Dedicated to Providing Awareness, Education and Support  

For Immediate Release:

January 12, 2009  

"Activism Marks First World MRSA Day"  

Chicago-based MRSA Survivors Network announces the first "World MRSA Day" to be held October 2, 2009 and commemorated each year after on this date. October will also be designated "MRSA Awareness Month" and will call attention to the worldwide epidemic.  MRSA was first discovered by Patricia Jevons, a microbiologist in the UK on Oct. 2, 1960 and nearly fifty years later, MRSA has spread worldwide.

Leading consumer patient advocates in their countries are lending their voice to the call of world unity in leadership and commitment in preventing and stopping MRSA, which is pandemic and rising at alarming rates in healthcare facilities and in the community. They call upon healthcare officials and leaders to step up and take a more aggressive and comprehensive approach to eradicate this preventable disease and focus on a broad and pro-active prevention program.

The hope of "World MRSA Day" is to bring people together every year to remind them of those who have lost their lives or have diminished health because of a preventable disease. By working together, whether as an advocate, scientist, healthcare worker, policy maker, student, caregiver or a patient living with MRSA we can collectively heighten the awareness and educate others on prevention.

To help provide education and awareness, a variety of events, exhibits, materials, candlelight vigils and commemoration programs are being planned and will be announced later.

For more information contact:

MRSA Survivors Network

Jeanine Thomas – National Spokesperson for MRSA - USA

630 654-4588

jthomas@mrsasurvivors.org

www.mrsasurvviors.org

Ask your Kentucky legislator to support mandatory

reporting of hospital acquired infections and to support HB 67. 

Information You Can Use

1.    Stay with your family member 24/7

2.    Keep a journal of the events of the day

3.    Ask questions like "what do those numbers on the machine mean?

4.    Immediately upon admission, work on getting discharged as soon as safely possible

5.    Never ignore your instincts, be relentless and persistent

6.    Check every drug and question that dose before it is administered

7.    Stay with the patient at all times

8.    If you are in a facility that is hostile towards vistors, find a new facility

9.    Make sure your healthcare provider washes his/her hands prior to interacting with you or your loved one.

10.  Never proceed with any treatment/procedure until all questions are answered

11.  Remember, you have the right to refuse procedures, medications, etc...

The Joint Commission-a health care accreditation agency has brochures for healthcare consumer use

which can be found at http://www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/SpeakUp/