It’s hard to believe that this year – and the second decade of this millennium – is nearly over. During this season of giving, our hearts are full of gratitude for your participation in last week’s GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that helps nonprofits such as ours fund some of the projects that we do all year to meet our mission. We are especially thankful to the generous families that helped make the day a record-breaking success for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association. With the help of an $18,000 match from the Doerge and Blesi families in honor of their daughter Zoe’s 18th birthday, the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) community raised a total of nearly $70,000!
We are also wrapping up one of the most successful PH Awareness Months in recent memory, with daily posts from individuals with pulmonary hypertension (PH), families and caregivers spreading awareness and sharing stories of hope as part of PHA’s “PHaces of Hope” campaign. If you haven’t already done so, please visit PHAssociation.org/PHaces to read some of these inspiring stories from our community members who give thanks and share the hope they receive from research, their PH-treating doctors, family, faith, PHA and being a part of the PH community.
What makes our community so special are the many, many ways in which you are involved in order to improve the lives of those affected by PH. Your engagement in PHA is truly the best gift of the holiday season – and all year round. Whether you are raising money, speaking out, leading support groups, organizing events, educating clinicians, treating patients, volunteering on committees, sharing your stories or conducting research, you are helping thousands of individuals and their families live longer, better lives. Thank you for your commitment, compassion and participation – your involvement makes all the difference.
With your help, we are constantly exploring new ways to improve what we do. This year, we expanded our network of accredited PH Care Centers (PHCCs) to 77 and our support groups to almost every state across the U.S. We’ve worked to improve upon the content of our successful programs, such as our recent PH Professional Network (PHPN) Symposium and our PHA on the Road educational forums in San Francisco and Kansas City. We have taken the lead on working with the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on patient safety and treatment access issues on behalf of our community, we added a Spanish telephone support line and we are excited that more than 1,100 individuals with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) are now participating in our PHA Registry to help accelerate research and lead to additional understanding and treatments of PH. As we update our strategic plan through your responses to our survey that was launched this week, we will continue to look for ways to better meet the needs of our community.
Thank you to everyone in our growing PHA Community, for all that you do. As always, please contact me at BradWongPHA@PHAssociation.org with any feedback, questions or concerns.
With gratitude and best wishes for the holiday,
Brad A. Wong
President and CEO
