diminishing as we speak. Initially,
there was an incredible amount of dehydration, and up
to 270 children reported with diarrhea. The Astrodome
is very well set-up medically and colleagues have reported
that they feel safe there and that they knew of no incidents.
I have had 4 calls this week from displaced anesthesiologists
looking for work. One of them is a relative of
a local dermatologist. We had already interviewed
him and offered him a job out of residency. He
opted to go to Louisiana, and now has his education debt,
and lost his home and job after one month at his new
position...We need to help our colleagues who are in
a desperate situation.
I saw patients at a local shelter in a church in Kingwood
where they are housing 150 people. I saw a patient
with HIV, a blind man with hemorrhoids who had no diabetic
or antihypertensive medications, and a woman who has
been walking with glass in her feet since the storm. The
most pitiful part was that the tops of her feet were
sunburned from standing out in the sun, and her legs
were very edematous, but no pitting. She said it
was just because of being unable to have anywhere to
put up her feet. She also had herpetic lesions
around her mouth, questionably exacerbated by the stress.
A volunteer brought in one of the "survivors"...I
think that is the most hopeful term...that has been taking
care of all of the others. She had been through
a terrible horror, and could not sleep because of flashbacks. We
are getting all of the children back to school, but it
is difficult for us, as I am sure it is difficult for
all to see the human cost of this terrible storm. Our
children are learning a very important lesson this year
about human kindness and decency.
Account by David Wlody , M.D., Brooklyn, New York (9-13-05)
I will be traveling with Continuum Health Partners,
an HHS-approved provider that is the corporate entity
that manages my hospital and several others in NYC. As
of this moment, we don't know where we are going, what
our duties will be, or the precise time of departure.
Our list of suggested supplies includes items such
as sunglasses and prescription glasses instead of contact
lenses; insect repellent with DEET, disposable foam earplugs;
satellite radio if you so choose; power/balance bars;
personal hygiene items and no more than $100-200 dollars.