FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The American Association of Eye & Ear Hospitals marks 25th Anniversary
Arlington, VA (November 10, 2008) - The Annual Meeting of the American Association of Eye & Ear Hospitals (AAEEH) was held in Atlanta, Georgia November 9 through 11, 2008. During the proceedings the membership recognized the 25th year of the founding of the Association at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. In recognition of the 25th anniversary the membership unanimously voted to obtain a commemorative plaque noting the founding in 1983 at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. The membership approved the following language to be included on the plaque with the names of the President of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, the AAEEH Chairman, and the AAEEH Executive Director as witnesses to the event:
"In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the American Association of Eye and Ear Hospitals (AAEEH) at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in 1983.
The Centers of Excellence that compose the AAEEH have a unique mission. Because of them, a blind person talks about seeing again. Because of them, sounds are for the first time heard.
It must never be forgotten that what these institutions do for the patients they serve, is because of the miracle of medical progress - yielded in the hands of dedicated men and women."
The 25th anniversary commemorative plaque is to be presented to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in the spring of 2009.
Michael Gittelman, of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, the new AAEEH Chairman said "It is fitting that we stop and recognize the tremendous impact our membership has had on the lives of so many. Additionally, we must also recognize the powerful benefit of collaboration between like-minded individuals who pursue the important missions of these surgical centers of excellence."
The American Association of Eye and Ear Hospitals is comprised of the premier centers for specialized eye and ear procedures in the world. Association members are major referral centers, offer some of the most innovative teaching programs in the world, and routinely treat the most severely ill eye and ear patients. The mission of these specialty institutions requires them to maintain leading edge technologies, enabling them to provide highly specialized services not available in general acute care hospitals.