2022 Impact Report
Progress Update: December 2022
2022 was an exciting year for National Accreta Foundation. The organization celebrated our 5th birthday in April and kicked off a long anticipated strategic planning and board development initiative. NAF continued to strengthen and unify the patient community as well as represent the lived experience of placenta accreta in collaborations with professional societies, all while bringing increased attention to the pregnancy complication placenta accreta spectrum (PAS).
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 three elected board members. We continue to be an all-volunteer organization, 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
In 2022 National Accreta Foundation (NAF) updated our mission statement to “Amplifying the experience of those impacted by placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) to improve quality of care and patient outcomes” in order to better align with our focus and vision.
The NAF peer support groups grew a net average of 9% in year over year membership; our combined online community representation now exceeds 10,000 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 has collaborated on numerous academic research studies and we were thrilled to see multiple published this year. NAF utilizes our large storybank to find participants - it now includes survivors and family members in 25 countries and 48 U.S. States.
NAF is a partner organization with the Pan American Society for the Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS2) and serves on the Patient and Family committee. 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 75 individual fundraisers on Facebook and 28 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 & Education Highlights
NAF hosted numerous social media campaigns throughout the year, bringing attention to placenta accreta spectrum (PAS), appropriate use of cesareans and the importance of blood donation. Our follower count increased in the process to total over 32,000 followers across platforms.
NAF continued to build our storybank for accreta patients and survivors who wish to answer our advocacy calls and showcased many patient stories on our social media channels. 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.
National Accreta Foundation continued to bring the latest experts in placenta accreta spectrum research and care directly to the community with our popular Accreta Expert Series and hosted three livestream events this year. NAF is thrilled to now offer accreta patient resource pages in French as well as Spanish.
NAF’s gear center is still going strong as a fundraiser and accreta awareness generator. We launched new designs, continued sending out patient sponsored Accreta Awareness Kits and Strong as a Mother cards for blood drives and other events. Thanks to our donors, NAF gave out over 100 complimentary patient support kits to hospitals and sites around the country that see high volumes of accreta patients.
Finally, in 2022, the NAF website experienced more than 40,800 visits, 33,600 from unique visitors, and 65,700 in page views. The most popular webpages were What is Placenta Accreta, Accreta Patient FAQ, How to Choose a Hospital and Accreta Experiences articles.
Event Highlights
2022 was a year full of patient storytelling and participation in events of value to the placenta accreta community.
We kicked off the year by virtually attending the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine 42nd Annual Pregnancy Meeting Placenta Accreta Scientific Forum.
In Spring and Summer NAF focused on board development and had our first strategic planning retreat where NAF’s board convened from all over the country for a densely packed weekend of planning and development for the organization. We were able to kick start the foundation’s two year strategic plan, paving the way for NAF to better serve our patients, survivors, and collaborators.
In early October NAF headed to Utah to attend and participate in the Pan-American Society for Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS2)’s annual meeting, the biggest accreta specific event of the year. We presented as part of the Keynote presentation on patient experience, saw many sessions on current topics in accreta (including an incredible Operating Room Simulation) and left invigorated for the future in PAS care.
We rounded out Accreta Awareness Month with our third annual Accreta Awareness 5K event with family, friends and accreta advocates to run or walk and raise funds. The event included 44 registered participants and met our goal of raising $10,000 in honor of accreta.
Progress by month:
January 2022
Hosted our “National Blood Donor Month” social media campaign including our “National Blood Donor Month Social Media Toolkit”
Co-founder Kristen Terlizzi guest lectured at Stanford University Medical School for OBGYN216: Current Issues in Reproductive Health
NAF virtually attended the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine 42nd Annual Pregnancy Meeting as part of the Placenta Accreta Scientific Forum, a large annual gathering of the top clinicians and researchers representing placenta accreta
NAF sponsored sending Strong as a Mother Accreta Awareness Cards to blood drives hosted by accreta moms in honor of National Blood Donor Month
February 2022
Expanded our list of hospitals accepting support letters for pregnant and hospitalized accreta moms to include University of Iowa
NAF represented accreta patients and families at a meeting of the Patient and Family Committee for the Pan American Society for the Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS2)
March 2022
National Accreta Foundation expanded our Board of Directors by voting in two new Board Members: Joree Novotny of Ohio and Kate McMeekin of Colorado. Both are accreta survivors, you can read their stories on our Accreta Experiences page
NAF began our 2022 Strategic Planning initiative
April 2022
California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative released their updated OB Hemorrhage Task Force V3.0 toolkit in April, over the past two years co-founder Kristen Terlizzi represented National Accreta Foundation as a member of the task force and participant in development of the materials
Hosted our “Cesarean Awareness Month” social media campaign to spread the word about appropriate use of cesareans
NAF represented accreta patients and families at a meeting of the Patient and Family Committee for the Pan American Society for the Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS2)
Hosted our Cesarean Awareness Month Accreta Expert Series session with Dr. Neel Shah, MD to illustrate the connection between increased cesarean rates and incidence of placenta accreta spectrum. The event was broadcast live across our Facebook and YouTube channels and included community participation, questions and comments. Watch the recording here.
