Sepsis Alliance Connect

Sepsis Alliance Connect is a virtual support community designed for the millions of people affected by sepsis. Each year, an estimated 1.4 million people survive sepsis and over 350,000 adults die from sepsis in the United States alone. Sepsis Alliance Connect is a place for these survivors, caregivers, loved ones, and those left behind after a sepsis death to come together and share resources, insight, and encouragement about their sepsis experience and life after sepsis.

The main goal of Sepsis Alliance Connect is to connect those who have been impacted by this often isolating and frequently misunderstood condition. Members can take part in live and pre-recorded programs exploring topics such as:

• Coping with life after sepsis
• Managing mental health
• Adjusting to life after amputations

Sepsis Alliance Connect was launched by Sepsis Alliance in 2022 with the support of volunteer community leaders passionate about positively impacting the lives of those affected by sepsis.

• Peer Support Conversations
  These conversations, scheduled at various times throughout each month, are facilitated by volunteers who are sepsis survivors, caregivers of sepsis survivors, and people who have lost a loved one to sepsis.
• Maternal Sepsis: Infection Prevention During Pregnancy – May 9, 2024 
  Marijke Vroomen Durning, RN, Senior Clinical Content Advisor, Sepsis Alliance
  Maternal sepsis is a life-threatening medical emergency defined as organ dysfunction resulting from infection during pregnancy, childbirth, abortion, miscarriage, or the postpartum period. We dedicate Maternal Sepsis Week, an annual observance to raise awareness of the unique signs and symptoms of maternal and neonatal sepsis, to sharing survivors’ personal experiences, remembering the loved ones lost to maternal sepsis, and remembering the young lives lost to neonatal sepsis.

  In this presentation, learn about the unique risks of infection that may occur during and after pregnancy, and some precautions pregnant people can take to minimize those risks. Maternal Sepsis Week will be held this year from May 12th to May 18th.

• Saving Lives Together: An Introduction to Sepsis Alliance – May 23, 2024
  Megan Jones, Senior Community & Content Manager, Sepsis Alliance
  Sepsis Alliance is the leading sepsis organization in the U.S. working in all 50 states to save lives and reduce suffering from sepsis. Are you curious about the history of Sepsis Alliance? Wonder how the different pieces like Sepsis Alliance Connect, Sepsis Alliance Institute, Faces of Sepsis™, Sepsis Alliance Voices, and Sepsis.org all fit together?

  In this presentation, learn about the various pillars of Sepsis Alliance’s work and how you can engage with each one to join in the fight to save lives and reduce suffering due to sepsis.

• Young Adult Affinity Group
  Whether you’ve survived sepsis or lost someone you love while you’re young, the experience can impact your life in ways you might not have expected. Meet other young adults (loosely defined as 45 or younger) who have had their lives changed by sepsis.
• Balanced Sepsis Amputee Community
  Leslie Green, Founder: Balance Amputee Education and Wellness
  Leslie Green is a sepsis survivor and bilateral, below-the-knee amputee who has many years of experience working alongside people with limb loss and limb difference. Balance Amputee Education and Wellness’s communities provide education, to various groups of people who have experienced amputations due to sepsis and other factors. This monthly Sepsis Alliance Connect and Balance Amputee Education and Wellness collaborative session will connect members of these communities to share resources and discuss topics related to the intersection of amputation and sepsis, and often features guest speakers.

Browse a library of recorded programs you can watch any time, which will grow as new programs are added. As soon as you log in, you’ll find a program library which includes:

