Launch of HAN Week 2020
03/08/2020
Welcome to Home Artificial Nutrition (HAN) Awareness Week 2020
We have a busy agenda for the week ahead; hopefully, something of interest for everyone. We will be proudly sharing members’ stories, each individual needing their life-saving artificial nutrition at home - unique experiences and personal journeys that had led them to need HAN, hidden illnesses, and conditions as well as feeding tubes and catheters.
Seven-year-old Ezekiel, who is tube fed, will be launching HAN Week on Monday by setting us all a challenge, encouraging everyone to come up with something that can be achieved during HAN Week - to push ourselves a little bit out of our comfort zones. It doesn’t need to be a grand gesture, it can be the simplest of things; the concept is to focus on something you have been meaning or wanting to do but keep finding an excuse not to. You can download
Ezekiel's challenge poster and declare your challenge on social media and then report having completed it. You’ve got this!
On Monday we will also be launching our HAN Week animation. Although almost 50,000 people in the UK receive home artificial nutrition, there is little general awareness or understanding about it. People on HAN are not only dependent on their nutritional fluids but the provision of a homecare service to deliver it directly to the patient at home. This service is not always available to other HAN patients around the world. We are thankful for what we have but acknowledge that the past 12 months have been challenging for all those involved in the PN supply issue, especially the patients. We want people to recognise the value of our homecare services and protect them for those who are dependent upon them. We are committed to continuing to advocate for our members on this issue.
Day 2 sees Gary set off on his 375-mile off-road challenge for HAN Week. Gary is tube fed; fuelled by enteral nutrition he will cycle virtually from Christchurch, PINNT HQ to Durham (where our annual gathering would have been) to not only complete his personal challenge but to raise awareness of HAN.
We will have daily activities and launches and hopefully engagement on social media will bring greater awareness of not only HAN treatments and services but also of the people who receive them. This is why our
#ThisIsMe campaign is so important.
Our three main objectives at PINNT are, Support & Advocacy, Education and Information & Consultation; while we do this throughout the year, HAN Week provides a specific platform for us to talk about what we do and to raise awareness of HAN.
We want to celebrate the people who meet daily challenges with life on HAN, those who support them, the healthcare professionals who care for them and our industry colleagues who provide the products and services we are all dependent on.
There are many aspects of the HAN journey, life with HAN could be summarised as ‘the good’, ‘the bad’ and ‘the ugly’, and we all have ups and downs and fluctuations, as underlying conditions and illnesses continue to impact of our lives. We would like people to see all of us. Many people only see the good, when we are well and contributing fully socially and at work, they may think we are all right and don’t need support. Other people may only see the bad and fail to comprehend that with tube feeding our lives can be full of joy and happiness just as other peoples are. HAN Week, and This Is Me, is all about showing people that despite our health challenges we are rounded people, with good and bad days, not to mention the ugly!
Please follow us during HAN Week - while this is not a fundraising event, we ask that you
‘share’ and
‘like’ posts, whether on Facebook or Twitter – donating your time to do this contributes to raising awareness
@PINNTcharity.
We thank everyone who supports PINNT throughout the year – and we hope you will forgive us for asking for just a little more from everyone during HAN Week 2020.
#HANWeek2020 #ThisIsMe
Together we can achieve a greater understanding and appreciation of the needs of people on HAN.
Carolyn
Chair PINNT
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