Empower Healthcare: ILADS’ Mission On Lyme Disease

Introduction and Sarah's Background 0:00

Welcome to another episode of the Healing Lyme Summit. I'm your host, Dr. Myriah Hinchey. And tonight, I'm so excited to have here with me and us, the executive director of both ILADS, the International Lyme and Associated Disease Society, as well as ILADEF off, which is the International Lyme and Associated Disease Educational Foundation. So Sarah is on a mission. She just joined these two awesome organization last year, and she is helping to fulfill their mission and expand on their vision. So welcome, Sarah.

Please tell our listeners a little bit more about yourself and what made you want to become the executive. Excuse me, executive director of these organizations Not a problem. Thank you. So much for having me. I'm so excited to be to just have the opportunity to have this, to use this platform, to be able to share about ILADS and ILADEF . so really briefly, I'm, I'm from New York. I was born and raised in, in Poughkeepsie. And, my, my education took me to North Carolina and took me to Florida and then took me back, back into the Washington, D.C.

region. the the bulk of my career has been in health and human services and mostly in hospice and palliative care. And I'll tell you, it's a little bit of a natural progression to come into this phenomenal community, of ILADS practitioners. and it, just made it just a natural, a natural change. but I actually got interested in tick borne illness through my father. again, you know, upstate New York. My family's all still there. grew up in a around a five acre, nice, hilly, wooded area that was chock full of ticks and, of course, my father, like many other folks, got Lyme disease, and actually has been fortunate, he's had it several times and most of the time he's had the, the kind of the typical, achy joints fever that he I think only one time did you ever have the bullseye rash?

but he was smart enough to know I'm not feeling right. I'm going to my doctor. And every time he was able to catch it pretty quickly. until this sort of this last time, the last couple of years, it went and then unfortunately, this is sort of the the typical story that we get to hear. He was misdiagnosed or undiagnosed for a long time. Symptoms got so bad. And finally he was able to get the right care from the right practitioner and got on a good protocol. And and I, I still think years later he's dealing with the after effects of that.

and he certainly is much more I don't say paranoid, but much more aware, not just for himself, but obviously the whole family, around to make sure that they do the tick checks and they do, they wear the appropriate clothing and they do all the right things. So maybe the good that came out of that is it's raised some awareness, at least in the community that they're in. but but anyway, but that's, that's really how I, I got interested in it and, through my professional networks came to ILADS, and actually, about a year ago, so I've been there a little over a year now.

and just like you said, I'm on this mission to bring ILADS back out into the forefront. We've never we've never gone away. We've never wavered in our mission. but it's time to. I'm not a quiet soul, so I. I like to shout things from the rooftop. So that's what we're going to do. ILADS and ILADEF. You're going to hear us. You're not going to be able to ignore us anymore. Well that's great. And that is what is needed. So I for one, am so, so happy that you are here and you're kind of running the show now.

So I'm excited to see what you do. I've been part of this organization for a long time, over a decade, and, it's helped me tremendously. You know, a lot of what I know, educationally about Lyme and co-infections, I, I truly do, you know, I, I can contribute that to my years of going to these annual conferences that I love spots on. So I'm just so excited to see what you do with it. So why don't you share with us your mission? Sure. With ILADS. So for those who don't know, ILADS is a nonprofit international.

There's the I in ILADS international multidisciplinary medical society, and we're dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme and other complex inflammatory diseases. We promote awareness and understanding of those diseases through science, research and especially education. And we support physician scientists research all manner of health care professionals who are truly in this space. Dedicated to defining and advancing that excellence and in that standard of care.

ILADS Mission and Inclusive Medical Community 5:00

And it's it's interesting. I mean, ILADS is really the only nonprofit professional membership organization that's, that's really focused solely on this. And we are focused on tick borne illness. and, and we represent programs, and professionals literally worldwide. Yeah. That's amazing. So as far as, you know, one of the things that I think is super important to point out is, I know, kind of like, and I don't want to say like old ILADS, new ILADS. But, you know, sometimes we get stuck in ways that we think about organizations or how people may have felt like when they've attended a certain conference or whatnot.

And I think it's just so important to emphasize what you just said, where like all medical practitioners who want to learn about and support patients suffering from these infections are welcome, like, this is no longer just like a, you know, like an MD club, you know, like this is for all different, professions, you know, that want to help everything from, you know, health coaches and naturopathic doctors and medical doctors and osteopathic doctors and PA's and nurse practitioners and psychotherapists and psychiatrists.

