The Houston Neuropathy Support Group was formed in July of 1998. The first meeting was held at The Pain Care Center in Houston. The Houston Neuropathy Support Group has grown from the original 12 attendees to 669 individuals on the list in 2007. The two individuals who co-founded the group were Betty Kunze and Paula Walker. Betty Kunze remained the group leader until November 2000. With her declining health, the program chairman, Ann Green, became the group leader by December 2000. She has remained the group leader until the summer of 2007.
The original medical adviser of our local support group is Dr. Yadollah Harati from the Neuromuscular Clinic at Baylor College of Medicine. He has also been assisted by Dr. Mazen Dimachkie from the University of Texas Health Science Center until he elected to move to Kansas City in July 2007. Our advisors have been extremely helpful in obtaining quality medical speakers for our group. Each January, the medical advisers have provided the membership with a question and answer program. Sometimes the presentation has been a panel of medical experts answering questions.
Volunteers have been the backbone of the Houston Neuropathy Support Group. Virginia McKallip and Anne Jarboe were able to develop the publicity during the early years. Claire Sweatt McAdam has continued to coordinate our publicity in 2007. John Longo has developed our membership list and served as the treasurer of the group. Winston Hamby donated his web site for use by the Houston Neuropathy Support Group. Starting in 2007, John Longo assisted us in developing our own web site, houstonneuropathy.org. Liz Wahnon, Barbara Herbert, Barbara Sklar, Billie Vacek and Ola and Howard Allen have coordinated our refreshments at meetings. Chuck Verostko has assisted us all with any function needing attention at our meetings. Greeters such as Becky Brignac , Kathy Hughes and Claire McAdam have volunteered their time at meetings. Others have assisted with our mail outs to include Billie and Dick Vacek, Bernadette and Emil Vrana, Tom Corrigan, Dean Kittman and Margaret Thibodeaux.
Small group Saturday meetings were formed in 2007 in Clear Lake, Pasadena, West Houston Medical Center and at the Houston Northwest Medical Center. Sue Farnsworth is the leader of the Northwest group and Dean Kittman has assisted with the West Houston group. These two groups are still being maintained in 2007.
Incorporation as a nonprofit was begun in 2006. A Board was formed to include Dr. Steven Lovitt, John Longo, Dean Kittman and Ann Green on January 9, 2006. The objective of being a 501(c) 3 has been a goal throughout 2007. We were officially recognized as a 501(c) (3) organization on May 15, 2007 by the Internal Revenue Service. As of 2006, a membership fee of $15.00 is being collected per year. These funds are used to defray the cost of refreshments, supplies and postage costs for our mailouts. As of summer 2007, there are 217 paid members in the Houston Neuropathy Support Group.
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Updated 17Dec07