<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

As far as I can tell there is no CD support group in south west GA.  The
Gluten Sensitive Support Group in Atlanta has graciously sent me information
about their meeting times and places but, as life so often is the case, I
usually cannot take an entire day to drive to Atlanta.

I have felt since the very beginning of my daughter's diagnosis that I was
being led to start a support group here in Albany, GA.  I even met a woman
on this list that lives about an hour and a half away who was interested in
the same thing.  I am in a good position to start a support group as I have
a lot of resources available to me such as radio and television coverage to
promote the start-up of a group, a large meeting facility, and many
community contacts - several of which are doctors.  I have access to
coverage on our city's mid-day show which is usually a live interview.
Someone has suggested that I ask Dr. Kaplan (?) from Emory University
Hospital in Atlanta, to travel here to be a guest on the show with me.  I
have had several doctors tell me they have a good number of Celiac patients
who would benefit from this as well as a support group.

For those of you who have started and successfully maintained a support
group, would you mind emailing me some suggestions and instructions?  I am a
"detail" person so I can take as many suggestions as you can throw at me
about how to handle costs, how to promote a support group, what type of
events to have at each meeting, how to get knowledgeable speakers, how to
raise community awareness in my city, how to rally together our local
restaurants, how to "educate" physicians here who have never heard of CD or
who think it is very rare, where do I get statistics from to use on the
mid-day show?  Also, if anyone on this list is a patient of Dr. Kaplan (I
think that is his name - he's supposed to be one of the top doctor's for CD
in GA) I would be interested in hearing from you.

Thank you to everyone on this list.  This is a great support system in
itself.

Mandy Kavanaugh
Albany, GA

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