Right. Like all of these different, people who, frankly, are just needed, you know, to be able to give patients like the holistic, well-rounded approach that's necessary to be able to heal from this infection. So I would say there's two key points in our mission. And you just nailed both of them. and I'd like to say, oh, it's all because of me coming in. It's not it. I mean, I just came in at the right time and place. I mean, our, our board of, of directors for, for both ILADS and ILADEF, have rededicated themselves.

It's, it's really kind of neat to sort of just sit back and watch this, this transition happen. and it's happening in the community. So I think ILADS is just now coming, coming along along with the community. and one of the key things that the board really did in, in a retreat that we had late last year, I say complex inflammatory illness. And that's a key thing. I mean, we're we are we we are about Lyme. We are about tick borne illness. But we realized that there is such a larger capacity to be to be learned, to be trained, to be able to provide, to the consumer and the patient community.

And and I love that rededication and, and the other party and you said this, it's all health care professions. It's not it's not just MD's or it's not just naturopaths. It it is truly comprehensive. and I mean, like bottom line, right? I want my health care practitioner to have the, the, have the full scope of education and training so that I, the patient can get the best manner of care. And truly within ILADS, there's been this fantastic conversation that's that's really kind of just blown up just wonderfully in the community of if you treated one patient, you treated one patient.

So, you know, you need to make sure that, okay, so there's there's allopathic care to be had. But then there's also naturopathic care to be had. And every patient is going to respond differently. You know this you see this every day. And I think the the really kind of cool thing that ILADS is coming into now is truly incorporating that multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary care, understanding that there's going to be components of all sides of it that are going to be able to help, help that patient.

and I think that's really key. and I'm really excited too. I'm excited to be a part of that. but again, I just happened here at the right time. I feel like. Yeah. And I know when you and I have talked in the past, too, it's like, you know, regardless of how you know what your style of treating is, it's important to understand what other people are doing in this space. So, like, for me, when I'm seeing a patient in Connecticut, my scope of practice doesn't allow me to do antibiotic therapy like prescription antibiotics.

I mean, by choice. I was kind of forced into learning to do things the way that I do them. And and, you know, I wouldn't do them if I didn't think at this point it was in my opinion, the best way. But, you know, it's like I still need to understand all of the other pharmaceutical, treatments that are out there, and I need to understand how to combine them and why I would combine them. And it's not just for me. It's so that when I have a patient coming to me and I take their history and I see like, what they've been through, but yet they're still infected and they're still suffering, it's like, I need to be able to evaluate if that person even had anywhere near you know, what would be considered like an appropriate treatment, because, you know, you could be on antibiotics for decades, but like, if you're not being prescribed the right combinations for the right amount of time, in the right dosages for, you know, whatever infections are there, you're not going to get better, you know?

So it's like we all kind of need to understand what each other is doing. So I just I love that the emphasis is kind of being put on on this right now. Yeah. And and we really are focusing on all levels and all types of practitioners just because say if you are you're an NDA. You may also have a nurse practitioner in your practice that can have a completely different point of view that will help that patient. I mean, you everyone does this. They do this in their office, right? You come together as a team and talk about the care of a particular patient.

And I always love, especially in my in my hospice days, we would sit and I would sit back and watch the interdisciplinary team talk. So you would have the the medical director talking, but then the nurse and the social worker and the counselor and everybody would have would bring a different perspective. This community is no different. Your your ultimate goal is still the best care for that patient. And so everybody's going to bring different perspectives. And even, I know we'll talk a little bit more about some of our signature educational offerings.

But if you sit in our fundamentals course, you as a, as an MD are going to get a very different perspective than someone who is, an osteopath or someone who is a nurse practitioner or even a physician's assistant. But I feel like everybody needs to have that, that minimum bit of, of education under their belt, even just to be just to be part of that conversation. So I'm so glad that there are folks that you who are, who are doing that are getting the full scope of, of care. Yeah, I'm very, very passionate about, you know, if you're going to treat something, you really need to understand the basics.

