Welcome to PH Awareness Month!

Thanks go this week to Katie Kroner, PHA’s Director of Advocacy and Awareness. Katie has been with PHA for nine years and helped organize a great many Awareness Months. In her guest blog, Katie introduces PH Awareness Month 2014 and gives you links to easy things you can do to make a big difference.

By the way, I do intend to get back to writing my blog again as soon as I can find time. The past five days have been a pretty good example of what’s been keeping me busy beyond the normal workload. Thursday was a stop in Denver where Dr. Dave Badesch was inducted into the Colorado Pulmonary Hall of Fame. Dr. Badesch has been a backbone in PHA’s development of a strong medical community. Friday to Fresno, Calif., where I was hosted by Perry Mamagonian and Dr. Vijay Balasubramanian. I was there for the 3rd Annual Fresno Six-Minute Marathon and Fun Walk on Saturday and got to see many old friends and make many new ones. Saturday evening on to Austin, Texas, for the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) Conference where I had many side meetings. After an eye-opening 5 a.m. CTEPH session on Monday (and a few following meetings), I flew back to Maryland to get back to my desk on Tuesday morning. Travel will slow after Dec. 15, and I look forward to being more active with my blog again.

Rino

Welcome to PH Awareness Month!
Don’t Miss Two Big Opportunities on Nov. 1

Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month kicks off this Saturday, Nov. 1, with two not-to-miss opportunities.

1. Join Color the World Periwinkle Day. On Nov. 1, wear periwinkle and take a photo. Hand out wallet cards. Share with your online networks. Your imagination is the limit!
2. RSVP by Nov. 1 for PHA’s Congressional Luncheon and National Advocacy Day. This free event gives you the opportunity to have your voice heard by your Members of Congress and their staff. Even if you can’t attend, get involved by inviting your Members of Congress or their staff to the Luncheon (and following up to see what that person thought and will do).

Lighting the Way to a Better Tomorrow

This year’s Awareness Month theme is Lighting the Way to a Better Tomorrow. Too often, a pulmonary hypertension diagnosis feels like being shoved into a dark corner. Who can see that you are sick? Who understands what you’re going through?

Each time one person tells another about PH, they dispel a little of that darkness. Whether you are sharing your diagnosis story with a reporter, advocating before your Members of Congress, fighting back through fundraising or talking about PH with a neighbor, you are a light for a PH patient. Together, we are Lighting the Way to a Better Tomorrow.

You are Our Hero

If you read this blog regularly, you know that Rino often shares the stories of PH heroes – everyday people who are changing the course of pulmonary hypertension by ending isolation, inspiring others and proving that “hope is a verb.”

What you’ll discover during Awareness Month is that you are one of those heroes. Whether you are sharing your story by pitching it to the media, creating a personal fundraising page or posting a photo of your clot during CTEPH Awareness Day on Nov. 18, you are part of making life better for PH patients everywhere. And that’s something big.

Don’t forget to send us your awareness month stories, photos and videos so that we can share them with the entire PH community.

PH Care Centers (PHCC) and the Patient Registry

The PH Care Centers Program and the PHA Patient Registry mark a major milestone in our community's fight against this terrible disease. Over the next 18 months as PHA takes applications and begins to review and accredit sites, we know this process will lead to a trusted quality of care for patients. So far, PHA has received 19 applications from medical institutions and is receiving new applications each week. I have asked Olivia Onyeador, PHA's PHCC Program Manager, to talk about the milestone we met with this program this fall.

At PHA, when we say that “Our mission is to find ways to prevent and cure pulmonary hypertension, and to provide hope for the pulmonary hypertension community through support, education, research, advocacy and awareness,” we mean just that. One “way” that has been carefully planned, heavily researched and recently launched this September 2014 is through the Pulmonary Hypertension Care Centers (PHCC) Program. Colloquially referred to as the PHCC Program, PHA’s Scientific Leadership Council and various PHA medical leadership and staff created this initiative as a way to improve the overall quality of care, and in turn the outcomes, of patients with PH.

The program aims to promote diagnostic and treatment standards. One goal of the program is to provide benefits to patients, families and caregivers by increasing awareness of expert care and access, increasing education and support, and developing more opportunities for participation in clinical research.

Part of the value of the PHCC is the commitment of future accredited Centers to provide the highest standard of care, based on PH consensus guidelines, to patients receiving treatment at each accredited Center. As a part of the PHCC, Centers will eventually participate in a PHCC Patient Registry, a vital part of this program’s commitment to patient-centered research. Data from this registry will help to inform future guidelines and best practices for the care and treatment of PH patients.

Currently, six sites have been accredited through the PHCC Pilot Site Program. The purpose of the Pilot Site Program was to solidify the accreditation criteria and guidelines set forth for PH programs applying for accreditation and to refine the process of reviewing future applicant Centers. The PHCC review and application process is slightly rigorous as the intention is to ensure patients at accredited Centers are receiving expert level care. After a Pilot Site review at the University of Pennsylvania PH Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program, Dr. Steven Kawut commented that the site review “highlighted our educational efforts at various levels and made us re-evaluate quality improvement initiatives and ways to improve the patient experience.” As the PHCC Program grows, it is of utmost importance to continue to stress the necessity of quality improvement in the field of PH in an effort to decrease the misdiagnosis and mismanagement of PH patients.

Although I have been with PHA for less than a year, I realize that I am only a small piece of a large, ongoing movement in the PH community. This movement includes everyone touched by PH and is growing each day. As we look to the future, and the ability to glean valuable data from the PHCC Patient Registry, we look to build upon current standards and guidelines to aid in the fight against PH.

The PHCC application was launched on Monday, Sept. 29. It is now open to the public for submission and available for download.

Together We Can "Color the World Periwinkle"

As we prepare for Awareness Month this November, Diane Greenhalgh, PHA's Director of Web Services has written this week's guest blog. She makes the important point that PHA's Internet connections, while an important social benefit, are also a tool for increasing awareness and fighting back against PH. Awareness Month is coming and you are essential to its success.

When I started at PHA in 2006, Rino talked a lot about how important our online communities are for ending the isolation that patients and families feel. With social media and other online community tools, the PH community across the world is coming together and forming lasting PHriendships online even though they have never met in person. My roommate and best friend Alex, who is a PH patient, has only ever met some of her closest friends in person at PHA's biennial conferences.

Now that we have this global network, let's take it out for a spin and see what it can do! In exactly one month from today we are asking the entire PH community to unite with your PHriends from across the globe as one voice to kick off PH Awareness Month with Color the World Periwinkle Day on Nov. 1.

This starts with the very simple act of wearing periwinkle, or purple, on Nov. 1 along with your PH gear. Advertise about Color the World Periwinkle Day beforehand to everyone you know so they do the same.

From there you can do a number of things to color your world periwinkle. You can create a personal story page so people can understand what it is like to live with PH and have a way to support you, organize a small PH-themed event like a happy hour or party, and spread awareness to your online networks.

Regardless of how you decide to celebrate Color the World Periwinkle Day we have the tools you need to guide you through the process and staff to support you, whatever idea you come up with.

Check out our Color the World Periwinkle Day resources, and don't forget to check out the other ways you can raise awareness throughout PH Awareness Month and beyond.

As individuals we can make a difference. Together we can change the future of this disease. PHers unite!