FEBRUARY 2015
PREECLAMPSIA FOUNDATION NEWS


7 Easy Steps to a Successful Promise Walk Team

You're a valuable part of the fight against preeclampsia, eclampsia,  HELLP syndrome and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, and your participation in The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia will change the lives of others.

Whether you're a team member or leader, here are 7 Easy Steps to a Successful Promise Walk. To start a team, here's a Team Captain's Welcome Guide with more great tips on how to be the best team in the nation! To join a team near you, visit promisewalk.org.
Partners taking AIM at improving maternal health
(From left) AIM Program Manager Kisha Semenuk, MSN, RN, is joined by MCHB's Keisher Highsmith, DrPH, AIM Program Director Jeanne Mahoney, BSN, RN, and the Foundation's Executive Director Eleni Tsigas at February's AIM kickoff meeting.
Executive Director Eleni Tsigas represented the Preeclampsia Foundation at February's kickoff meeting of the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) in Washington DC. AIM is a diverse partnership of national organizational leaders involved in maternal health and safety. The overarching goal of AIM is to reduce U.S. maternal mortality by 1,000 deaths and severe maternal morbidity by 100,000 events within the next four years. Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), the AIM initiative will be overseen by the Council on Patient Safety in Women's Health Care. Watch this space for future alliance innovations!
New research recommends treating elevated blood pressure during pregnancy

Throughout her career in Canada and the UK, Dr. Laura Magee has taken a restrained approach to the use of blood pressure-lowering medication in her pregnant patients, fearing that lowering pressure could reduce the flow of blood and vital nutrients to their babies.

 

But Magee, a researcher at the Child & Family Research Institute (CFRI) and the University of British Columbia (UBC), and a physician at BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), has up-ended her own beliefs with an international study published in late January in the  New England Journal of Medicine. Called CHIPS, for Control of Hypertension in Pregnancy Study, the 15-country study shows that treating a woman's elevated blood pressure during pregnancy is safer for her, and safe for her baby. As a result of these findings, Magee and her collaborators recommend normalizing blood pressure in pregnant women. 

Sarah smiles as Promise Walk Coordinator of 2014

After surviving a harrowing case of postpartum preeclampsia after the birth of her daughter, this mom of two dedicated herself to helping other moms by starting the Philadelphia, Penn. Promise Walk for Preeclampsia in 2012 and raising more than $70,000 over the past three years. In fact, she's been going so strong for the Preeclampsia Foundation that we recognized her as our 2014 Promise Walk Coordinator of the Year. Also last year, Sarah was named a Johnson & Johnson Social Influencer for Social Good for her use of her blog Finnegan and The Hughes to support the work of the Foundation and other maternal and children's health causes.
Show the world you're a survivor!

 

On sale for $15 now through March 15, this light

blue Preeclampsia Survivor t-shirt is available in adult sizes. Not only will it show the world you're a survivor, the t-shirt comes complete with informative preeclampsia signs and symptoms on the back. It's made with 100% preshrunk cotton and makes a great gift!  

 

Get yours today for $15 each (shipping included) and share the awareness via our Marketplace!