During the Penn’s Way campaign each year, PAH staff have the opportunity to make an impact that touches their own patients and colleagues by electing to donate to a hospital-based program. This year, the health system and university raised an incredible $1.7 million to champion worthy causes across the region and around the world. Thanks to the generosity of staff across the hospital, more than $10,000 was earmarked for PAH’s Sickle Cell Program, which serves patients with sickle cell disease (SCD).
SCD is an inherited blood disorder caused by an abnormal type of hemoglobin that weakens red blood cells and distorts their shape into crescents or sickles. An estimated 100,000 people live with SCD in the United States — many of whom are regularly hospitalized, sometimes for prolonged periods — and PAH serves more than 200 patients who are managing the disease. These patients not only need care for chronic pain caused by poor blood flow and reduced oxygen, but they also require a team of providers who can help them manage psychosocial issues common among SCD patients like depression, anxiety, and addiction. PAH’s program aims to improve symptom management and decrease and shorten hospitalizations by addressing these obstacles with support groups, nutrition education, counseling, and wellness programs like yoga.
“Many of our patients are focused on staying healthy between hospitalizations, and we hope to support that goal by encouraging psychosocial and physical wellness,” said Mary Pat Lynch, CRNP, MSN, AOCNP, administrator of the Cancer Service Line. “We are very grateful for our colleagues’ donations, which will help us maintain and enhance our programming and better support the unique needs of this vulnerable patient population.”