2020 Impact Report
Progress Update: December 2020
It’s been a trying year for our community as COVID-19 became the focus for all. Our hearts are with those on the front lines of this pandemic who have continued to provide the best medical care along with hope and support to our patients and families who have the additional burden of being pregnant and giving birth during this time. We remain #accretastrong.
National Accreta Foundation is a 501(c)(3) corporation in good standing and the only non profit patient organization focused on the pregnancy complication placenta accreta. National Accreta Foundation’s board is comprised of three executive officers and two elected board members. We continue to be an all-volunteer organization with no paid operations staff, every dollar donated goes directly to fund our programs and work to #preventaccreta.
Here is how we turned donations into action over the past 12 months:
Program Highlights
National Accreta Foundation (NAF) continued its main focus in 2020 on serving the placenta accreta patient community. We published a COVID-19 page to highlight resources for new accreta moms. To support moms during the pandemic we launched the Adopt a Mom & Care Packages and Letter Writing program and raised funds to send Strong Like Mom onesies to new moms. These programs to welcome our newest community members were very popular, NAF has plans to continue and expand the program in 2021.
The NAF peer support groups grew in membership an average of 17% year over year; our combined online community representation exceeds 8,000 patient & family members affected by placenta accreta spectrum. There continues to be a significant need from patients for learnings and tips from peers, especially when it comes to how to cope with this diagnosis, where to deliver, how to prepare for delivery and what to expect during recovery.
NAF supported several research efforts including international studies based in Ireland, Canada and Scotland using our large storybank to find participants - now reaching survivors in 15 countries and 44 U.S. States.
NAF continued collaboration with MoMMA’s Voices, AWHONN, and state perinatal quality collaboratives to ensure the accreta patient’s voice is an integral part of the conversation to improve quality of care.
Finally, NAF focused on fundraising to support our programs resulting in 53 individual fundraisers on Facebook and 50 peer-to-peer fundraisers on our fundraising platform. We are incredibly grateful to those who set up these fundraisers and to those who donated to support them. We can’t do what we do without our supporters!
AWARENESS Highlights
NAF started the year promoting Blood Donor Awareness Month, sharing important information about blood donation and encouraging survivors to host blood drives. During the month, we partnered with National Perinatal Information Center to host a twitter chat to bring awareness to the importance of blood donation as a critical component of patient safety in obstetrics. Additionally, we facilitated an interview with NBC Connecticut with an accreta survivor to help promote blood donation in the region.
NAF continued to build its storybank for accreta patients and survivors who wish to answer our advocacy calls. Through this initiative we have facilitated many match making requests by journalists, advocacy organizations and speaking opportunities with patients and stories to help improve maternal health. Included in this effort was a story about c-section disparities in Texas with an interview with an accreta survivor from our storybank.
We led another successful social media awareness campaign in October for Accreta Awareness Month, increasing our follower count and bringing attention to placenta accreta and cesarean overuse. We hosted our first annual Accreta Awareness Virtual 5K which included 79 registered participants and surpassed our goal by raising $8,625 in honor of accreta.
NAF launched new awareness gear with Accreta Strong and #PreventAccreta shirts, Strong as a Mother tote bag, and Strong as a Mother cards for blood drives and other events.
Finally, in 2020, the NAF website experienced a 26% increase in visits, 88% from new visitors, and a 26% increase in page views. The most popular webpages were What is Placenta Accreta, Accreta Patient FAQ and Accreta Experiences articles.
Event Highlights
2020 started off strong with NAF presenting at and attending the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s Placenta Accreta Scientific Forum in February. Shortly after this event the world went virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. National Accreta Foundation still participated and supported many important and historic events focused on improving maternal health. Highlights include being a sponsor for March for Moms and MomCongress in May, as well as partnering with other leading foundations in maternal health to host the Champions for Change 2020 Summit: Influencing Change in Maternal Health virtually this year. In September, National Accreta Foundation was proud to participate in The Pan-American Society for Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS2)’s annual meeting. NAF strengthened our connections with state perinatal quality collaboratives throughout the year by presenting on primary cesarean reduction at ILPQC’s annual conference and as a member of CMQCC’s OB Hemorrhage Task Force.
Progress by month:
DeCEmber 2019
Published “Tips on Celebrating Holidays in the NICU” article.
Appointed our first Global Ambassador, Kate Edwards - UK
Published our Giving Tuesday page and had our most successful #GivingTuesday to date, participants spread the word about placenta accreta and fundraised for National Accreta Foundation.
Published “What Can I Do in my Community” page highlighting the work that accreta moms are doing to make change in their community.
National Accreta Foundation co-founder Kristen Terlizzi was quoted in a Huffington Post article on accreta: “This 'Uncommon' But Deadly Pregnancy Condition Is On The Rise.”
