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PREECLAMPSIA AWARENESS MONTH
New Video Animates 7 Symptoms Every Pregnant Woman Should Know
 | Watch & Share!
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PREECLAMPSIA AWARENESS MONTH
New Survey Findings Include Good News and Bad News
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 On Tuesday, May 6, we announced the results of a recent nationwide Preeclampsia Awareness Survey of more than 1,500 expectant and new mothers. These findings are driving many of our strategies associated with National Preeclampsia Awareness Month.
The survey, which was conducted by BabyCenter�, the #1 pregnancy and parenting digital resource, shows a high overall awareness of preeclampsia and that it is serious and associated with high blood pressure. There was also near universal knowledge to call a healthcare provider if experiencing symptoms of preeclampsia.
"We're very encouraged by the awareness that's been raised in recent years, in sharp contrast to our last study six years ago that found very low overall awareness of preeclampsia," said Eleni Tsigas, Executive Director of the Preeclampsia Foundation. "But there's more to do, because this year's survey showed low awareness when respondents were asked about specific symptoms associated with preeclampsia.
"The more a pregnant woman knows about preeclampsia, the more likely she is to recognize and report symptoms to her doctor or midwife," continued Tsigas. "That improves time to diagnosis and medical evaluation, which saves lives - for both mothers and babies. And that's why we're so focused on improving awareness of preeclampsia."
Here's the whole story in words, pictures and videos to help you keep the Preeclampsia Pledge: "Know the Symptoms, Spread the Word." |
FUNDRAISING WITH A CLICK
Affordable Buttons Makes Giving Easy
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Want to help The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia raise another $1000? Go "like" our partners over at Affordable Buttons on Facebook and encourage your friends to do the same!
Our generous partners will give us $1 for every "Like" they receive in May and June to celebrate Preeclampsia Awareness Month!
 | Display your buttons with pride, like our Director of Community Relations, Laney!
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Affordable Buttons has been supporting The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia for three years, each year creating a specific button that participants receive as they cross the finish line to demonstrate the promise they have kept.
Some of our walkers have quite a collection of buttons they've accumulated and will be proudly displaying them on a customized lanyard that we're offering as an incentive item this year.
Promise Walk participants can purchase one of these lanyards directly at any of our Promise Walk events for $3 each. Lanyards will be available on our website in July.
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THE PROMISE WALK FOR PREECLAMPSIA
Why Do We Walk? Watch and Learn
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You'll love the ending.
 | | Why I Walk: Promise Walk for Preeclampsia |
We walk for the moms and babies who can't be with us. For the future of our children, who are higher risk. And for our moms whose pregnancies give them a window into their future health - and it may not be so great.
Many thanks to our good friends at Response Digital Media for such an inspiring glimpse into the nationwide footprint of The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia.
Why do YOU walk? Let us know on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/preeclampsiafoundation
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RESEARCH ROUNDUP
Heart Attack Survivor "Discovers" Her Preeclampsia History
Carolyn Thomas suffered a heart attack at age 58. She was a healthy runner with no known risk factors. She and her doctors poured over every possible clue. Nobody asked her about her pregnancy h
 | | Carolyn with her preeclampsia baby, Ben, at age 2 |
istory. Years later, she's discovered the truth.
As a public speaker, blogger and champion for women's heart health, Carolyn warns ALL women in her audiences: "Assume you are ALL at very high risk of developing heart disease some day - and there is NO downside in embracing a heart-healthy lifestyle of daily exercise, following a Mediterranean diet, keeping a healthy weight, managing chronic stress, and maintaining good sleep habits and making sure your blood pressure's kept under good control."
In 2008, she attended an advocates' training program at the Mayo Clinic with dozens of other "heart sisters." Nobody was asked about their pregnancy history. Nobody was educated about this connection...and still aren't. Women Heart, a coalition for women with heart disease still doesn't list pregnancy complications on their risk factors list. Most, but not all, of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's materials do include history of preeclampsia as a risk.
Read the story that came from Carolyn's great "aha" moment and follow her @HeartSisters.
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PATIENT EDUCATION IN SPANISH
New Website Content and Education Tools Available "En Espanol"
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Spanish is the primary language spoken at home by 38.3 million people aged five or older, a figure more than double that of 1990. And visitors from dozens of Spanish-speaking countries comprise a majority of our website's visitors from non-English speaking countries. It was time for the Preeclampsia Foundation to address the need for patient education for such a large audience. Thanks in part to educational grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and PerkinElmer, we have been able to translate materials and create an "En Espanol" section on our website.
Although it is still a work in progress, there is a lot of patient-centric content that we've made available via www.preeclampsia.org/es.
Other Spanish materials to support patient education:
Nuestro video "Preeclampsia: 7 S�ntomas que Toda Mujer Embarazada Debe Conocer" tambi�n est� disponible en espa�ol.  | | Preeclampsia: 7 Si�ntomas que Toda Mujer Embarazada Debe Conocer |
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There are still 23 walks left this season, including the Virtual Walk.
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Congratulations, your Amazon purchases through this program earned $60 for preeclampsia research and education in just three months!
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Toronto, Canada
May 14-18, 2014
Eleni Tsigas speaking
Orlando, Florida, USA June 14-18, 2014
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Research Funding Available NOW!
The deadline for this year's Vision Grant applications is May 16, 2014. These $25,000 research grants are intended to fund novel ideas for preeclampsia research that will advance patient care. Details and applications available here.
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#PreAM Events
This Month!
Add these events to your calendar for Preeclampsia Awareness Month, spread the word and join the discussions! www.preeclampsia.org/PreAM
Follow #PreAM14 for all Twitter activity.
Week 2 Focus: Know the Symptoms of Preeclampsia
Google+ Hangout Wednesday, May 14, 1 pm ET
#WellnessWed Chat
Wednesday, May 14, 2 to 3 pm ET
Week 3 Focus: Preeclampsia and Long-term Heart Health Twitter Chat Thursday, May 22, 1 to 2 pm ET
Week 4 Focus: How Can Preeclampsia Affect My Baby? Twitter Chat Thursday, May 29, 1 to 2 pm ET
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Improving Healthcare Practices Depends on Evidence
The evidence to support changes in healthcare practices is derived from data. To move this research forward, the Preeclampsia Foundation launched The Preeclampsia Registry on September 9, 2013. To date over 700 people have enrolled in the registry and begun entering their pregnancy history and other data in response to easy-to-use online questionnaires.
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2014 Volunteer Hours
Our volunteers have
reported a total of
2,478
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PREECLAMPSIA AWARENESS MONTH
Did YOU Take the Pledge?
Details about other #PreAM events and new tools you can use to educate your friends, family and followers can be found here. |
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