Education Programs and Patient Resources 12:00

Like you have to know the foundation. You have to understand the path of physiology. And, you know, just like the basic mechanism of actions, of everything, you know, to be able to figure out how to treat your patients, because this is very different in, in different individuals. So can you share with us some of your like, what steps is Ilyse taking? to improve the understanding of tick borne diseases in general? And you know, what research programs do you have going on in advanced education and things like that?

that's a great question. And, and really is the crux of why we exist today. I feel like, I mean, we, we first and foremost, we recognize the pivotal role that education has in the medical community. So our again, our ultimate goal is for all health care professionals to to leverage all the information that we can possibly lead to them, and make a positive impact on their, on their patients lives. And, and so one of those key things, I think that's sort of a sweet spot for, as I mentioned, our, our vector borne illness fundamentals.

and then and that's a, that's a one day course, we offer it, once a year at our scientific conference. and it's, it's set up in different modules. and it, it runs the, it runs the entire scope of, identification of all the ticks that are out there, all the different diagnostics, all the testing, all the different kinds of treatment, including herbals and pharmaceuticals and all the different components and, and doing some, some, kind of grand round style case, case studies. And then the other, I think, signature component that I think is a wonderful offering that that Ilyich has is our physician's training program.

And this is actually something that I can I'll get off on a tangent talking about this. I want to really blow this out of the water, because I think this is really, again, where the sweet spot that Ilyse can have and and calling it a physician's training program might be a little limiting. I'd like to I'd like to expand that, because it's not just physicians that take this training. it's a it's a whole course of shadowing a practitioner. And there's there's learning, there's online learning. there's Grand Rounds style, there's webinars.

and then there's, like I said, just hands on learning that you get to have with a practitioner. and we have NDEs and MDS that are our preceptors. And I want to be able to do expand that to, many more different, different levels of care. because again, like a nurse practitioner is going to get a wonderful perspective that's going to be very different than, say, an MD. But they shouldn't they shouldn't, miss out on that opportunity. So those are really our two key, signature offerings. But then beyond that, we offer, a whole host of, webinars on demand learning.

we do seminars and, and then of course, our, our scientific conference that we offer, every year. So, so far we've talked about like, the professional avenues. I know that I leads has quite a following, right. By by laypeople and patients. So when you're talking about these webinars, are these things that patients would have access to. That's a great question. So I, I do want to make clear that like first and foremost, we are a medical society. So but that doesn't I mean, we're we're in a unique community of members that, are successful only because of the, the care that they give to those patients.

And so we we really have it make an effort. And I'm expanding that effort to reach those patients, reach those consumers. and, and really let the webinars that we offer, we offer at no cost to the patient. we offer on, on our website, a whole host of really just FAQ views and articles and, all kinds of different levels of learning. And I would say the, the biggest key that we do offer, and I want to be able to expand on this, we're starting to do some collaborative efforts with other organizations that already have some fantastic online learning.

So I like to doesn't need to reinvent the wheel. Let's just share to a broader audience some of these, some of these webinars and some of these, virtual offerings that we have, we understand that the the patient population is, is desperate to seek answers. And I mean, if you, you know, if you've walked in their shoes, you understand the challenges that they have and they are they're probably even more robust in their research than, than some folks in the medical community, because they've they're desperate to find answers and they're desperate to, to seek out, a practitioner, hopefully an eyelash practitioner, to be able to get those answers.

So they, they come to us organically and we want to be able to offer at least some basic information. But in the on the other side of that, I want to be able to offer some resources. So no, maybe we don't have all the answers for them, but I don't want to leave you high and dry if you're coming to us asking, well, how do I how do I pay for some of this treatment or what's out there in my area to be able to find a provider, those we can help with as well. And I want to be able to expand on those kind of opportunities.

We have a provider search on our website. if you just go to Eli's dot org and there's a little provider search button, you can search by geography. You can search by, by clinical background. We want to be able to make that a more robust, site, to be able to offer. It's a it's a great benefit obviously, to highlight members, but the bigger benefit is to the consumer. and then in addition, be able to offer more educational opportunities to the public. That's great. So in addition to like these in-person conferences for a medical practitioner and with like the physicians trainings and I know, you know, there's a fellowship program in the works and and all of that.

How additionally, does Islands work with the medical community to enhance patient outcomes, better outcomes for patients in need? So I'm a huge proponent of partnerships and collaborations. And and just like I mentioned, I don't want to reinvent the wheel. There's some phenomenal education happening out there in this community. And no Islands is has not cornered the market on that. We have obviously some great offerings and I, I, I, I feel like if we could mandate all practitioners take it I would.