January 2020
Hosted our first official “National Blood Donor Month” campaign including our “National Blood Donor Month Social Media Toolkit.”
On January 16, 2020 we partnered with National Perinatal Information Center to host a twitter chat to bring awareness to the importance of blood donation as a critical component of patient safety in obstetrics.
Recruited 63 pledges to donate blood in honor of placenta accreta as part of our National Blood Donor Month Sleeves Up Campaign, saving as many as to 189 lives!
February 2020
National Accreta Foundation Directors Alexis Carena and Kristen Terlizzi attended Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine 40th Annual Pregnancy Meeting. Kristen presented “The Lived Experience of Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS)” as part of the Placenta Accreta Scientific Forum, a large annual gathering of the top clinicians and researchers representing the condition.
Published “My Experience at Summit” article written by NAF board member Brianna Evans showcasing her experience as an accreta survivor and advocate at 2019’s MoMMA’s Voices Champions for Change Maternal Health Advocacy Summit.
March 2020
National Accreta Foundation co-founder Kristen Terlizzi guest lectured at Stanford University Medical School for OBGYN216: Current Issues in Reproductive Health
April 2020
Connected with leaders in the placenta accreta community and published our COVID-19 page on what the accreta community can do to help.
Launched a program for accreta survivors to send support letters to pregnant and hospitalized moms delivering during COVID-19 global pandemic.
Fundraised to enable National Accreta Foundation to send Strong Like Mom onesie care packages to our COVID-19 moms.
May 2020
Assisted accreta research by launching an initiative to recruit participants for an academic study on Placenta Accreta Quality of Life in conjunction with National Maternity Hospital in Ireland and Placenta Accreta Ireland.
National Accreta Foundation was a proud sponsor of March for Moms virtual event.
National Accreta Foundation was a proud sponsor of Mom Congress virtual event.
National Accreta Foundation co-founder Kristen Terlizzi was scheduled to be the Gala Dinner Keynote Speaker at the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology 52nd Annual Meeting and was scheduled to present “The Life Changing Placenta: My Story of Accreta & Post-Traumatic Growth” in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Unfortunately the event did not occur due to COVID, but National Accreta Foundation was honored to have been included in the agenda.
Continued to coordinate sending letters and care packages to our COVID-19 moms.
June 2020
National Accreta Foundation was the proud recipient of a grant from 4imprint.com to continue to gift our Strong Like Mom onesie care packages to our COVID-19 moms.
July 2020
Continued to coordinate sending letters and care packages to our COVID-19 moms.
AUGUST 2020
Connected survivors with a research initiative in Canada to study the patient experience of placenta accreta.
Continued to coordinate sending letters and care packages to our COVID-19 moms.
SEPTEMBER 2020
National Accreta Foundation proudly unveiled our new logo.
Introduced our “Strong As a Mother” tote bag to our gear center, available to our fundraisers who raise $300, or by personal donation of $100.
Continued to coordinate sending letters and care packages to our COVID-19 moms.
National Accreta Foundation was a proud participant at The Pan-American Society for Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS2)’s annual meeting. It was an inspiring weekend discussing the advancement of research and treatment for placenta accreta patients.
National Accreta Foundation co-founder Kristen Terlizzi was named to California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative’s OB Hemorrhage Task Force V3.0.
OCTOBER 2020
National Accreta Foundation had our most successful Accreta Awareness Month yet! Our social media channels shared content on accreta throughout the month, survivors hosted blood drives in honor of accreta and participated in our #AccretaAwareness events.
Participated virtually in MoMMA’s Voices Champions for Change Summit.
Our first annual Accreta Awareness Virtual 5K included 79 registered participants surpassed our goal by raising $8,625 in honor of accreta.
National Accreta Foundation co-founder Kristen Terlizzi presented at ILPQC’s 8th Annual Conference as part of Illinois’ statewide primary cesarean reduction initiative.
NOVEMBER 2020
Announced and recognized our 2020 Accreta Awareness Champion, Joree Novotny, who led the way in fundraising during Accreta Awareness Month. We awarded her with accreta awareness goodies and sent an Accreta Awareness Kit to a hospital of her choice.
More than doubled (actually almost tripled!) our AmazonSmile 2020 donations year over year. This was achieved directly by our our supporters linking their Amazon accounts to benefit NAF so that Amazon makes quarterly donations to NAF for qualifying purchases (at no cost to purchaser!). Link your account here.
NAF sponsored sending Strong as a Mother Accreta Awareness Cards to all blood drives hosted by accreta moms that month.
December 2020
Participated in the global giving movement Giving Tuesday on December 1 to advocate for accreta awareness.
We are honored to represent the placenta accreta community and proud of the progress that has been achieved to date. We thank you for your support and trust.
