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The Lyme Disease Foundation's (LDF) television program Faces of Lyme Disease (Faces), which aired in May on the LifeTime network, just won its first international award from the prestigious Rx Club healthcare communications organization. Thousands of submissions came from agencies and groups from around the world. Faces was one of approximately 150 submissions in the "Special Projects" category. While five finalists were chosen for the "Award of Excellence", Faces of Lyme Disease was the only one chosen to receive a trophy and took top honors.

Many reports about Lyme disease dehumanize the infection by focusing on case counts and statistics. Faces is a half-hour program that rehumanizes the infection by sharing the stories of the Morrissey's, Cretella's, and Forschner's - three families whose lives were forever changed after one or more family members contracted the disease. These are only a few of the many thousands of faces of Lyme disease.

Karen Vanderhoof-Forschner, Chairman of the LDF said, "Everyone who views Faces realizes it is very special. It is quite effective in educating the viewer about the disease as well as conveying the tremendous emotional and physical toll Lyme disease takes on its victims and their families." An Rx Club Award is to a communications specialist what a Grammy Award is to a songwriter. Winning entries were on public display in Manhattan from November 10 - 12.

Background on Faces of Lyme Disease

Executive Producer Nancy Smith, of Sound Vision/ Torre Lazur Healthcare Group, is a two-time Emmy Award -winner for her CBS Series The Body Human and NBC series Lifeline. Ms. Smith has also won a Peabody and developed the TV series What Every Baby Knows starring Dr. T. Berry Brazelton. Co-producer Terri Randall is a 1998 Academy Award nominee for her documentary Daughter of the Bride. Various scientists, healthcare experts, and executives from the LDF worked closely with the Faces producers to ensure the accuracy of its content.

The production and airing of Faces was made possible by the LDF's Education Alliance Partners: individual donors, BBI Clinical Laboratories, Glaxo Wellcome, Inc, Green Light Sales Corporation with Wal*Mart, Payless Cashways, Ace Hardware, Cotter TrueServe, HEB Groceries, IGeneX, Pasteur Merieux Connaught, and SmithKline Beecham Biologicals.

LDF's other award-winning TV program "Dr. Ticked-Off and His Tick Patrol"

The LDF's other television program, Dr. Ticked-Off and His Tick Patrol (Dr. Ticked-Off), won a silver plaque for the category "Educational - Child Audience" at the 1994 International Communication Film & Video Festival. Dr. Ticked-Off is a children's educational puppet program designed to teach kindergarten to junior high school students about Lyme disease and aired nationally on Public Broadcasting Stations. In its effort to educate the largest possible audience, the program was open-captioned to encourage reading and assist the hearing impaired, and was produced in Spanish and English versions.

A group of 600 researchers and physicians found that the program offers clear information in an entertaining format, and overwhelmingly recommended the program for people all ages. Videotapes of Dr. Ticked-Off were donated free to roughly 12,000 schools, educating approximately 5 million children.

The Lyme Disease Foundation

The LDF is the first and foremost scientific nonprofit dedicated to finding solutions to tick-borne disorders. Founded in 1988, the LDF focuses on education, research, and advocacy nationwide. The LDF is the leader in the fight for solutions to tick-borne disorders and has strong ties to the international scientific community. The LDF was established by Karen and Tom Forschner, with the support of a dedicated Board of Directors, in response to requests from researchers looking for an organization dedicated to Lyme disease. Researchers needed a place where a balanced debate of differing viewpoints could occur in a scientific forum and new collaborations could be forged. The LDF, its Board of Directors and supporters, then trailblazed into a world unaware of this mysterious infection. The LDF conducts annual medically accredited International Scientific Conferences and publishes a peer-reviewed scientific publication Journal of Spirochetal and Tick-borne Diseases. The LDF's website averages 270,000 hits a month and has color pictures, information, state resources and international links to more information.

The Rx Club and Judging for the Award

The Rx Club is an independent forum for the worldwide creative community to meet, exchange ideas and capabilities, and evaluate the best creative products they and their organizations have to offer in a totally independent environment. All winners are showcased in the healthcare publication, Product Management Today. The entries were judged by a panel of experts from various companies within the health care industry.

When evaluating each entry, the judges maintain a keen eye for excellence in overall concept, design, originality, and relationship between graphics and copy. Judges analyze the extent of effective use of illustration, photography, and typography. The panel also considers how efficiently these individual components combine for creative dynamism and solid messages.

Other categories for awards included magazine advertising, newspaper promotions, direct mail, sales promotion, posters, health care graphics, direct-to-consumer and over-the-counter advertising. Submissions were in the form of posters, brochures, booklets, radio tapes, web pages, CD-roms, videotapes, and boxed material.

Lyme Disease and other Tick-borne Disorders

Lyme disease is a tick-transmitted multisystem infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), a spirochetal bacterium named after its discoverer and LDF Founding Board Member Willy Burgdorfer, PhD, MD (hon). Left undiagnosed, LD can disseminate through the body and cause a wide range of manifestations, including neurologic, cardiac, musculoskeletal, and ophthalmologic problems. Patients may experience symptoms ranging from joint pain, headache, and exhaustion - to facial paralysis and severe memory loss. Antibody tests for LD, which have significant limitations, only measure the immune systemÕs response to the bacterium and cannot prove the presence or absence of infection. There is no definitive treatment protocol for all phases of the disease. Over 123,000 official LD cases have been reported to the government since 1980, though one actuarial study indicates that the actual number is closer to 2 million costing society over $1 billion per year.

Other tick-borne disorders include babesiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, relapsing fever, tularemia, tick paralysis, and Colorado tick fever.

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