The Association for Women in Communications (AWC) today announced the recipients of its annual Clarion Awards, honoring excellence in clear, concise communications. The National Trauma Institute’s website was awarded top honors in the “Website–$10,000 and below annual budget” category. We’re proud to be able to do a lot with a little!
For more information on AWC and the national Clarion Awards, visit the AWC website.
NTI’s awareness and giving campaign, “Stop the Bleeding,” is featured in the Marketing & Media column in today’s issue of the San Antonio Business Journal.
Writer Andi Rodriguez describes the goals of the campaign and some of our strategies to build funding for trauma research, including our Times Square message asking people to text TRAUMA to 20222 to make a $10 donation.
To make it easier for people to locate our Stop the Bleeding giving and awareness campaign, we have launched a new website that provides information and an online donation function at www.stopthebleeding.org.
Through the site, insterested donors can read more about the imperative for trauma research funding, text a $10 donation or gain entry directly to our giving page, which has more options. Text TRAUMA to 20222 to donate $10 now!
In its second national request for proposals, the National Trauma Institute seeks to fund rigorous clinical studies, especially those that address hemorrhage, intensive care, trauma systems or pre-hospital care.
Half of the available $2.8 million in funding is designated specifically for studies related to non-compressible hemorrhage. Bleeding from extremity wounds stops with applied pressure, and tourniquets and advanced bandages have significantly reduced combat deaths, but 15 percent of battle injuries in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters are to the torso, where applying pressure is not an option. We must develop simple, field-expedient techniques for non-surgeons to use in emergency situations.
Other priorities include effective resuscitation strategies, new treatments for shock, better understanding of the coagulapathy of trauma, the elimination of hospital acquired infections, airway and ventilation management strategies for the injured, and topics related to battlefield and pre-hospital care and communication.
Pre-proposals must be submitted by July 23, 2010 and may outline clinical or translational research involving either single or multiple centers. For complete submission guidelines, visit the NTI website.
In its first disbursement of grant funds, NTI awarded funding–ranging from $125,000 to $225,000–to seven trauma studies to be conducted over the next year at institutions across the country.
From a strong pool of 85 proposals garnered during its first RFP process, NTI’s Science Committee conducted a rigorous peer review to arrive at the seven most scientifically promising and clinically relevant studies to receive funding. To learn more about the principal investigators and their study topics, read our press release.
NTI expects to award grants annually and is preparing the next Request for Proposals, to be made public later this month. Sign-up to receive an announcement when the RFP is released!
Since it was first declared by President Reagan in 1988, National Trauma Awareness Month is a time to focus on accident prevention and safety, to make people aware of the location of their nearest trauma center and to support local and national organizations dedicated to caring for trauma victims.
You can find great resources on the NTI website to use in your own Trauma Month activities, including injury prevention tips, maps to trauma centers and recognition activities for legislators who have supported the National Trauma Institute.
Please consider a contribution to our Stop the Bleeding campaign, thorugh which NTI will fund hemorrhage-related studies that show promise for new treatments that will save lifes and reduce disabilities related to massive bleeding.
The National Trauma Institute is now listed among the hundreds of organizations included in the 2010 State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC) Application. Conducted at state agencies and universities each fall, the SECC encourages state employees to donate to the non-profit organizations of their choice through one-time gifts or payroll deductions. Each non-profit listed within the application has met stringent legal requirements and ethical standards.
The SECC, begun in 1993, has been an enormous success, a testament to the generosity of Texas’ state employees. Last year, the campaign raised more than $10 million for organizations ranging from small, local charities to well-known national and international groups. NTI is proud to be part of the campaign!
The 2010 SECC occurs from September 1 through October 31, 2010.
The National Trauma Institute’s ICU Data Registry Project is the subject of a U.S. Army news story, published March 29.
The project, expected to go live this month, will enable care providers to enter 300 medical data points on ICU patients into a database that will be accessible by doctors and researchers. The pilot project will first connect University Hospital and Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. “The military already electronically compiles combat trauma data in the Joint Theater Trauma Registry, headquartered at the USAISR at Fort Sam Houston,” the story reports. “Researchers use this medical data from combat support hospitals to identify ways to improve protective equipment and battlefield care to save more lives.”
Once fully tested and proven during the pilot stage, the ICU Data Registry will be fully integrated into the Joint Theater Trauma Registry. The hoped for outcome is improved pre-hospital care.
In an editorial posted on the San Antonio Express News website, Joe Krier defends Kay Bailey Hutchison’s use of the much ballyhooed Congressional earmark to bring federal dollars back to Texas. He points to many examples of positive fallout for San Antonio as a result of Hutchison’s putting Texas first, including $8 million to the National Trauma Institute. “Are earmarks that provide for clinical trauma care and help cure an insidious disease good for San Antonio? I believe the answer is a resounding ‘yes’,” Klier opines.
We think he’s right, and it’s a shame that earmarks have such a negative connotation. In many instances, an earmark is the only way to secure funding for worthy projects if they are not a part of entitlement programs. In the case of NTI, trauma is unfortunately not a category funded through the Department of Health and Human Services. We have been lobbying to have it added to the HHS agenda, but in the meantime, we have had to work through Senator Hutchison and Representative Lamar Smith to secure financial attention.
We and those our research serves are grateful to Hutchison and Smith for recognizing the importance of research to improved clinical outcomes and for working to secure federal funds for this purpose–no matter what the process is called!
We are pleased to welcome Stephanie Krueger to the National Trauma Institute as our director of development. She has more than 12 years of experience providing the vision, leadership, strategic direction and management for the fundraising efforts of several San Antonio organizations. Most recently, she served as a development officer for the McNay Art Museum, implementing annual giving and membership programs in support of that wonderful San Antonio resource. She has also directed membership and programs for the Downtown Alliance/Centro San Antonio and the marketing efforts of Martin Capital Advisors.
With the addition of Ms. Kreuger to our staff, we’ll begin work on a strategic national campaign to raise funds from individuals and private organizations that will supplement federal research dollars. We’re excited to embark on this next phase in the organization’s growth as we work toward our vision to be the premiere grant-making institution for translational trauma research.