• 2024 Sepsis Awareness Survey: What Do You Want to Know?,Jill Gress, Vice President, Radius Global Market Research (Retired) and Secretary, Sepsis Alliance Board of Directors
• Raise Your Voice: Supercharge Your Advocacy This Month!, Amanda Feinman, Advocacy Communications & Operations Manager, Sepsis Alliance
• Sepsis Survivor Week – How Can You Get Involved This Year?, Alex Sadorf Colvin, Director, Marketing and Communications, Sepsis Alliance
• Sepsis and Relationships, Linda Hart, Sepsis Survivor, and her husband and caregiver Ken Hart; Don Smith, Sepsis Survivor, and his wife and caregiver, Karen Smith
• Sharing Your Sepsis Story with the Media, Jackie Duda, Health and Travel Journalist, Sepsis and Disability Advocate
• Sepsis: How is the Healthcare Professional Community Educated & Trained? Claudia Orth, BSN, RN, Director of Provider Education & Training, Sepsis Alliance; Katie West, MSN, RN, CME Specialist, Munson Healthcare; Sandra Kleier, RN, Sepsis Survivor
• Preventing Readmissions After Sepsis, Stephanie Parks Taylor, MD, MS, Chief, Division of Hospital Medicine, Professor, Internal Medicine, University of Michigan
• Basics of Home Care, Rebecca Fuller Gray, Executive Vice President of Clinical & Program Affairs, Home Care Association of New York State 
• Storytelling with a Purpose, Rosie Bartel, Sepsis Advocate, Board Member, PFAnetwork and Peter Guglietta, Sepsis Advocate, Lost a Loved One
• Infection Prevention for Immunocompromised People, Marijke Vroomen Durning, RN, Senior Clinical Content Advisor, Sepsis Alliance
• Fitness Beyond Sepsis, Caitlin Massey, Personal Trainer
• Sepsis Patient Experience Survey- What Did We Learn, Abigail Paras, MPH, Senior Director, Programs, Sepsis Alliance
• Behind the Curtain: Preparing For Your Visit To Optimize Your Care, Karin Molander, MD, Emergency Medicine Physician, and Marijke Vroomen Durning, RN, Senior Clinical Content Advisor, Sepsis Alliance
• Requesting a Sepsis Awareness Month Proclamation for your State, Amanda Feinman, Advocacy Communications & Operations Manager, Sepsis Alliance, and Carly Roberts, Sepsis Advocate, Lost a Loved One 
• EMDR Therapy- How Do We Treat Trauma? Lee Oesterle, Licensed Clinical Social Worker; Hilary Bridges, Licensed Professional Counselor; and Don Smith, Sepsis Survivor
• Common Treatments for Sepsis, Marijke Vroomen Durning, RN, Senior Clinical Content Advisor, Sepsis Alliance
• Where to Begin? Finding a Counselor and Beginning Therapy After Sepsis, Kristan Seaford, Licensed Professional Counselor and Sepsis Survivor; and Hailey Bain, Sepsis Survivor
• Diagnostic Solutions for Sepsis, Mark Miller, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, bioMérieux
• Holidays and Anniversaries: Marks on the Calendar Left by Sepsis, Rosalie Carter, grandmother of Amir Carter-Williams, who died of sepsis; Sandra Kleier, sepsis survivor; and Kaitlin Walden, mother of a sepsis survivor
• Unmet Expectations: Grief When Sepsis Changes Your Life, Kristan Seaford, Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counsellor and Sepsis Survivor; Darrell Raikes, Sepsis Survivor; Kaitlin Walden, Mother of Pediatric Sepsis Survivor
• Pain After Sepsis, Marijke Vroomen Durning, RN: Senior Clinical Content Advisor, Sepsis Alliance;Mike St. Onge, Sepsis Survivor;
  Toya Russell, Sepsis Survivor
• Caregivers’ Mental Health, Dr. Stephen M. Scheinthal: Department of Psychiatry, Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine
• Amputee Panel, Katy Grainger, Kim Gilliam Steele & Mike St. Onge: Sepsis Survivors and Amputees
• Sepsis and Older Adults, Al Cardillo, LMSW: President & CEO, Home Care Association of New York State
  & Wayne Shepard, RN: Director, Delaware County Office of the Aging
• Advocacy Basics, Kristin DeVries: Director of Advocacy, Sepsis Alliance
• Grief 101, Kristan Seaford, LPC
• Disparities in Sepsis Cases, Sandy N. Cayo, DNP, and Cindy Hou, DO
• Sepsis awareness resources
• Adaptive fitness and meditation classes
• and more