But I would also say, again, if you're trying to get the full, full education, to get the best care for the patient, you need to seek out all manner of education. So I feel like islands is we have this ability to be able to share education and opportunities that other folks are offering and, and be able to to showcase islands members who are doing those kind of educational opportunities. Again, it's all boats, you know, rays rise with the tide. And the other part of the the collaborations, I mentioned some other organizations are doing some great webinars, some great education.

we're working with Project Lyme right now to offer some, monthly webinars. There's a series that they do that, that we are helping to promote and again, offer to a wider audience, at our, scientific conference, in 2023. And again, we're going to work with them in 2024. We're working with, maps, which is the Medical academy, pediatric special needs, it's a phenomenal group that focuses on, gosh, I would say infant through adolescence, that, we've been able to partner with. And we're doing it again.

I want to be able to do more of those kind of partnerships, with other groups, be it specific to integrative medicine, to a specific state or specific region, or however we can collaborate. The ultimate goal is to be able to get that education and be able to get the right care to that patient. So, any which way we are, we're getting the word out and and being able to, offer more opportunities. then I think it's a win win. Yeah, I think that's great. And I love that Ilyse is partnering with maps.

my other favorite organization. and I mean, it's just great, you know, instead of instead of everyone trying to, like, kind of do their own little thing, it's just like, look at all these stages, right? That like, it's like maps is just another stage for islands and islands, another stage for maps. And, you know, again, it's really like getting the education, getting the information, getting the message out there. you know, and you could have you know, people that are new to maps and they're there because they want to learn about autism spectrum disorder or pans and pandas or, you know, fill in the blank with, like, the special needs topics.

And it's like, you know, they might not even realize at first, like how much of a role in Bartonella, mycoplasma, you know, all of these infections actually play. And so, you know, this interaction between, just for example, these two organizations is huge for spreading awareness. So I just love that. Absolutely. And and I am always open to new suggestions and, and new conversations because, you know, it just was a happenstance conversation. And that has now led to a wonderful partnership. and we're doing the same thing, in North Carolina with the, North Carolina Integrative Medicine Society.

Same, same kind of thing. It's just a conversation that's leading to, oh, there's some great synergy to be had. How can we help each other to be able to help the

Collaborations, Global Reach, and Expanded Scope 22:00

help your members, help our members, and help the clinicians who are not members yet of either organization? I mean, that's kind of the key, right? You want to be able to not only take care of the clinicians who are providing the care, who are islands members or match or both, but be able to reach the ones who aren't. And, and maybe there I always call them islands curious. But you want to take that that initial step, take an action to to do some education and then realize what a phenomenal community this is and how much we have to offer and, and join.

Right. And so as the name says, Islands takes us a step further, right. Globally. So can you comment a little bit on how islands is affecting the global Lyme? This blows my mind. So the I and islands I mean, I, I hand it to the founders of the organization to from, from day one to make this international, and it's, it's amazing to watch this grow. I mean, we're, we're in 21 countries, including Canada and the UK. and, and we're constant getting new members asking questions from from all over, from Turkey, from Iran, from all over Africa and they're they're having the same issues.

I think that maybe the US was maybe 20 years ago, their, their governments are fighting with them that Lyme doesn't exist or, you know, here, here's the protocol to use and you get two days of antibiotics and that's the end of the story. And they're the clinicians themselves are desperate for answers. And so they they come to ilaje to to be able to get that education, to be able to get that training. And so really where we sit, it is again, it all comes to, to the, the land of education. I feel like, we offer again our scientific conference, but we also this year, in April of this year, we're offering, European conference in Munich, to be able to come to closer to those practitioners who, who need that.

I'm hoping we are able to do that on a more often basis. and, I thanks Covid, but I think the last international conference we had was 2019. So 2019 to 2024 seems like a big gap. So let's try to we're going to try to do a better job of getting out there more. But then in addition to that, this is really where I'll adapt. The educational foundation can come in because we offer grants and scholarships to a lot of international folks so that they can make it to that education so that they can make it to the conferences so that they can access the the online on demand learning, and that they can actually come to the U.S or Canada or wherever they want to be able to participate in the physicians training program or fundamentals.

and there's just that, there's, there's an ongoing dialog that we're trying to, that we want to try to meet those needs of folks literally worldwide. I want to do that. I want to be able to do a better job of reaching them and being able to serve their needs, as well as those in the US. Yeah. That's great. So and then also just recently, right Eye lids has expanded from just focusing on tickborne or vector borne disease. Right. And now they've expanded into looking at most of the other chronic complex inflammatory diseases.

