Grant Will Fund Ask and Act Chapter Roadshows

AAFP's tobacco cessation program, Ask and Act, recently received a $91,250 grant from Pfizer Inc., which the program will use to expand its so-called roadshow visits, in which the program presents and exhibits at Academy chapters' annual meetings.

"The roadshows are part of the Ask and Act campaign to get the message out along with our webcast and Web site," said Julie Wood, M.D., chair of the AAFP Tobacco Cessation Advisory Committee. "It's great to have tools on the Net, but we feel live presentations will help us reach people who don't use the Net or serve as an adjunct to the Net tools."

Although 15 chapters applied for Ask and Act roadshow visits last year, the program only had funding for eight visits. The new grant will allow the AAFP to boost the number of roadshow visits to 18, and it will help pay travel expenses and honoraria for each roadshow visit's presenter, as well as chapter exhibit and administrative fees.

Many of Ask and Act's online tobacco cessation tools and resources will be available at the chapter meetings, including quitline referral cards, wall posters, prescription pads and patient education materials in both English and Spanish.

An itinerary of scheduled chapter visits is available online. Two roadshow opportunities still are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Interested chapters should contact Mary Theobald.

Ask and Act also is seeking chapter liaisons to promote Ask and Act activities and resources and to help chapter members stay informed about the latest tobacco cessation news. Interested physicians or chapter staff member can apply online (MS Word file: 1 page / 156 KB. More about downloading files.) or contact Kelly Wiens for more information.

In addition, a few $500 scholarships for chapter liaisons to attend training at either the Annual Leadership Forum, May 3-5 in Kansas City, Mo., or the Tar Wars National Conference, July 16-17 in Washington, D.C., still are available.

This is Ask and Act's second grant from Pfizer in six months. In September 2006, Pfizer awarded $165,550 to the program. That money went toward funding webcasts, Spanish-language resources, a conference workshop and lecture, and the eight initial roadshow visits.