May 2022
Co-founder Kristen Terlizzi was quoted in the ProPublica article “What You Need to Know When You Give Birth in a Country With Rising Maternal Mortality Rates”
Published accreta survivor Bethany Harrison’s compelling personal tribute to her health care providers titled “All of the things I wish I could say: Dear Healthcare Team…”
Board Member Kate McMeekin partnered with Donate4Mothers and Vitalant Blood Donation Centers for a month of awareness of the need for blood donation for pregnancy related complications. NAF supplied fliers and accreta patient stories that were shared at 31 scheduled blood drives between Colorado, South Dakota and Wyoming which helped to collect 966 units of blood.
Continued Strategic Planning initiative
June 2022
NAF represented accreta patients and families at a meeting of the Patient and Family Committee for the Pan American Society for the Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS2)
July 2022
Collaborated with PAS2 experts on Placenta Accreta Spectrum in developing and publishing “Should I Get A Second Opinion?” patient resource article
In 2020 NAF launched a survey in collaboration with University of the West of Scotland. In July 2022 the resulting study “Psychological flexibility, birth satisfaction and postnatal trauma symptoms in women with abnormally invasive placenta” was published in an academic journal. Thank you to the 132 members of our patient community who added their stories to our storybank, had their voices heard and participated in this important project.
AUGUST 2022
National Accreta Foundation was the proud recipient of a grant from 4imprint.com to support our accreta awareness efforts through our Gear Center offerings
Added Spanish language patient resources ¿Qué es el Acretismo Placentario? and Buscando Una Segunda Opinion Durante el Manejo de Espectro De Acretismo Placentario (EAP) to our website
NAF added two new designs to our gear center, our NAF green Accreta Mama Tee and Accreta Baby Onesie
NAF represented accreta patients and families at a meeting of the Patient and Family Committee for the Pan American Society for the Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS2)
SEPTEMBER 2022
NAF hosted out first Board Retreat and Strategic Planning session
NAF Board Member and Social Media Manager Joree Novotney developed and published “Marking Milestones as an Accreta Survivor” patient resource article
In 2018 NAF collaborated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on an academic research study. In September 2022 the resulting article “NAF Patient Perception of Care, Outcomes, and Consequences from Placenta Accreta Spectrum: A Survey-Based Study” was published. National Accreta Foundation was named as a contributor in the study text, thank you to the 157 members of our patient community who added their stories to our storybank, had their voices heard and participated in this important project.
OCTOBER 2022
National Accreta Foundation had our most successful Accreta Awareness Month yet! Our social media channels shared content on accreta throughout the month spreading the word about placenta accreta.
OBGYN Nurse Practitioner and NAF Board Member Kate McMeekin presented on placenta accreta at the Rocky Mountain PeriAnesthesia Nursing Association Annual Conference
National Accreta Foundation was a proud sponsor and attendee of 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. NAF Board Members Brianna Evans and Kristen Terlizzi presented “The Lived Experience of Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS)” as part of the Keynote opening lecture series focused on patient experience and participated in a panel discussion.
Hosted our Accreta Awareness Month Accreta Expert Series session with Dr. Karin Fox, MD on the topic of Placenta Accreta as a Spectrum. The event was broadcast live across our Facebook and YouTube channels and included community participation, questions and comments. Watch the recording here.
Our third annual Accreta Awareness Virtual 5K included 44 registered participants and met our goal of raising $10,000 in honor of accreta
NOVEMBER 2022
Announced and recognized our 2022 Accreta Awareness Champion, Stacy Tate, 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.
NAF Board Member Brianna Evans was featured as a guest on Placenta Accreta Ireland’s Accreta & Me Spotify Podcast series
Hosted an Accreta Expert Series session with Dr. Lisa Zuckerwise, MD on the topic of Conservative Management (alternative to hysterectomy). The event was broadcast live across our Facebook and YouTube channels and included community participation, questions and comments. Watch the recording here.
Increased our AmazonSmile 2022 donations 30% over 2021. 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.
Participated in the global giving movement Giving Tuesday on November 29 to advocate for accreta awareness
December 2022
Appointed National Accreta Foundation’s Global Ambassador France: Pauline Durand
Added French language patient resources to our website Quest Ce Que Le Placenta Accreta?
NAF represented accreta patients and families at a meeting of the Patient and Family Committee for the Pan American Society for the Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS2)
Created two new National Accreta Foundation volunteer opportunities:
Added Donate in Honor of Card to gear center in two designs, Thank You & Tough Mama
Began collaborations on two upcoming accreta academic studies
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.
