As leaves change color, the weather cools and the smell of pumpkin spice fills the air, November’s approach is undeniable.
At the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA), we’re eyeing the calendar for another reason. November marks Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month, an extremely important time for the pulmonary hypertension (PH) community.
Each year, PHA provides tools to help the PH community educate the public, primary care physicians, healthcare providers and elected officials about this rare, often-misunderstood disease. Today, I’m excited to share the details about this year’s campaign, “Discover PH.”
To help people “Discover PH,” we created an interactive PH Awareness Month Calendar for the month of November. It works like a simple computer game: Click on the current date to discover a fact, tool or reward to educate people about PH and its risk factors and symptoms. Each day, the calendar reveals new information and downloadable resources to discover and share.
The calendar also reminds us that we’re entering the ninth month of pandemic restrictions. Our colorful mask design signifies the importance of protecting the health of the community, not just people with PH and their families, but also the health care professionals who treat them. And some of the rewards are simply ways to relieve the monotony of isolation and provide a bit a fun!
The calendar isn’t the only way to help people “Discover PH.” Our website offers many ways to take part in PH Awareness Month. As in previous years, you’ll find a toolkit with social media graphics, sample posts, profile and cover images, customizable news releases to share with local media outlets, and other resources to raise PH awareness.
The toolkit also offers fliers for health care professionals to print and post in their offices and clinics.
As part of PH Awareness Month, we invite you to participate in two special events: our Day of Action Nov. 10 and CTEPH Awareness Day Nov. 11.
On our Day of Action, help spread awareness by educating Congress about the devastating health and lifestyle effects of PH. It’s critical to share your personal stories with representatives and senators so they understand the importance of funding research and ensuring accessible, affordable health care.
On CTEPH Awareness Day, we’ll be drawing attention to chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), a form of PH caused by blood clots in the lungs that harden over time and impede blood flow. Please join us for Facebook Live events at 10 a.m. EST (Spanish) or at noon EST (English).
The Facebook Live Q&As are part of our Awareness Month “Ask the Experts” series. Other events include:
- Nov. 6, 2:30 p.m. EST: PH and Connective Tissue Diseases (English)
- Nov. 18, 7 p.m. EST: Sobre HP (Spanish)
- Nov. 20, 7 p.m. EST: About PH (English)
- Nov. 23, 3 p.m. EST: PH and Meth (English)
- Nov. 24, 2 p.m. EST: Sobre HP Y Meth (Spanish)
The Facebook Live events, the Awareness Month Calendar and our downloadable resources are among the many ways to “Discover PH” throughout November.
We encourage you to help spread the word by sharing on social media, contacting local media outlets, engaging elected officials and participating in online fundraising events. Your participation is critical to the success of our awareness campaign, making our voices heard, and helping others “Discover PH.”
We appreciate the work of everyone in the PH community to raise awareness in November and throughout the year. Your commitment contributes to earlier diagnoses, improved outcomes, research, fundraising and advocacy. Each of these actions brings us closer to PHA’s vision of a world without PH, empowered by hope. We also thank Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. for supporting PH Awareness Month.
I’m looking forward to hearing how you are participating in awareness activities this month. Please join the conversation on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. As always, I welcome your feedback .
Best wishes in all of your efforts,
