We Are Advocates

Advocates and blogging

Last week, it was my pleasure to spend a few days in San Francisco attending a conference, "The Role of Technology in Healthcare & Advocacy." I'd been asked to share my experience with blogging and had prepared a presentation for the occasion. If you attended that conference or its counterpart in Chicago a few weeks ago, you can find the presentations available for downloading HERE.

Thank you to everyone who attended and offered their wonderful feedback! Here's a photo I took during our afternoon "networking" session on San Francisco Bay...

WomenHeart - Education and Advocacy

WomenHeart the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease

Did you know...?

• 435,000 American women have heart attacks each year; 83,000 are under age 65 and 9,000 are under age 45. Their average age is 70.4.
• Heart disease is the leading cause of death of American women and kills 32% of them
• More women than men die of heart disease each year, yet women receive only:
  • 33% of angioplasties, stents and bypass surgeries
  • 28% of inplantable defibrillators and
  • 36% of open-heart surgeries
• Women comprise only 25% of participants in all heart-related research studies.

WomenHeart is a wonderful network dedicated to women's heart health. They educate, support, and advocate for change. Their policy goals are:

• Increased coverage for affordable prescription medicines, diagnostic tests, and medical devices.
• Improved physician training and use of appropriate diagnostic tests to identify early signs of heart disease in women.
• Earlier access to cardiologists for high risk women.
• Increased ability of emergency room staff to promptly identify and aggressively treat heart attacks in women.
• Increased and improved smoking cessation programs for women.
• More women participating in clinical trials to test new treatments.
• Access to health insurance for women with low incomes.
• Increased CPR training and availability of automated external defibrillators.

Working to prevent blindness and vision loss

Did you know that more than half of blindness is preventable? The people at Prevent Blindness America know it, and they've been working dilligently since 1908 to educate and work to prevent blindness and preserve sight.

What does Prevent Blindness America do?...

1. Screen.
2. Educate.
3. Advocate.
4. Support vital research.
5. Train and certify adult and children's vision screeners and screening instructors.

Find out more about Prevent Blindness America by visiting their Web site.