62 En nu? Gelukkig: stapje voor stapje gaat het de goede kant uit. Niet in een rechte lijn vooruit, maar: drie stappen vooruit, dan weer twee achteruit, dan toch weer drie vooruit. Ook letterlijk is lopen is voor Els ingewikkelder geworden, het valgevaar groter. Maar zoals gezegd, Els is een enorme vechter. Aan de ene kant maakt die vechtlust het haar moeilijk om de situatie te aanvaarden zoals die is. ‘Omarm je situatie’, zeggen ze dan - daar hoef je bij Els niet mee aan te komen. Maar diezelfde wilskracht en vechtlust geven me veel vertrouwen, dat er qua herstel grote mogelijkheden liggen. WAT IK MEE WIL GEVEN? Je kunt niet alert genoeg zijn op het gevaar van sepsis. Bewustwording bij iedereen is geen luxe, maar een kwestie van leven of dood. Als ervaringsdeskundigen hebben we ondervonden, dat er dringend aandacht nodig is voor de langetermijn-impact, niet alleen fysiek maar ook mentaal. Dr. Ron Daniels CEO of the UK Sepsis Trust, vice-president of the Global Sepsis Alliance Sepsis is one of the most prominent public health threats, accounting for one in five lives lost worldwide each year. Unlike other common acute conditions such as heart attack or stroke, public awareness is low. Furthermore, and again unlike other common acute conditions, the presentation of sepsis is highly variable. This is due in part to the fact that it can arise as a consequence of any infection and affect people of any age. As a consequence, it can be hard for even the most experienced health professionals to spot sepsis every time. In the UK, these challenges led us to an understanding that to prevent avoidable harm due to sepsis demanded not only that health professionals be aware and empowered to think Sepsis, but also that the public be aware and empowered to “Just Ask: Could it be Sepsis?”. This award-winning public awareness campaign features on the side of ambulances and on billboards across city centes, as well as on posters distributed to all community pharmacies and GP surgeries. It also enjoyed product placement on national television programs including some of our most loved soap operas. This strategy of measuring performance in hospitals, empowering health professionals to act and making our public aware saw survival rates from Sepsis across England rise from approximately 70% in 2015 to 80% in 2019, the last year for which granular data are available prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. A key driver for this was engagement of Her Majesty’s Government through the then Secretary of State for Health, the Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt. Moved deeply by the story of the death of William Mead, aged just 1, when presented with the creative content around the “Just Ask” campaign he immediately came on board. In 2016, he mandated the governmentfunded public awareness campaign which resulted in the messaging on NHS ambulances and the posters in all community pharmacies. JUST ASK - ‘COULD IT BE SEPSIS?’
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