Greetings First name / friend!

Did you have a good summer and an easy start to the back-to-school season? Our grassroots women’s health organization had a busy summer, and we’re already gearing up for the Fall. 

 

Here are some September recaps and brief updates on what to expect from BISA for the month of October:

Earlier this year, our BISA team gathered in Charleston, SC, to get “engaged” with advocacy. 

Our June 2023 Get Engaged event offered BISA advocates a chance to connect in person and build strategies to advance breast implant safety and women’s health issues.

Later, we joined Patients Rising and the Komen Foundation in Washington, DC, to advocate for legislation improving patient safety and access to care. 

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons also joined some of our advocates on Capitol Hill to educate members of Congress about insurance denial issues for women facing a BIA-ALCL diagnosis.

We were honored to join the efforts of Dr. Elizabeth Potter and the Community Breast Reconstruction Alliance (CBRA) to preserve the right to affordable access for DIEP flap breast reconstruction, and we’re so thankful CMS decided to restore the coding.

During the month of October, BISA will focus on collaborating and supporting breast cancer awareness organizations and events, including Stand Tall AFC, which is a body-positive campaign to destigmatize the loss of breasts to cancer treatment and to normalize going flat, also known as Aesthetic Flat Closure (AFC) after mastectomy.

On October 12, 2023, advocate Sherri Gorbett is leading a fashion show fundraising event in Oregon for breast cancer awareness and breast implant safety.

 

I will be representing BISA on October 21, 2023, at the Medical University of South Carolina Breast Cancer Survivors Wellness Expo.

 

Some of our advocates will be attending the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Annual Meeting held in Washington, DC. 

 

Jennifer Cook, BISA’s Director of BIA-ALCL Advocacy, will join me at the Breast Surgery Collaborative Community (BSCC) meeting as we continue discussions with plastic surgeons and the FDA about topics related to explant surgery. 

This next month is already proving to be a busy one. We can only do what we can with the time, money, and resources we have available to our small team. We are looking for more organizations and medical professionals to join our efforts. 

We’re also looking for support for the Medical Device Recall Improvement Act, so be on the lookout for our upcoming call to action.

 

Just a reminder: BISA is a 100% volunteer organization. We greatly appreciate your kind words and financial support to keep our efforts going. Please consider making a donation today. Thank you.