NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR CONTINENCE

Under the leadership of Benson F. Smith, former chief executive officer of C. R. Bard, as Chairman of the Board of Directors, the National Association for Continence has experienced tremendous growth and outreach in the last year. The National Association for Continence, formerly Help for Incontinent People, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of people with incontinence. NAFC's purpose is to be the leading source of education, advocacy, and support to the public and to the health professional about the causes, prevention, diagnosis, treatments, and management alternatives for incontinence.

To achieve its objectives, NAFC publications include Quality Care, the organization's quarterly newsletter, and the Resource Guide - Products and Services for Incontinence. NAFC estimates that it has reached more than a million people since its first quarterly newsletter was published in the fall of 1982. Quality Care has proven to be an effective vehicle for providing general health information; specific information about incontinence products, treatments, and management options; and for providing support via the shared concerns and solutions of other subscribers. The Resource Guide is a 100+ page directory which contains all known incontinence products and services available, as well as medications, support surface equipment, and surgical procedures used to treat and manage incontinence. The Resource Guide also includes a listing of organizations that provide other supportive services to readers, including a listing of the continence organizations throughout the world. There is also a section devoted to helping consumers understand the various types and causes of incontinence and a section to advise them how to prepare for a visit to a health professional.

NAFC's membership base now numbers more than 130,000 consumers, health professionals, and care givers. More than 38,000 new members were added in the last year. NAFC worked with major American consumer publications such as Modern Maturity, Saturday Evening Post, and Prevention Magazine to educate their readerships about urinary incontinence. NAFC has updated and added more than 20 patient education brochures relating to incontinence and three audio visual programs - Bladder Leakage: Don't Suffer in Silence, a VHS educational program for consumers; Pelvic Muscle Training Program for Men, an audio cassette tape and booklet designed for men with post-prostatectomy incontinence; and PelvicFlex, a VHS educational program that teaches pelvic muscle exercises for women. NAFC also updated and expanded the publication, Guidelines and Recommendations for Two Models of Continence Care. This publication contains blueprints for two continence clinics: a multidisciplinary program and a nurse-managed program.

NAFC launched a world wide web site accessible through the lnternet that is currently receiving more than 1400 hits per month. This web site is being expanded to include credit card ordering, increased "user-friendliness", as well as an improved look. NAFC's website can be reached at http://www.nafc.org.

NAFC has also expanded their Continence Resource Service (CRS) with currently more than 600 health professionals listed in the United States. A CRS listing now includes the treatment modalities available for the health professionals listed in this service. The Affiliate Bulletin, a new publication that has been designed to help keep CRS Affiliates abreast of the upcoming treatments and products for incontinence, is mailed to all Affiliates quarterly. To help offset this continued growth, NAFC has expanded their office personnel to 6 full-time and 3 part-time employees and performed an office-wide computer upgrade to include more extensive member information.

Stacey Brewer