Thrombosis Declared Priority by CDC
NBCA was awarded two major grants totaling $1.35 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NBCA will use these two grants to “launch a national wakeup call to promote public, patient and healthcare professional awareness of this serious medical condition that each year kills nearly 300,000 Americans,” explains NBCA President Randy Fenninger.
Fenninger said that “we have a national crisis because few people recognize or understand the symptoms and risk factors of this silent killer. And even equally startling is that not enough of our nation’s healthcare professionals have a full understanding of the symptoms and the methods for prevention and treatment of this life-threatening condition.” The first grant will support the Stop The Clot Learning Project that will enable NBCA in cooperation with CDC, to carry out the following:
- Implement Stop The Clot Forums for patients and families
- Initiate Stop The Clot support groups
- Create a Clotting Information and Resource Center (CIRC) that will have an interactive Web site and Webinars
The second grant will support a Health Professional Education Project that will enable NBCA, in cooperation with CDC, to carry out the following:
- Develop curriculum with accurate clinical content and methods for effective health education teaching
- Train-the-Trainer regional workshops for participants from thrombophilia centers and Anticoagulation Forum’s member clinics (participants will primarily be nurses, nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants and pharmacists.)
- Patient/family education
NBCA’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Board (MASAB) Chairman Dr. Stephan Moll, of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Thrombophilia Program, stated that the Health Professional Education Project is an essential element in the fight against blood clots. “Improving the content and delivery of health information/education by nurses and other non-physicians,” he said, “provides an educational and training aspect to a critical part of a patient’s healthcare and wellness.” The program, Dr. Moll explained,
will be delivered nationally through the utilization of evidence-based teaching methods in small group sessions led by trained faculty.
The program’s ultimate goal is to prevent secondary conditions in people with clotting disorders by improving their access to knowledgeable healthcare providers.
Minnesota Selected as Pilot Site for Chapter and Stop The Clot®Learning Project
While NBCA will conduct Stop The Clot Forums in two to four cities across the county in the year ahead, Minnesota was selected as the “incubator” for developing Stop The Clot Forums, Stop The Clot Support Groups and a regional chapter infrastructure to ensure that these educational and community-based awareness initiatives are sustained over time. In Minneapolis-St. Paul, NBCA will:
- Establish a pilot Minnesota regional chapter
- Establish a chapter–thrombophilia center collaboration model
NBCA Executive Director, Alan Brownstein said “the Twin-Cities area was selected for this demonstration project because of the excellent medical facilities in the area, active patient leadership and a community that is supportive of public health efforts.” Brownstein said that NBCA is looking at the Minnesota pilot as a model of what will be established in other regions nationwide. “We look forward to a high level of collaboration with the Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, and other medical leaders, in implementing these programs that will lead to fewer clotting-related deaths.”
CDC Identifies Thrombosis as Priority
On January 17, Director of CDC’s Division of Blood Disorders, Dr. Roshni Kulkarni, reported that CDC’s National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities has designated Thrombosis as one of the three top priorities for the Center. NBCA President Fenninger said that “assigning thrombosis as a priority is critically important. This, coupled with CDC’s grants to NBCA, has for the first time placed thrombosis and thrombophilia above the radar as a public health threat.”
NBCA will collaborate with many organizations in its development of a 12-region training program. Patients will be reached throughout the U.S. network of the 140-federally funded Hemophilia Treatment Centers, the CDC Pilot Thrombophilia Centers and through participants of the Anticoagulation Forum.
For more information regarding the National Blood Clot Alliance and/or their national programs, please contact Alan Brownstein at (914) 220-5040, abrownstein@stoptheclot.org, NBCA President Randy Fenninger (202) 833-0007 or log on to www.stoptheclot.org. NBCA is a 501c3 national volunteer community-based organization which welcomes support through involvement and/or donations. Further information can also be obtained from NBCA’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Board chairman Dr. Stephan Moll, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at (919) 966-3311.
