What is the Women, Girls, and Persons with the Potential to Menstruate (WGPPM) and Bleeding Disorders Initiative?

This initiative is an outreach program aimed at improving diagnosis of bleeding disorders and improving the quality of life in women, girls, and people with the potential to menstruate. Our outreach program consists of distributing period packs to university health centers, school nurses, local clinics, and OB/GYNs across Pennsylvania, addressing period poverty within the bleeding disorders community, and raising awareness for bleeding disorders through community connections and our magnet and sticker campaign.

Period Packs:

We are distributing period packs to university health centers, school nurses, local clinics, and OB/GYNs across Pennsylvania. These packs are specifically intended for women, girls, and people with the potential to menstruate suspected of having a bleeding disorder to increase awareness and support early diagnosis. Our goal is to address period poverty while also enhancing the identification of bleeding disorders in women, girls, and people with the potential to menstruate.

Addressing Period Poverty:

Period poverty is defined as the lack of access to or inability to purchase menstrual products due to a lack of income. These products are a necessity, not a luxury, and they can put a strain on personal finances, causing many people to have to choose between purchasing products for their periods and purchasing food or other necessities. Having heavy or prolonged periods increases the need for these products, creating an even greater impact on personal and family budgets. We are working to identify and support those with bleeding disorders experiencing period poverty through our patient assistance programs.

Community Connection:

We're raising awareness of bleeding disorders by hosting booths at health fairs and local events to distribute period packs and share Better You Know brochures and resources.

Magnet and Sticker Campaign:

We’re providing magnets, stickers, and flyers that outline the symptoms of bleeding disorders in women, girls, and individuals who menstruate, along with information on where to find additional resources.

How Can I Help?

Community Events:

If you know of any community or health fair events with booth or exhibit opportunities, please let us know! We would also greatly appreciate your support in staffing the booth or donating a few hours of your time. WPBDF and EPBDF can provide all the necessary materials, including symptom magnets, clings, informational cards and handouts linking to betteryouknow.org, Foundation brochures, event flyers, pens, swag items, and more. Your role will involve sharing information about bleeding disorder symptoms with visitors and, if you’re comfortable, sharing your personal experiences.

Connections:

Are you passionate about the bleeding disorders community? Do you have a relationship with your child's school nurse, your college health center, or know someone who works in a school, health clinic, or OB/GYN office? You can help make connections with these organizations to either hang magnets, clings, and flyers around their campus or building and/or allow us to provide period packs and make them available for those who may be experiencing symptoms.

Hands on:

Volunteers are needed to help construct the period packs to be sent to local schools, nurses, colleges, universities, health clinics, and OB/GYNs.

Let us know if you can help! Email us at info@wpbdf.org or call the Foundation office at 724-741-6160. Let us know if you’d like to join our volunteer email list to be notified of future opportunities to assemble period packs!

Donate:

Your monetary support allows the WGPPM with Bleeding Disorders Initiative to continue. Because of you, we can pack and distribute more period packs throughout Western Pennsylvania, support affected individuals through our period product support program, and raise awareness for the symptoms of bleeding disorders. Through this initiative, we can improve the lives of those experiencing symptoms by providing them the tools and resources to receive proper treatment. Create lasting change for affected individuals in Western PA by donating to our WGPPM with Bleeding Disorders Initiative today!

WGPPM Tool Kit

We hope you will join us in our efforts to make a meaningful impact for WGPPM with bleeding disorders. Despite long-standing misconceptions about bleeding disorders in women, women can and do have bleeding disorders. According to the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, as many as 2 million in the U.S. could have an undiagnosed bleeding disorder. Your support is critical in ensuring tools and resources are provided and available to those who may show symptoms of a bleeding disorder.

Together with the Eastern PA Bleeding Disorders Foundation, we created a tool kit designed to spread awareness for this initiative and provide resources for anyone to get involved! You can learn more about our tool kit and preview the digital version at https://wpbdf.org/women-and-girls/.

To request your own physical copy of our tool kit, please contact Kara Dornish at kara@wpbdf.org or call the Foundation office at 724-741-6160.

About the Western Pennsylvania Bleeding Disorders Foundation:

WPBDF serves families with bleeding disorders in 26 counties of Western Pennsylvania. Membership is free for people with bleeding disorders. We provide patient assistance to our members with bleeding disorders as well as hold a variety of educational events that cover a wide range of topics. Because bleeding disorders impact nearly every area of our members lives, we strive to provide relevant and timely information about everything from raising affected children to dealing with financial stress to joint health and treatment concerns and much more.

Women, Girls, and Persons with the Potential to Menstruate with Bleeding Disorders