So obviously, you know, this is going to include Covid and mycotoxins, illness and other environmental, toxicants that can cause ongoing inflammation. tell us more about that. And kind of what the plans are. So that is a key component, I think of, of eyelids moving forward. is that inclusion of that language of complex inflammatory illness. And again, you know, this is this is the non clinician talking to the talking to the expert here. Right. We're you know the the public is is now understanding that oh the the microbiome the gut microbiome.

Hey that might be something that affects it. You've been doing it for years. This is this is not new. realizing that, you know, again, mold in the home and, some of these sensitivities that these patients have, this is this is not a new moment for for folks. And I feel like Ilyse is now catching up with, our mission is catching up with the care that's already been happening out, in, out in the community. and so some of the ways that we're expanding on that, again, education is a key. But really, this is where I think some of the research that we are, we're working on is coming in now.

We're embarking on a project that is, really just going to be a a data mining opportunity for practitioners. we're, we're and and making anonymous data. I'm terrible at saying that, so that we can gather that and be able to, allow and enable practitioners who are, who are researchers to, to have, the full scope of care, the full scope of research in trying to figure out what's happening with these patients. And I think this is really where that going beyond Lyme disease. And, you know, I it's a it's an interesting transition, I think for this organization because we do we do.

So focus on tick borne illness. But as you know it's so much more. And we are just scratching the surface of that. and actually one of the, one of the ways that I, we are showcasing that is in our, fall scientific conference this year, were are working title is is redefining Lyme disease and the the Fusion of Science and practice. So it's it we're not we have our roots. We're not you know, we're not straying too far from them, but we are widening that world and being able to incorporate so much more into the care.

and, and I'm sure there are patients who are I mean, you know, those, again, who are dealing with so many things that you just have to systematically handle each symptom, handle each component one at a time. And this is this is complex, complex inflammatory illness. I mean, this this is where it, this is where it originates. This is where it comes to. And I and again, I think Eilat is in this wonderful, sweet spot that through presentations, through seminars, through webinars that we are we're really able to, tap into the expertise of of you, you guys that are out there in the community doing that work and sharing it with with other folks so that all patients can really benefit from it.

Yeah. Now I think it's great. I'm so happy to hear those because, you know, from all of our conversations, it's like, you know, Lyme and co-infections are in inflamed artery disease and that inflammation is going to, you know, break down all of the sort of systems of the body and create different symptoms in different patients. But then also like all of these other things that we have going on in the world, like for example, Covid, mycotoxins, illness, toxicants, you know, just in general, they're going to all increase the inflammation, right?

And increase the sickness. And it's like, well, of course, we can't treat the underlying tick borne disease without addressing all of these other things. So I think it's always or at least for several years it's been, you know, part of islands. I just think it's not necessarily been in the titles. Right. But it's it's just it's definitely always been there. And again, you know, most of what I know, even regarding those subjects are, are content that I've learned from attending, these islands conferences and webinars so well.

And it's funny, I think Add is the we are the epitome of just working quietly behind the scenes. And we've been doing it for years where it's not new, but I'm new and I want to be able to shout it from the rooftops. So know this is folks who've been doing this for years. I mean, you you who have been an island member for so many years, have come to conferences, have experience that education. No, it's not new, but well, darn it, we need to let more people know that this is happening. Stop being so quiet about it.

Yes I agree, so what can someone in expect? Like let's say attending the annual scientific conference? What would a what would a medical professional expect to leave with. Exhaustion in from so many days of, of so many things? and and again, I say that as the non clinician and going to my first conference last year, but now truly we, we launched the conference. we always have on the first day that fundamentals course. and it's, it's set up into modules and actually teasing it out a little bit, we're going to try to transition into more of I would say fundamental fundamentals and an advanced fundamentals.

So we're we're going to that next stage of of fundamentals for folks. and then and while we do that, we have other tracks going on at the same time, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and Sunday, this year. So it's multiple days, multiple tracks. you are saturated with information, by the time you leave there and, and it is darn near impossible to get to every session. So of course we record everything, and everybody who goes to the conference gets the opportunity to have those recordings and be able to, to be able to listen to them.

But I think maybe as important, not more important, but as important with the actual sessions and the presentations and is the networking that that everybody gets to do. I mean, you you're in the trenches day to day. You're seeing patients, but it is so good to a step away from your office, as we all know, take a breath, take a breather and and network with colleagues. Ask the tough questions. I mean, I remember walking down hallways and actually hearing, well, hey, I got this patient that they're presenting with this, this, this and this.

