Health Holidays

Emergency Nurses Week is October 11-17, 2015

Quoted from daysoftheyear.com:

Promoted and sponsored by the Emergency Nurses Association and having originated in Australia back in 1989, Emergency Nurses Day is now an international celebration, intended to honour the hard work and dedication of emergency nurses all around the world.

Why do emergency nurses warrant special appreciation? Well, quite simply, because they make a huge difference to sick, injured and even dying people every single day, offering vital assistance and support.

Nursing as a profession requires a special level of compassion and nurses working in hospital emergency wards face numerous difficulties during their working life, yet still return every day to provide crucial care for those who need it the most.

A special focus is placed on Emergency Nurses Day, which forms one part of a wider celebration, called Emergency Nurses Week. Various events are held around the world, in order to give thanks and show support for those who choose to work in this essential profession.

While the entire week is devoted to thanking emergency nurses, Emergency Nurses Day specifically is October 14, 2015.

 

June is National Migraine Awareness Month!

National Migraine Awareness Month

From ACHE, The Fred Sheftell MD Education Center:

June is National Migraine Awareness Month, and this year’s theme is help make Migraines visible!

There are a number of reasons to help make Migraines visible. Two of the most significant of those reasons are:
  • Ridding ourselves of the myths and misconceptions about Migraines and the resulting stigma. Studies have shown that the stigma associated with Migraines increases the burden of living with the disease
  • Making Migraines more visible could result in more research funding which, in turn, would result in more and better treatments.
Educating ourselves and others and building awareness about Migraines are the best methods we have of making Migraines visible, and this is an area where each individual can make a difference. This isn’t something we need or should sit back and leave to others or to the professionals. There are more than 37 million people in the United States who have Migraines. Can you imagine what we could accomplish if just 10% of us got serious about educating others and building awareness about Migraine? That would be 3.7 million of us, and just think what we could do!

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Food Allergy Awareness Week is May 10-16!

Food Allergy Awareness Week turned into Food Allergy Action Month at some point, was created to help raise awareness for the From FARE:

In 1998, the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, now FARE, created Food Allergy Awareness Week to educate the public about food allergies, a potentially life-threatening medical condition. This year’s awareness week falls on May 10-16, 2015, but we will have activities and ways to get involved throughout the entire month of May for Food Allergy Action Month. This is a special opportunity to shine a spotlight on food allergies and anaphylaxis. There are many easy ways you can get involved in raising awareness, educating others and inspiring action.

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World Immunization Week is April 24 – 30!

From the World Health Organization (WHO):

The theme of World Immunization Week 2015 is “Close the Immunization Gap.” The gap between the 1 in 5 children who still do not receive basic life-saving vaccines, as well as to the gaps in progress towards the targets set by the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP). The GVAP envisions a world where everyone lives life free from vaccine preventable diseases – whoever they are, wherever they live – by 2020.

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Purple Day for Epilepsy Awareness is March 26th

Purple Day has a pretty interesting story. According to their website:

Cassidy Megan created the idea of Purple Day in 2008, motivated by her own struggles with epilepsy. Cassidy’s goal is to get people talking about epilepsy in an effort to dispel myths and inform those with seizures that they are not alone. The Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia came on board in 2008 to help develop Cassidy’s idea which is now known as the Purple Day for epilepsy campaign.

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