Peggy Lillis Foundation releases Care Guide for Patients with C. diff Infections
New guide offers comprehensive information for C. diff patients and family members
Peggy Lillis Foundation for C. diff Education & Advocacy (PLF) today announced the online publication of its new “C. diff Care Guide.” The Care Guide provides patients with C. difficile infections and their caregivers’ wide-ranging information about the disease, its treatment and its long-term impacts in accessible language.
“While our website has long been a valuable resource for C. diff patients and their caregivers, we want to provide all the key information in one place.”
“When our late mother, Peggy, was fighting for her life against this preventable infection, I and my brother were scouring the Internet for information on C. diff,” said PLF’s Executive Director Christian John Lillis. “Unfortunately, what we found was either outdated or in the form of medical and scientific literature that was not easy to understand. While our website has long been a valuable resource for C. diff patients and their caregivers, we want to provide all the key information in one place.”
The Care Guide was funded by Bio-K+, a division of Kerry. The Guide includes easy to understand information on topics C. diff patients frequently ask about, including how C. diff is spread, getting an accurate diagnosis, treatment options for primary and recurrent C. diff, preventing C. diff spread in the home, and socio-emotional impacts of recurrent C. diff.
According to Michel Sirgent, Senior Vice President of Bio-K Plus, “C. diff infection is still a life-threatening challenge facing hospitalized and long-term care patients as well as those at risk in the community. Bio-K+ is relentless in its pursuit of helping health professionals across North America become more aware of and adopt improved prevention practices. Our work with C. dif goes back almost 20 years to our very first randomized clinical study. We are extremely proud to partner with the Peggy Lillis Foundation for this critical initiative.’
Carol Raye, a C. diff survivor and member of PLF’s Board of Directors said, “When I was diagnosed with C. diff in 2011, there were very few resources for patients with information on the disease and how to cope with being infected. I lived alone and had no one to be my advocate, so I had to search the internet to find out what was happening to me and how to care for myself. Luckily, I had been a medical secretary in my youth and could filter through the Journals of Microbiology and discover things to make life somewhat more tolerable. All of the research, along with the effects of the disease, were exhausting. If there had been a one-stop information resource like the PLF “C. diff Care Guide”, I believe that I would have sought the right help faster, learned what to do at home, and not have spent 6 months suffering before finding the right doctors to beat it.”
The Care Guide is now available with free registration at PLF’s website: http://www.peggyfoundation.org.
About Peggy Lillis Foundation for C. diff Education & Advocacy
Founded in response to the April 2010 death of a 56-year-old kindergarten teacher, Peggy Lillis Foundation for C. diff Education & Advocacy (PLF) is the leading national organization dedicated to combating C. difficile infections through educating the public, empowering advocates and shaping policy. For more information visit http://www.peggyfoundation.org.
Contact Author
CHRISTIAN JOHN LILLIS
Peggy Lillis Foundation
+1 (917) 364-4658
MITCH
SIRGENTBio-K+
514-926-2465
