Heart Failure Society of America cancels annual meeting in Atlanta due to Hurricane Helene
The Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) has been forced to cancel its annual meeting, HFSA 2024 in Atlanta, due to extreme weather associated with Hurricane Helene. The news came on Sept. 26, just one day before the four-day event was scheduled to begin.
According to an initial HFSA announcement, potential virtual options are being discussed so that attendees can still experience the full educational program, including several late-breaking clinical studies, that had been prepared. However, with the storm rapidly approaching, HFSA has said its No. 1 priority remains the safety of all registrants, staff, faculty and exhibitors who had already arrived in Atlanta or were on their way.
The HFSA is encouraging everyone who planned on attending the meeting to immediately contact their hotel and airlines to make travel changes as necessary. The organization also emphasized that additional updates and announcements are on the way, and anyone interesting in staying up to date should closely monitor their email inbox.
The HFSA Devices in Heart Failure Meeting has also been officially canceled, the group added.
Various registrants and healthcare vendors have already started commenting on the cancelation.
“We commend the HFSA Board of Directors for their difficult yet necessary decision to cancel this weekend's Annual Scientific Meeting in light of Hurricane Helene,” CVRx posted on social media. “We appreciate the immense effort and preparation that went into the planning of the meeting and, while we are disappointed that we won't have the opportunity to connect with the heart failure community, the safety of attendees and staff must come first.”
Hurricane Helene is expected to be a “major" hurricane by the time it reaches landfall, according to the Associated Press. Experts had previously expected that the hurricane season would be especially severe in 2024 due to warm ocean temperatures. In Florida, many areas have already been evacuated.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, meanwhile, has declared a state of emergency for the entire state.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.