I've been treating them with this. And what do I do? And and getting 3 or 4 perspective just in a little circle of, of folks in between sessions. so there's a huge networking component that I think can only happen when you come together in person. And we all kind of scoff at that until we actually show up and realize just how important that is for, for ourselves and for, for this community. and then in addition, it's great to be able to have the exhibit hall where you've got some fantastic providers of all kinds of products and services that serve this community.

and here's where, again, I think whether whether you in your practice decide to use a particular product or service, it's good to know what's out there. and there's some really cool things that are out there that maybe you, you know, you don't know about or you're curious about to learn. This is the opportunity to do it. I mean, everybody is there for one reason to learn and to share and to grow. And so what a great opportunity. You don't have to leave with anything. But, you can definitely be able to, to get to have all that information.

and just getting the, the, the business cards of colleagues, getting the again the networking, and of course, the all important, CMAs, we want to make sure that we, we give you all those things to, to go home with. So I'm not kidding. When you go home for that, you're exhausted. It's it is. What a phenomenal opportunity. I feel like to to get, to get all that you can. And I will say, I think this past year we had as many non islands members attend the conference as islands members. And I think that was a key, important point that I brought home that we we still have some room to grow.

So I want to encourage obviously the islands members to to come to come year after year, submit an abstract for presentation. it's a great opportunity to to showcase your, your learning if you have a publication, if you're doing research, if you have something unique, absolutely showcase that with this group, but also share with those non islands members. That's I think the the more important thing to be able to get those folks, you know, to get those butts in the seats to learn and be able to share and grow this community.

Scientific Conference, Guidelines, and Closing Remarks 35:00

Yeah. You know, there's definitely a saturation, but I think it's a healthy saturation. And what I say to my, friends and colleagues who are new, you know, it's like learning a new language, but it's like once you learn it, then you get it and you understand it, and you can converse in it, right? But like, you know, in the beginning, it's like it can be overwhelming, but just like anything new was, you know, so I think coming and coming year after year after year, you know, like, you just you just absorb everything and then yeah, the exhibit hall is wonderful.

And again, like whether you choose to use certain modalities or not, I mean, Lyme disease patients are some of the most tenacious, resourceful patients. Know on the planet. And you know, they do just as much, if not more research than their clinicians do. And, you know, they have a lot of questions. Most of my patients come in with a notebook with several pages of questions, like for their appointment. And yeah, like, it's just it's so important to stay up to date on all of the different modalities and adjunctive therapies and testing and, you know, everything else that's out there.

And I think that you guys do a really great job of, you know, including all of these industry experts, but also vetting them because there's, you know, there's also some things out there that, you know, aren't necessarily on the up and up. So, you know, it's just nice to to have that sort of comfort level that like, you know, if they're at islands, they're there for a reason. And that's nice. And I'll tell you one interesting thing. I've gone through this process last year, the program committee that that vets the the abstracts and all the presentations that come in, I mean, we we have a pretty rigorous process, I'm not going to lie.

It's, it's pretty impressive. And it what's interesting I found is, folks will submit abstracts for for research that might not be new, and the program committee will really scrutinize that and go, well, what's new out of this? Now, we already know this. We've had this presentation already. Or they can they can find that somewhere else. We need to see what's new. and when what really is a cutting edge is kind of, you know, a little overused, but it does sort of fit in this in this instance. And it was wonderful to see that process like, oh, yeah, they're really taking this seriously.

And they pore over those abstracts. And many times we would go back to the potential presenter to go, okay, we need to get more information. We need to get updates. What new are you putting out there. We we want to see, you know, what makes this appropriate for this topic. and it it really is I think what kind of sets us apart and why we actually call it the scientific conference. there's, there's lots of great, education out there. we offer webinars, but it might not be appropriate for, for the scientific conference.

So it's a it's a wonderful process to, to actually sit in and wade through. so that really. Yeah, what we're putting forth is really the best. Yeah. That's great. So, you also though like islets has treatment guidelines, right? We haven't even talked about the treatment guidelines. And I, I forget who the first author was, but I know doctor Bureau Escondido back in the early 2000s. Right. Or was it late 90s. Late 90s, early, late 90s? Yeah. And I know that this has been revised and whatnot, but how does eyelids work with researchers and medical providers to kind of like keep those research guidelines up to date.

