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World KC Day, a global event sponsored by the National Keratoconus Foundation to promote awareness of keratoconus, is celebrated annually on Nov. 10.
Now is a great time to start planning for how you can spread the word and support patients with keratoconus (KC) in your practice and community.
Last year, we hosted our first in-person World KC Day event at our practice, and it was such a wonderful experience that we knew immediately it would become an annual event. Our goal was threefold: We wanted to educate people about KC and how it is treated; provide a positive environment for KC patients and their loved ones to meet and celebrate their successes; and market our patient services, which include corneal imaging, specialty lenses, cross-linking and corneal transplantation, for this population.
Our practice’s event
The event included a welcome breakfast with donated bagels, doughnuts and coffee, doctor-to-patient and patient-to-patient networking, patient stories about their KC journeys and three 10-minute lectures presented by our doctors covering the basics of KC, specialty lens options and surgical treatment options. We also set aside more than an hour for a question-and-answer session. Seeing so much engagement during that session was the most rewarding aspect of all.
In total, the event cost us less than $2,000. A small team of doctors and staff members coordinated the event, and we hired a freelance videographer to document the day. The resulting video is something we have since used as part of the video loop in our lobby, on the practice website and on all our social media platforms.
It was very powerful and emotional to see patients connecting with and learning from one another. Our doctors and staff felt validated to see the impact they have in the community, and we have gained a number of referrals from the day as well, including some from out of state. If events like this can help to educate the community and increase the chance that patients get much-needed treatment and visual rehabilitation to improve their quality of life, that’s a huge win for patients, family members and the practice.
Ideas for planning your own event
Your own World KC event can be big or small, but the existence of this globally recognized day provides a great “hook” to raise awareness about a somewhat rare disease. Here are four tips for planning your own event:
- Take advantage of free or low-cost resources. The National Keratoconus Foundation (www.nkcf.org) offers a World KC Day toolkit, as well as posters and social media resources that doctors can use to promote awareness about KC. You can also obtain signage, pamphlets and digital assets from specialty lens manufacturers, Glaukos, the Gas Permeable Lens Institute (www.GPLI.info) and the Scleral Lens Education Society (www.sclerallens.org).
- If a big event seems too daunting, start by just increasing the visibility of KC and treatments by prominently placing brochures and posters around your office. You might also consider sending an email to your patient base about KC on Nov. 10, posting on social media about the day or even conducting a short public lecture followed by networking or a Q&A session, with the entire event lasting only about an hour.
- If you want to “go big” with a half-day event like we did, start planning at least 3 months in advance, to provide enough time to secure sponsorship, assign speaking roles and identify your invitation list. Our planning team held weekly meetings over lunch during the first month of planning, then just a few follow-up meetings after that.
- Don’t limit your outreach to KC patients. One of the best decisions we made was to send an e-blast about the event to our entire patient database and to referring doctors, rather than just to those patients with a KC-related CPT code in their records, as originally planned. A surprising number of current, non-KC patients brought friends or relatives with the disease, and many referring doctors sent patients of theirs.
In the heat of summer, November can feel far away, but it is not too soon to start planning for World KC Day. This year we are planning a 1-mile walk/run to raise money for the National Keratoconus Foundation, branded T-shirts to raise awareness and a complimentary screening event with corneal topography and pachymetry for relatives of those with KC. It is by far the most rewarding day of my entire career.
Reference:
- World Keratoconus Day event 2023. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VCUQps1uwA. Published Nov. 29, 2023. Accessed Aug. 1, 2024.
For more information:
Katie L. Greiner, OD, MS, MBA, FAAO, is a specialty lens fitter at Northeast Ohio Eye Surgeons, a large MD-OD practice in the Akron-Canton area. She is vice president of physician engagement for Midwest Vision Partners and serves as a clinical attending optometrist at The Ohio State University College of Optometry. She can be reached at kgreiner@midwestvision.com.
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