Come and Get ‘Em — Free Flu Shots
Every year, MDA offers those it serves free flu shots because influenza can be especially dangerous for people affected by neuromuscular diseases.
Free flu shots are available at local MDA clinics, or MDA will pay for your doctor to administer the shot. To find out more, call your local MDA office. Those taking immunosuppressant drugs like prednisone should consult with their doctors before getting flu shots.
Seeking Nominees for Achievement Awards
It’s time to get MDA’s 14th annual Personal Achievement Awards program rolling, and MDA is looking for nominations. The awards recognize and honor the accomplishments and community service of people with neuromuscular diseases and are awarded each year on local, state and national levels.
Anyone can nominate a candidate — friends, family members, colleagues, MDA staff. Pick up a nomination form and a set of guidelines at your local MDA office. The deadline is in late January.
See Strength & Determination for a profile of the 2005 national award recipient.
MDA Annual Report Issued
Copies of MDA’s 2003-2004 Annual Report are available at your local MDA office. Covering the fiscal year that ended March 31, the report contains an audited financial statement and a general overview of operations and accomplishments during the year.
The report also lists MDA’s Board of Directors, officers, national vice presidents, clinic locations and research grantees, along with the membership of MDA’s advisory committees.
2003 Telethon Takes Home an Emmy
Last year’s Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon has won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography. The Aca-demy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded the Emmy on Sept. 12 at a special presentation prior to the televised Primetime Emmy Awards.
The award, which named Choreographer Jason Samuels Smith, recognized dance numbers performed on the 38th broadcast of the MDA Telethon.
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| Eddie Adams |
Noted Photographer Adams Succumbs to ALS
Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Eddie Adams died at his New York home on Sept. 19 from complications associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). The 71-year-old had received the diagnosis in March.
A special correspondent for Parade Magazine for some 20 years, Adams also shot cover and front page photos for such prestigious magazines and newspapers as Time, Newsweek, Life and Vogue. Adams took many of the memorable photos of Jerry Lewis and people served by MDA for Labor Day weekend covers of Parade. Adams and his family were profiled on the 2004 Telethon.
Two With SMA Receive Art Awards
Fifteen young artists with disabilities, including two with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), have been selected from a field of 142 entrants to receive awards from VSA arts and Volkswagen of America.
Driving Force is the title of the 2004 national juried exhibit for young artists with disabilities, ages 16-25.
Noelle Nevolo, 24, of Nutley, N.J., was awarded the $3,000 second prize for her oil on plywood painting “Doctor (Janya Nanta).”
Emily McCulley, 16, of Wichita, Kan., received a $1,000 award of excellence for her acrylic painting titled “Griffen.”
The exhibit will be shown at the S. Dillon Ripley Center of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington through Nov. 29, then will tour the country.
VSA arts is an international nonprofit organization that sponsors arts programs and annual competitions for people with disabilities. To learn more or see the exhibit, visit www.vsarts.org or call (800) 933-8721.
The Collections permanent home is at MDAs national headquarters
in Tucson, Ariz., but you can view it at www.mda.org/commprog/art.
The Collection features more than 300 works by children and adults
with neuromuscular diseases.
If you know of a museum or gallery that would be interested in hosting
an exhibit from the Collection, contact Mike Blishak at (520) 529-5349.
