IC Awareness Month hopes to make a difference by raising awareness at the "grassroots" level, in towns and cities across the USA and the world. It is the first month long public relations campaign dedicated to this bladder disease, motivating patients to become advocates in their communities. One key goal is to reach other patients who are suffering in silence, at home and alone, by offering hope, information and encouragement to seek treatment. We encourage compassion from family members, friends, businesses and the community at large.

Ms. Osborne said "There's a good chance that you know someone with IC/BPS. They may be unable to sit through a movie without getting up once or twice to visit the restroom. They may think that they are getting bladder infections every month despite the fact that their urine cultures are negative. They make frequent bathroom stops during car rides. They may find sex painful. These are the patients that we'd like to reach."

While some IC patients are streaking their hair blue in honor of IC Awareness Month, others are making donations directly to the William Beaumont Hospital (Royal Oak, MI), one of the leading IC research institutions. In this years campaign, patients and family members have been asked to evaluate and assess their community as a whole. Are medical care providers in touch with the latest research and treatment modalities? If not, we ask them to download the latest articles and distribute them to local providers and/or to contact local teaching hospitals to set up a course on bladder and/or pelvic pain conditions. Do patients in the community receive adequate support? If not, patients will be given tools to start a new support group.

Social networking has become a powerful force for advocacy. More than forty thousand IC patients have united on the IC Network website and Facebook to share their stories. They can attend free support group meetings, utilize the 24/7 support forum provided by the IC Network (ic-network/forum/), watch the "Living with IC" video series on YouTube (ic-network/videos/) and sign up for a free e-newsletters.

Proactive patients around the country are also lobbying for advocacy and increased research funding by asking their city councils and state representatives to pass proclamations in support of IC patients and/or are writing their US representatives to support additional funding for IC research.

This year, a "Thank You" campaign has been created to give well deserved, positive strokes to those medical care providers who are treating patients compassionately and proactively.

Source : Dekalb Clinic