The Caribbean Cardiac Society (CCS) has launched a virtual academic community intended to radically increase the level of intra-regional discourse among members of the Society. This virtual space, called The Caribbean Cardiac Society Community (CCSC) will allow members to share photos and videos and also to host discussion forums on various topics relevant to the treatment of heart disease in the region.

 

The development of the virtual community was provided by a one-time grant by Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD), an international pharmaceutical company. Mr. Randall Chambers of MSD, when handing over the community to the Cardiac Society, described it as “A tool will that will help solve the problem of the water divide between islands that often restricts us from sharing as we should.”

 

This extraordinary tool will offer members of the Caribbean Cardiac Society a unique medium for sharing data and ideas with their colleagues from all 18 of its members territories. Members of the CCS received their invitation to join the virtual community by e-mail moments after it was officially handed over at the Society’s Annual Awards Banquet held at the Hilton, Barbados on July 29, 2009.

 

President of the CCS, Dr. Martin Didier of St. Lucia, in accepting the CCSC from Merck Sharp and Dohme expressed the Society’s appreciation saying “Any tool that serves to enhance communication among the region’s Cardiac care practitioners can only serve to enhance patient care across the territories. Not only do our Caribbean territories share culture and history, they also share in rising incidences of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (CNCD’s) such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.”

 

Members of the CCS have gathered in Barbados for the Society’s 24^th Annual Caribbean Cardiology Conference which is being held in Barbados under the theme “Meeting the Emerging Challenges to Cardiovascular Care in the Caribbean.” The Conference is being attended by some 200 Cardiac specialists from all across the Caribbean representing the region’s Dutch, English, French and Spanish speaking territories.