Attendees:
Donald & Zee, Dick & Ava, Mark & Nancy, Valorie,
Judith, John, and Kristine.
1.
Chairman Donald opened the meeting and welcomed all.
2.
Valorie presented the new CyberKnife Patient Support Group (CPSG)
website and handed out printed copies of the Home page.
· The site is www.cyberknifesupport.org
· Purple was chosen for the left column because it matches the Accuray
color.
· The site is being hosted by gowebserver.com and the domain name was
registered by godaddy.com. We have a 1-year contract for a total of $58.45 .
· Valorie has sent the site URL to 3 search engine submittals so the site
address will appear when people use search engines like Yahoo, Google, Ask Jeeves,
etc. The submissions require a few weeks to take effect before they appear in
the search engines.
· The site has a Guest book section. Valorie is open to suggestions for
a better Guest book application. The one currently being used is free, so it
has advertising banners.
· Valorie discussed the possibility of adding video segments to the website,
such as the video taken at the July, 2001 reunion dinner. Kristine suggested
we truncate the video to only include a small segment of the video.
Action
Items from the website discussion:
· Kristine will have a link added to the Accuray website linking to the
new CPSG website
· Valorie will add a link to the CPSG website for the Accuray list of
CyberKnife installations: http://www.accuray.com/contact/site_locations.htm
Valorie and Patti will try to complete the links to the individual installation
site. There are some links on the Accuray page.
· Kristine will create a page/table showing differences between various
radiosurgical machines, i.e. GammaKnife, CyberKnife, etc. Mark suggested checking
for an attempt to do this at: http://www.anarchive.org/space.htm
· John will create a list of questions to ask your physician before deciding
on treatment.
· Valorie will create a new page listing ideas on how to alleviate stress
and aftercare options. Others could contribute ideas and links for these 2 pages.
Possibly add link to www.medline.com?
· Kristine offered new pictures from Accuray that could be used on the
CPSG site. Valorie was concerned about the page sizes becoming too large and
affecting those with older browsers and slower connection speeds.
· Kristine would welcome any feedback from CPSG members on the Accuray
site content.
· Valorie will investigate how to get a segment of the reunion dinner
video as a downloadable option for the website.
3.
Kristine gave an update on Accuray:
· Accuray will be giving $500 per quarter to the support group. Valorie
will manage these dollars to help cover the cost of the website and other collateral
items.
Action Item: John and Valorie will work on the 5013c Non Profit status.
Action Item: John will talk with Colley Godward to see if they would assist
pro-bono with any legal matters that arise for CPSG.
· Accuray received a plaque for Best Booth at a New Orleans show where
they demo’d the Astro product.
· 3 new CyberKnife installations are in process in Boulder, CO , Phoenix,
AZ and somewhere in Illinois.
· Accuray has a large marketshare in Japan.
· Kristine talked about the importance of upcoming medical shows like
the one in New Orleans and how new machines are sold through the interest of
forward-thinking doctors.
· The group expressed interest in the possibility that Accuray would become
publicly held and if the CPSG members could be given stock options.
Action Item: Kristine said she would investigate the possibility of stock options
or other stock preference actions for the group.
· Accuray is working on creating a brochure for the CyberKnife that could
be given to future patients, physicians, and administrators. The brochure could
be customized by individual support groups and distributed to any contacts made
by the group.
Action Item: Kristine will provide a template of the brochure to CPSG for printing
and/or presentation on the CPSG website.
· Kristine mentioned that the 3 most important benefits of CyberKnife
for CPSG members to tell to others is that it is (1) Frameless, (2) Robotic,
(3) Image Tracking.
4.
Donald talked about accountability and responsibility by CPSG
members. It is important that members follow through with commitments
they make. The group’s mission is to support and educate and
those cannot be successfully done without individual contributions
that empower the group.
5.
Donald passed out a list of volunteers needed and asked that
everyone consider how they could assist the group by helping
in one or more areas. The Volunteer List is at the end of these
minutes. Some of the initial offerings are:
· 1. Logo (Zee)
· 3. Web Site (Valorie and Nancy)
· 5. Publicity – Video Creation (Judy)
· 6. Finances (John & Valorie)
· 7. Hospitality – Food/Beverages for meeting (Esther)
Action
Item: Everyone… Please read thru the list and contact Donald
or Valorie if you can offer help in an area.
6.
The group talked about Fundraising ideas.
· CPSG could talk with UCSF or other installations to get them to contribute
to the support group as a way to offer education to future patients at their
site.
· Fun runs & walks / pot lucks / dinners ????
· John showed the group examples of donation envelopes that could be inserted
in the CPSG newsletter to get money from interested donors.
7.
Valorie brought an article from the September 2002 Ladies Home
Journal that mentions the CyberKnife treatment option. See pages
92-95.
8.
The next meeting will be held Saturday, January 11, 2003 from
10-12AM at Accuray’s office.
Committee
Volunteer List
1) Logo–
Zee
2) Newsletter
· Research: collect news, minutes of meetings, new patients, updates of
CyberKnife and progress of our support group
· Editor: compile all information into the newsletter format
· Distribute: copy, fold, address/ mail newsletter by deadline
· E-mail or mail copy of newsletter to web site committee
3) Web
Site – Valorie, Nancy, Mark, Patti
· Create a bulletin board
· Research other support group web sites
· Research informative sites to be added to links page
· Periodically check for hits on CyberKnife for possible new info.
4) Brochures–
Kristine
· Create a brochure that gives information about CPSG
· Inform: all donations to our non profit group will get a tax credit
· Print brochure and give to publicity committee and web site committee
5) Publicity
· Create new informative videos about our group – Judy
· Research publications like "Coping " magazine – send them
information about CPSG, (brochure, newsletter, etc.).
· Get permission from Stanford and other CyberKnife locations to distribute
brochures about CPSG
· Contact other CyberKnife locations and ask permission to announce our
CPSG
6) Finances
· Keep a list of donations – Valorie
· Responsible for filing 501C3 – Valorie, John, Mark
· Responsible for providing copies of financial report for each CPSG meeting
– Valorie
· Fundraising
7) Hospitality
· Send out announcements and directions to meetings
· Mail cards of encouragement to new CyberKnife patients/members
· Mail information packets to new members
· Organize food and beverage volunteers for future meetings – Esther
Minutes
created by Nancy
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