BIRMINGHAM POST-POLIO SUPPORT GROUP
President:
James Jarrell 205-980-0050 E-mail: JamesPJarrell@cs.com
Vice-president: Dave White 205-989-6523
Secretary & Program: Donna Weselius 205-991-6910
Treasurer: Faye Perkins 205-680-5328
Aware Editor: E. J. Samples 205-699-8640 E-mail: EJFAYE@aol.com
Contact: 1801 Azalea Dr Leeds, AL 35094
Polio Clinic Liaison: James Jarrell 205-980-0050
452 N Lake Rd., Birmingham, AL 35242-7025
Public Relations: Dave White 205-989-6523
Director: Dan Burton 205-822-3591
Sunshine: Ellen Peak & Kay 205-853-1422
Telephone: Deanna Cazer 256-268-9843
Welcome: Dan Mullins 205-681-8050
Refreshments: Robbie Palmer 205-669-3672
Directors: Marilym Merkle 205-802-7077 and Ken Norris 205-323-3849
Monthly Meetings: The Group meets the second Saturday of each month from 10:00 to 12:00, opening with light refreshments. After a brief business session, a program of relevant information is presented by invited speakers, video tapes, or members themselves.
Monthly Newsletter: A week before the monthly meeting, members receive a copy of Aware, the Group's newsletter. It provides news about members and pertinent information about the polio scene. If requested, members' physicians are sent copies without charge.
State Forums: The Group sponsors state-wide Forums that attract hundreds of persons interested in obtaining the latest information about PPS from nationally recognized experts on the subject.
Other Facts
Speakers: When requested by civic, educational, and community groups, member volunteers discuss polio, including its history and its current effects on their lives.
Special Funding: Because of its tax-exempt status, the Group is able to accept grants and special monies, including memorials for members, that serve as tax-deductible gifts for contributors. Significant funding has come from Crippled
Children's Foundation, Hill Crest Foundation, Jefferson County Chapter of the Easter Seal Society, Lakeshore
Foundation, and State Rehabilitation Services.
Post-Polio Clinic: The Group provided "consumer feedback" as Lakeshore Rehabilitation Hospital conceived and developed its Post-Polio Clinic. HealthSouth Lakeshore dedicated the Clinic to Wanda Merrill, who is largely responsible for getting the Group started in the late '80s. Phone 868-2096, the Physicians' Clinic, at HealthSouth Lakeshore Hospital
for more information about their services.
For more information about the Birmingham Post-Polio Support Group.
phone E. J. Samples, 205-699-8640 or e-mail ejfaye@aol.com
Know your Support Group - this is a copy of our Official Brochure:
Brief History
In the mid-1980s, the national estimate of polio survivors was 300,000, with 125,000 of those experiencing symptoms of post-polio syndrome (PPS).
Today, the estimate of polio survivors is 1 million persons, with two out of three of those experiencing symptoms of PPS.
As early as 1989, a small group of survivors in the Birmingham area came together to learn how to live with the new problems that they were encountering. Eventually those few members grew into the Birmingham Post-Polio Support Group, a non-profit organization whose motto is "to learn and to teach."
As the number of survivors has grown, so has the Support Group membership, with 25 to 30 "regulars" attending monthly meetings and almost 400 receiving the monthly newsletter.
Roll Tide !!
E. J.
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