NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Lisa Foundation, the U.S. leader in awareness, education and saving lives in the fight against brain aneurysms, has been announced as a finalist for PR News’ Nonprofit Awards in the public service announcement (PSA) category for “Inconvenient,” the very first national consumer PSA to help address the disturbing gap in knowledge about brain aneurysms.
“Just over two years ago we set out to create an organization that would lead the fight against brain aneurysms through pioneering awareness and education. The goal was to provide Americans with critical information needed to make an informed decision in the event of a brain aneurysm rupture, which could help save a life – potentially even their own,” said Todd Crawford, founder of The Lisa Foundation. “This campaign, and the impact it’s had across the country, is our initial effort and wouldn’t have been possible without our amazing partners and an entire community of supporters. We are humbled and honored to be recognized alongside United Way for such a prestigious award.”
The PSA addressed major knowledge gaps revealed by the industry’s first survey, sponsored by The Lisa Foundation, which found that 100 percent of Americans were unable to identify all warning signs of a brain aneurysm. In particular, “Inconvenient,” creatively depicts and explains some of the top symptoms of a brain aneurysm – such as the sudden onset of the worst headache of your life (WHOL), a sharp pain behind or above one eye and blurry or double vision – through the use of icons and graphics developed by The Lisa Foundation to emphasize the need to seek immediate medical treatment.
“Brain aneurysms are a silent killer and there’s too little information available to help people identify the signs and symptoms,” said Dr. Howard Riina, professor and vice chair of neurosurgery at NYU Langone Medical Center and head of the medical board for The Lisa Foundation. “A campaign like this hasn’t been done before, and we look forward to continuing to educate and engage people to help prevent more lives from being lost to this deadly disorder.”
The PSA was created and produced by mcgarrybowen, an integrated marketing communications agency, while campaign strategy and social media support for “Inconvenient,” was managed by Ogilvy Health & Wellness. PR News’ annual Nonprofit PR Awards program recognizes nonprofits and their partners that have executed highly successful and impactful initiatives in the past 12 months. The finalists will be honored on March 20, 2018 at an awards luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Click here for a full list of Nonprofit PR Awards finalists.
The “Inconvenient” PSA can be viewed on The Lisa Foundation’s YouTube page. For more information about The Lisa Foundation, the signs and symptoms of brain aneurysms as well as how to get involved, please visit www.lisafoundation.org.
ABOUT BRAIN ANEURYSMS
Up to 15 million, or one out of 20, people are estimated to have an undiagnosed brain aneurysm in the U.S. Women are 50 percent more likely to develop than men and African Americans and Hispanics up to 30 percent more likely than other ethnic groups. A brain aneurysm is a weakness or thinning of the wall of a blood vessel in the brain that gradually bulges outward. Eventually, the bulging blood vessel may leak or rupture causing bleeding into the brain. A ruptured aneurysm quickly becomes life threatening and requires prompt emergency treatment. The most common sudden onset symptoms of a brain aneurysm are: worst headache of your life (WHOL), stiffness in the neck, sensitivity to light, sharp pain behind or above the eye, blurred or double vision, drooping eyelid, seizures, loss of consciousness, numbness or tingling in the face, nausea and vomiting, confusion or changed mental state and perceived gunshot noise or a loud BOOM. Risk factors include smoking, high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, heavy alcohol or drug abuse, head injury and lower estrogen after menopause, family history of brain aneurysm, polycystic kidney disease, among others. This year, approximately 40,000 people are expected to experience a ruptured brain aneurysm, with 50 percent never making it to the hospital and with several thousand more dying as a result of complications in the months following the rupture.
ABOUT THE LISA FOUNDATION
The Lisa Foundation is a non-profit organization that has emerged as the leader in awareness, education and saving lives in the fight against brain aneurysms in the United States since it was founded in 2015, months after the death of its namesake. Within months of its launch, The Lisa Foundation was credited with saving its first life, and many more have followed. In 2017, the organization launched “Inconvenient,” the industry’s very first public service announcement (PSA) on national television to help address the disturbing gap in knowledge about brain aneurysms. The campaign was developed in response to the industry’s very first national survey sponsored by The Lisa Foundation indicating that brain aneurysms may be up to 50 percent more common in women and nearly 100 percent of women surveyed didn’t know the warning signs.
