Alaska

The Epilepsy Foundation Northwest (EFNW) announced the addition of Alaska to the official territory covered by the affiliate. This action makes the affiliate territory the largest in the nation for the Epilepsy Foundation organization. EFNW now covers Alaska, Oregon and Washington while continuing support to unaffiliated Montana. Approved by the EFNW Board of Directors and the national Epilepsy Foundation Board of Directors, Alaska joins Oregon and Washington with opportunities for programs and services provided by the affiliate for people living with epilepsy, their family members and friends.

“This is very exciting news for our organization and for the people of Alaska. Our hope is to provide support to agencies and the medical community who already provide good service to Alaskans with epilepsy,” said Brent Herrmann, EFNW President/CEO. “We’ve been in Alaska for a year preparing for this addition with the help of many people in Alaska who supported our efforts to get to this point.”

The Epilepsy Foundation Northwest joined with local program partner, the Stone Soup Group (SSG) in Anchorage to help bring awareness and services about epilepsy to the community. This past year, EFNW and SSG provided community trainings, awareness activities and advocacy efforts on behalf of people with epilepsy in Alaska.

“Our partnership with the Epilepsy Foundation Northwest has been very exciting and has allowed us the opportunity to add epilepsy to programs provided to Alaska families by our organization. It is estimated nearly 7,000 people in Alaska have epilepsy and our goal is to help EFNW reach out to as many as possible bringing epilepsy to the forefront of public awareness,” said Kelly Donnelly, Executive Director for the Stone Soup Group.

EFNW and SSG, presented a variety of monthly education sessions about epilepsy and joined University of Alaska’s Center for Human Development to present the “Women and Epilepsy” conference held this past summer in Anchorage. EFNW and SSG also attended the annual Alaska School Nurses Association conference in Homer this past April to present information about epilepsy to Alaska school nurses.

EFNW and SSG will present the Northwest Run/Walk for Epilepsy in Anchorage and Juneau in June of 2011 joining like events occurring in Seattle, Portland, Spokane and Tri-Cities.

For more information about the Stone Soup Group, go to: www.stonesoupgroup.org.

For more information about resources for parents of children with epilepsy, go to www.akepilepsy.org.

Great things are happening in Alaska for people with epilepsy and we are proud to be a part of it!