Sepsis Alliance Launches Spanish-Language Educational Materials For Hispanic Heritage Month

Sepsis Alliance releases a variety of new Spanish-Language materials to raise awareness of sepsis.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – To coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month, Sepsis Alliance, the largest sepsis advocacy organization in the United States, has launched a variety of Spanish-language educational materials and resources to raise awareness and dispel myths of this widely misunderstood condition. Materials include Sepsis 911 en Español, an educational video about sepsis awareness, recognition, and management; La Sepsis: Emergencia, an educational video about the prevalence, misconceptions, and serious nature of the condition; Vida despues de la Sepsis, a sepsis information guide; and Caras de la sepsis, an educational poster featuring lives touched by sepsis and information on how to spot the condition.

More than 258,000 people die of sepsis each year in the United States – deaths that can be prevented if the signs of sepsis are spotted and treated as quickly as possible. Sepsis is the body’s overwhelming and life-threating response to infection, which can lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death. Because sepsis can not only be treated, but prevented, thousands of lives can be saved each year by simply raising awareness of its symptoms.

“It is very important for Sepsis Alliance to make our materials available to as many people as possible, and providing materials in Spanish is a positive step toward raising awareness,” said Thomas Heymann, Executive Director of Sepsis Alliance. “Less than 1% of people can identify symptoms of sepsis according to our most recent awareness survey. We need to raise that number.”

All Spanish-language materials are available on the Sepsis Alliance website. The videos, Sepsis 911 en Español and La Sepsis: Emergencia are also available to view on Youtube. Vida despues de la Sepsis and Caras de la Sepsis are both downloadable and printable.

Sepsis Statistics:

• Sepsis is a medical emergency that kills over 258,000 Americans a year – one every two minutes – which is more than prostate cancer, breast cancer, and AIDS, combined.
• More than 75,000 children develop severe sepsis each year in the United States and 7,500 of these children lose their life, more than from pediatric cancers.
• Every day, there is an average of 38 amputations in the U.S. as the result of sepsis.
• According to the 2017 Sepsis Alliance Annual Survey, only 58 percent of adults have even heard of sepsis.
• Sepsis affects more than 30 million people worldwide each year and takes 8 million lives, including more than 3 million children each year.

Symptoms of sepsis may include shivering and fever, extreme pain, accelerated heartbeat, sleepy and difficult to rouse, skin pale or discolored, or shortness of breath. If you suspect someone you know or love may have sepsis, see a medical professional immediately, call 911, or go to a hospital and say, “I am concerned about sepsis.”

About Sepsis Alliance

Sepsis Alliance is the nation’s leading sepsis advocacy organization, dedicated to saving lives by raising awareness of sepsis as a medical emergency. A 501(c)(3) organization, Sepsis Alliance was founded by Dr. Carl Flatley after the sudden, unnecessary death of his daughter Erin to a disease he had never even heard of. Sepsis Alliance produces and distributes educational materials for patients, families and health providers on sepsis prevention, early recognition and treatment. The organization also offers support to patients, sepsis survivors, and family members through its sepsis.org website which receives more than 1.5 million visits each year. The organization founded Sepsis Awareness Month in 2011, and works with partners to host community outreach events across North America. Since Sepsis Alliance began its mission, sepsis awareness has increased almost threefold, from 19% to 58%. For more information on Sepsis Alliance, a GuideStar Gold-rated charity, please visit https://www.sepsis.org/.