Join us for Lymphoedema Awareness Week 2024!
Lymphoedema Awareness Week 2024: 4th - 8th March 2024
World Lymphoedema Day: 6th March 2024
Register for our free educational webinars and share them with your colleagues:
What’s happening for Lymphoedema Awareness Week 2024
This Lymphoedema Awareness Week we will host several live and recorded webinars for you, your patients and other healthcare professionals:
- Children and young people get lymphoedema too!
- Lymphoedema in children and young people: getting the treatment right.
- Lymphoedema: a challenge for the whole family
- Children and young people and overcoming the challenges of compression therapy
- Young people with lymphoedema – managing fears, risks and barriers to being active
Although we are focusing on children and young people with lymphoedema in the webinars, Lymphoedema Awareness Week is an opportunity for all BLS members and Friends to spread the word about lymphoedema in general. See below for how to get involved.
- We are also thrilled, as part of Lymphoedema Awareness Week, to join with colleagues around the world to support the recognition of World Lymphoedema Day on 6th March, a campaign led by the Lymphedema Education and Research Network (LE&RN).
Why is Lymphoedema Awareness Important?
Lymphoedema is poorly understood. Few people are aware that lymphedema:
- is common - it affects around 430,000 people in the UK
- affects all ages and can be hereditary
- may be caused by many conditions and factors that increase the risk of developing lymphoedema and chronic oedema
- must be recognised and treated early to prevent complications, such as cellulitis and minimise its severity and impact
Nor do many healthcare professionals realise that:
- chronic oedema is an indication that the lymphatic drainage system is failing (i.e. lymphoedema is present), so in addition to treating the cause of the chronic oedema, lymphoedema must also be managed
- providing a lymphoedema service is less costly and labour intensive than managing the complications that arise from not providing a service
- supporting and encouraging people to keep as active as they are able (and keeping active themselves) helps the lymphatic system work more effectively, so is an important component to reducing risk of developing the condition and in its treatment
- educating patients to protect their skin from injury and infection is a key part of risk reduction and treatment, as chronic inflammation may damage lymphatic drainage vessels
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What can you do?
- Promote the webinars with your colleagues and contacts by sharing the Register Now link above
- Go to the EveryBodyCan page to learn more about the importance of being active
- Follow us on social media @BritishLymph and like and share using the hashtag #LymphoedemaAwareness
- See the Communications Toolkit for ideas and tips to post about lymphoedema awareness .
- Tell your contacts about the work of the BLS. Did you know that we offer a free tier of membership called Friends of the BLS? Encourage others to become a Friend and get access to more information and resources.
- Host a meeting, educational event, or an online chat with colleagues about lymphoedema and post photos of your event on social media or send to BLS for sharing on social media or News & Views.
- Set up a stand in a public area, within your clinical setting, a hospital, health centre or for the general public in a shopping centre, garden centre etc and use our patient resources
- The Lymphoedema Support Network offers free membership for children and young people. Membership includes packs of information for the children and young people that they can also share with their schools and after-school clubs. The three packs are tailored to suit different age groups. Please contact LSN directly if you would like to receive one of the packs.
- Share the press release with your local press, radio station or other media.