So that's a that's a really great thing. And I think this was one of eyelids shining stars. So the most recent one I like guidelines that are out there or from 2014, Dan Cameron, Betty Maloney and Lynn Johnson, are the authors of that one. And, and they, you know, reading the historical components of this. Oh, that was some that was some effort to be able to get that, to get that out and, and share it with the with, you know, with the public, it is still up on online website. and actually we are looking at the potential of doing an update on it.

I mean, 2014 was ten years ago now. and the the care for the patient has progressed since then. more has it. This is one of the things that they're really wanting to look at is from what's, what's in those guidelines is that still is that still the standard of care. Let's let's scrutinize that again. and so we're just starting to look at how we want to do it. What do we want to look at. the board is, is really taking, the taking a working, you know, roll up their sleeves and really try to look at that.

So coming back to the research question of that, I mean, the, the, the guiding principle obviously is, is found in those guidelines. But we want to make sure that, the research that's out there and the research that folks are doing right now, can it be can it be used to update the guidelines, can it be used, to, to be able to further that patient care? There's some wonderful research happening. eyelids members are doing it. Eyelids members are doing it. and I actually want to be able to showcase that research and, and be able to, offer that to not just members, but to the, to the public at large.

so if you if you go to the ILADS website, you'll, you'll see just a really robust, website full of publications and research and such. And I want to be able to curate that in such a way that, makes sense to the clinician as well as the, the patient consumer, just as you said, they're, they're they're more tenacious in doing the research. So we want to be able to offer what we have out there. and, and again, showcasing in those ILADS members. So through that, through our website, through our monthly newsletter that we send to, to all manner of folks, we offer that to the public as well as to clinicians be able to show, here's what's happening.

Here's some research here early, early, you know, feedback on this year's publications. and just offer this the smorgasbord of, learning, for research. So, yeah. So the and the guidelines are a key component of that. Yeah. They're they're very helpful. It was one of the, one of the first things when I joined ILADS that I, it was like I had it printed out kind of like on my desktop as my little lyme Bible. yeah. So the, the upcoming 2024 scientific conference is going to be in San Antonio, Texas this year, and it is November 7th.

seventh through 10th. Seventh through 10th. Yeah. And ilads.org. Is the website. ilads.org/events. And you can see you can see all the information we, we still have the, submit abstracts up. So you're welcome to if you're a practitioner and you, you have a topic you want to submit, send that and, we'll hopefully get registration up in the next couple of months, which will of course, have, you know, a preliminary, programing agenda and some of the things that we're offering. Wonderful. Yeah. So, Sarah, anything else that you would like to share with our listeners?

So I think the, the one big thing, that I want to be able to share is, from the ILADS up side. this is again, how we help make sure that practitioners can get educated and that research is happening and that we can offer opportunities to the patient, to the consumer, to the public. it's through through the education foundation to 501 (c) (3). All donations are welcome, tax deductible. we are always looking for grants to get to the organization so that we can grant out, funding to, to folks. and we're expanding the scope of, of that as well.

So, be sure to go to iladef.org or go to ilads.org. And there's a, there's an ILADEF button you can click right there. but that's really we don't receive any government funding. we rely solely on philanthropic support. and every, every donation counts. I say from from the penny on up to, you know, we're we're welcoming, you know, the million dollar donation. So anybody anybody ready for that. So but that that really is a key to the success of ILADS and ILADEF is being able to get those donations from folks to be able to pay it forward.

Absolutely. Anything else you would like to share? always go to ilads.org. Go to our social handles, ilads.lyme or we're on Instagram or Facebook. We are always wanting to grow this community. I, I humbly offer myself, if you have, question if you have any kind of comment or suggestion. I'm always looking for collaborations and partnerships. Always feel free to, to reach out and email me squillen@ilads.org. I'm hoping that this past year is just a tiny example of all the wonderful things that are yet to come.

I'm sure it is. And thank you so much for joining us. It's always a pleasure to speak with you. Well, and thank you for offering this wonderful platform to be able to share, not just ILADS, not just me talking, but share fantastic, practitioners and experts and wonderful, wonderful opportunity. Thank you for doing this. Yeah, it's my pleasure. I'm on a mission, like I say, to, to talk about Lyme and Vector borne disease to anyone and everyone who will listen to me. So thank you so much. Absolutely.

Thank you so much, everyone, for watching. I hope that you've found this information helpful on your journey to Healing. Lyme. Have a great night. We'll see you next time.