The ADSHG invites you to take part in International Addison's Day - 29th May - 2020

Press Release: The ADSHG invites you to take part in International Addison's Day - 29th May - 2020

International Addison's Day 2020, our second international day of recognition focuses on 'Being Prepared'. We're asking everyone around the world who supports people with, or who have adrenal insufficiency of any type to join us in a day of raising awareness.

Addison’s Disease, named after Thomas Addison who discovered it, is a rare endocrine condition where the adrenal glands cease to function, so that your body no longer produces enough of certain essential hormones, known as steroid hormones. The adrenal glands are small triangular shaped glands that sit on top of your kidneys. Their job is to produce the hormones that keep the body functioning properly.

Our second international day of recognition focuses on 'Being Prepared'. We're asking everyone around the world who supports people with, or who have adrenal insufficiency of any type to join us in a day of raising awareness. The event coincides with the birthday of John F Kennedy, the US President who managed his Addison's Disease and other autoimmune conditions in secret.

This event was initiated by the Addison’s Disease Self Group in recognition and continuation of the amazing work achieved by our founder, Deana Kenward, who launched the group with an advert in a magazine in 1984. Since then the group membership has risen to around 1800 members and has achieved much to improve the treatment of people with Addison's Disease and Adrenal Insufficiency in its 36 years.

All international adrenal causes are welcome to join in the activities and share the resources with their memberships.

ADSHG Chairman Andrew Glass said: "Being prepared has never been more important. With the outbreak of COVID-19 it's crucial that all those with these adrenal conditions make sure they have an emergency injection kit and extra medication to cover 'Sick Day Rules'. It's crucial that those experiencing illness know how and when to increase their medication and inject themselves with hydrocortisone to prevent an adrenal crisis."

Here are nine ways you can get involved:

1. Become an International Addison's Disease Day Partner.
If your organisation would like to partner with us to make this our biggest event yet (while staying at home!) please contact us.

Or if you work in a hospital, support our awareness campaign by getting in touch for some of our publications and educational materials! Encourage your Endocrine Team to set up an information stand, aiming to increase awareness of steroid dependence and disseminate appropriate information to all healthcare practitioners as well as people living with Addison's. View our full list of publications as an example of materials we could send you or you can print and share yourself.

2. Use the hashtags! If you use social media, be sure to use #InternationalAddisonsDay, #ShareYourKit and #AddisonsQA and tag @AddisonsUK in your posts about the big day! We'd love to see how you are raising awareness and we will share as many posts as we can!

3. Show you support by adding an International Addison's Day Facebook Frame or Twibbon to your profile. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words! We have 2 for you to choose from for Facebook by visiting the links below.

4. Share your emergency injection kit - our aim is to raise awareness of being prepared for emergencies and ensure everyone living with Addison's has access to an emergency hydrocortisone injection kit which they can use in the case of adrenal crisis - immediate action which could save their life. So join us in encouraging everyone to #ShareYourKit! Show others with Addison's how you store your emergency injection kit, encourage people to keep their kit with them at all times and normalise this potential scary situation.

5. Join our #AddisonsQA Twitter chat on Being Prepared for Emergencies - 2pm (BST) on Friday 29th May 2020. Visit our event page to find out more.

6. Share and Educate! Share our Twitter and Facebook posts tagging your doctors, nurses, carers, friends and others who might benefit from finding out more. Our special thanks to publishers Springer who have provided open access to 3 chapters from the 'Advanced Practice in Endocrinology Nursing' book, providing a full overview of AI, until 25^th June. Read our blog post for more information.

7. Become a member of the ADSHG to receive invites to exclusive member activities and of course to get our support with managing with your Addison's or Adrenal Insufficiency.

8. Run a feature on Addison's Disease, Adrenal Insufficiency and preparing for emergencies in your publication, podcast, blog or broadcasts. Get in touch to let us know so we can help support your feature - [email protected].

9. Apply for one of our research grants here for up to £10,000 for your medical research project!

Thank you for showing your support for International Addison's Day! We'd like to share your International Addison's Disease posts and campaigns so do get in touch on social media, or send us your stories to [email protected].

Addison's Disease Self Help Group

Our Registered Office:
Starling House
1600 Bristol Parkway North
Bristol
BS34 8YU

www.addisonsdisease.org.uk
Contact us - we'd love to hear from you!

Visit our Media Centre for more resources.

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