2020 Sepsis Awareness Month Highlights From The Community

Throughout Sepsis Awareness Month, healthcare facilities, partner organizations, and individuals across the nation helped raise awareness of sepsis in their communities. Below we are highlighting some of the great work they did this past September.

If your organization planned and participated in Sepsis Awareness Month activities this past September and you would like them included in the below article, please email us a blurb about the activity and a photo(s) to info@sepsis.org with the subject line “Sepsis Awareness Month Activities.”

Indiana University Health Bloomington: Sock it to Sepsis Day

Crystal Beeson, RN, a Sepsis Coordinator at Indiana University Health Bloomington wrote, “At IU Health Bloomington hospital we celebrated Sepsis Awareness Month by: wearing red socks for “Sock it to Sepsis Day”, had multiple messages broadcast on our weekly communications within the hospital as well as social media, had banners hung for staff to sign as their pledge to “Be a Sepsis Superhero”, had weekly drawings for prizes for turning in a Sepsis Word Search and Sepsis Crossword puzzle.” If that wasn’t enough, they also delivered 50 goody bags full of snacks (mainly red snacks), sepsis awareness ribbons, and facts about sepsis to the different units fighting sepsis (including nursing units, MD rooms, EVS, EMS, ED, etc.)

Olathe Health Home Healthcare and Hospice Care: Sepsis Patient Program

Carmen Letcher RN, BSN, a quality supervisor at Olathe Health, shared that for Sepsis Awareness Month their Health Home agency developed a complete patient program that included:

1. Education to home healthcare staff (nurses/therapy) on sepsis
2. Education to patients (including specific education regarding the cause of their sepsis)
3. Sepsis specific care plans for the patient
4. Recommended number of nurse visits or phone calls per week to monitor a patient

She wrote, “Our Program was built around education on the SEPSIS Alliance website. Thank you so very, very much for a complete and comprehensive program – easy for patients to understand. We were able to quickly pull our program together and start using it right away.”

Inflammatix: Sepsis Awareness Month Zoom Backgrounds

In addition to taking the Sepsis Awareness Superhero Challenge, the team at Inflammatix used the Sepsis Awareness Month logo as their Zoom background throughout September.

Mianne Tripp: Say Sepsis

Throughout September, Mianne, a Nurse Coordinator at CHI Health Partners, included the Sepsis Awareness Month logo in her email signature. She also attended the Sepsis Alliance Summit and made changes to her patient interaction based on what she learned. She shared “Also, I work for an ACO, and make post-hospital discharge calls to sepsis patients, as part of our Bundle Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) program. I changed my scripting with patients, and instead of saying “known or suspected bloodstream infection,” I now use and explain the term sepsis. This was because of what I learned attending the Survey presentation during the Summit, and realizing how few patients understand the term, and how vital it is that it becomes a common term for the public to know.”

Carteret Health Care:  Sepsis Jam

Patti Hudson, MSN, RN, BC_NE, wrote to us, “At Carteret Health Care in Morehead City, NC, we are running Sepsis Jam Sessions! Over 26 classroom sessions are being done for over 500 nurses to focus on Sepsis early recognition, interventions, and nursing care. We also have the Sepsis Jam rotating out to the units to test our team on providing care to our patients with sepsis.

We are passionate about the care we give to our patients and we are rocking sepsis awareness month!!! Thank you for your tips and help as we change the world!

Sepsis Awareness Superhero Challenge

This Sepsis Awareness Month, over 347 people took the Sepsis Awareness Superhero Challenge. Together they raised over $62,000 for sepsis awareness education and resources. Stacy and Chandel asked us to share their experiences.

Stacy Brockway:

Stacy joined the Sepsis Awareness Superhero Challenge and created a team of friends and family to walk a mile and raise sepsis awareness. She wrote, “This was my first time becoming a superhero as I had first heard about sepsis in the summer of 2019 when I went into septic shock. I presented all signs but no one in my family or I knew what was wrong. That’s why I felt it was so important to raise money and spread the word!”

 

 

 

 

 

Chandel Dundee

Chandel wrote to us, “I am sharing a photo of my Sepsis superhero challenge. I walked a mile to distribute flyers and magnets in my community to help raise sepsis awareness.”

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

You can raise sepsis awareness year-round. To learn how click here.