The American Venous Forum (AVF), pioneers of a Day of Service initiative aimed at bringing care and basic vascular education into the communities of underserved populations, saw a record number of people attend an event that aimed to help homeless people in Denver, USA, during its 2026 annual meeting in the city.
More than 350 individuals were served by dozens of volunteers—including AVF members and employees from industry partners supporting AVF 2026 (28 February–4 March)—who provided crucial patient-facing information on vascular disease, as well as free health screenings. Architects of the initiative told Venous News how the twin aims of education and screening coalesced on the ground.
“We let them know that moving was really important—to keep their legs circulating, to keep the blood flowing, and that, even if they can’t at the homeless shelter, we said keep your legs elevated: get that pressure off,” explained Misaki Kiguchi (Washington DC, USA), one of the AVF leaders who helped get the first AVF Day of Service off the ground in 2023. “In addition to that, we had volunteers do blood pressure readings, and interestingly while we were checking their pulse we found many of them had arrythmias—atrial fibrillation was the most common—and we talked to them about what that means, the dangers and who they should see in their free clinic.”
The AVF rolled out the Day of Service concept for the first time at the forum’s 2024 annual meeting in Tampa, USA, and has staged one every year since. Subsequently, other US-based societies have followed suit, including the Eastern Vascular Society and the International Society for Women Vascular Surgeons.
“A few years ago, it became important to me to try to figure out a way to give back to the communities at these society meetings,” said Kathleen Ozsvath (Albany, USA), who led the charge toward getting the event off the ground. “I was able to talk my friends Dr. Kiguchi, Dr. Anil Hingorani [Brooklyn, USA] and Dr. Rush Bush [Galveston, USA] into joining with me on this endeavour.”
Over the last three years, the event has grown exponentially, culminating in the largest turn out yet during the 2026 iteration. “We had over 30 volunteers that came on their own time to help all of these folks; it really embodies the spirit of the AVF, about education and giving back to the community,” added Kiguchi. “Every year, we learn from our events from the previous year. Our first event, we found success helping 20 people. And now, 350, that’s an incredible jump in three years.”
