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Twitter: @4GPACT
Facebook: @GPACT
Website: www.gastroparesisawarenessmonth.org
Digestive Tract Paralysis Awareness Month was founded by G-PACT in August 2010 in order to raise awareness of DTP in a short amount of time. Although we do it year round, we spend this month providing a lot of opportunities and events for people to get involved in to help us spread the word.
Digestive Tract Paralysis Awareness Month started out as Gastroparesis Awareness Week from August 23 - August 29, 2009. That week encompassed the date of our founding, August 23, 2001. By the next year we received comments that a week wasn't long enough and decided to dedicate the entire month to it. Although we increase activity all month long, we still maintain Awareness Week as the biggest week of the year for awareness and provide additional events and ways for people to advocate and get involved.
By 2010, we had added Chronic Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction to our list of covered conditions so we changed the name to Digestive Tract Paralysis Awareness Month to be more inclusive of a variety of conditions. In 2012, we added colonic inertia, and have plans to add more in the future. August will cover any paralytic condition of the GI tract we add as a focus in the future too.
Over the years we have done a variety of things to raise awareness and educate the public. We have added events, changed some things, and always try to make it unique every year. We are very active all year with research, advocacy, awareness, and support, so be sure to follow us all year for many opportunities to get involved besides just August!
Gastroparesis Patient Association for Cures and Treatments, Inc.
185-132 Newberry Commons
Etters, PA 17319
888-874-7228
pr@g-pact.org
www.gastroparesisawarenessmonth.org
Contact: None Designated
Source: 2019 National Health Observances, National Health Information Center, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.