Focus Magazine - Winter 2012 - 23

COVERSTORY

senting, where they’re constantly in the Saturdays who will be in walkathons or mode of learning. ey’re using this do things on their own personal time.” simulation technology to increase their It’s all a good feeling for Weston. understanding of the decision-making “I feel like I’m contributing to improcess of their physician customers. proving the sales force, not only their ey’ll be able to have more engaging disease state knowledge, not only their conversations product knowlwith enhanced edge, but really “As simple as it sounds, credibility.” how they apI really just want to build a For Weston, proach the busiit’s all a natural ness, helping super-con dent sales force.” progression that them look at - RANIEKA WESTON, LUNG LLC stems from her things di erown initial ently,” she said. struggle to understand PAH. One solu“ e content might be the same, it’s all tion she came up with was the creation about PAH, but we can approach learnof a training manual that presented ing about it, telling the story about it, PAH in layman’s terms, complete with much di erently, from di erent angles.” chapter quizzes. Lobbying for Life “I thought if I’m struggling with this Weston’s journey has even taken her there have to be other people who are to a place most don’t go, working on struggling as well,” Weston said. “It’s reCapitol Hill to lobby Congress in supally worked well. We give it to all our port of the Tom Lantos Pulmonary Hynew hires for them to read when they pertension Research and Education come on board.” Act, which would have provided inWeston has also volunteered some creased funding for PAH research. e time, like most of her colleagues have, bill passed the House, but faltered in with the Pulmonary Hypertension Asthe Senate, so the ght continues. sociation. “ at’s when it really hit home. You “Here the sales force is very much talk about sales people who are going in encouraged to get involved with patient to talk to physicians, but we had to sell support groups,” Weston said. “A lot of Congress on why they should support them take it very personally. On their this bill. It was the rst time I’d ever free time, there are a lot of people on done anything like that,” Weston said. PAH treatment is a corporate mission, but it’s also become personal for Weston. e trainer became a good student. “We o entimes say that we’re patient- rst or patient-focused, but when you give up your own personal time, when you get the opportunity to see people who are a icted by this disease state, it just reminds you of why you do this,” she said. “You have the sales numbers in front of you, but if you focus on the patient, really focus on the patient, then those things will come.” I

About PAH
Pulmonary arterial hypertension is high blood pressure in the arteries between the heart and lungs, which can lead to heart failure. It is currently incurable, and without treatment, survival after diagnosis is 2.8 years for 50 percent. Fortunately, there are now nine FDA-approved treatments for PAH in the United States, with approximately 20,00030,000 people in the United States receiving one or more of these treatments. However, because the symptoms of PAH often mimic those of more common, less severe conditions, there may be many times this number of patients who have not yet been diagnosed. PAH can be idiopathic (without a known cause) or can occur secondary to any number of other conditions, including sickle cell and scleroderma. For more information on PAH, Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Recommendations for Improving Patient Outcomes, (http:// www.phaonlineuniv.org/PAHRecommendations-Improving-PatientOutcomes), is a useful resource that highlights some findings, including that in the United States, women are four times more likely to develop idiopathic PAH than men.

Pulmonary Hypertension Association, www.phassociation.org

Tim Sosbe is editor of Focus magazine and editorial director for TrainingIndustry.com. Email Tim at tsosbe@spbt.org.

FOCUS | WINTER 2012 | www.spbt.org/resources/focus-magazine.aspx

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Focus Magazine - Winter 2012

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