Feeding Tube Awareness Week® Media Page
PRESS RELEASE:
Download Press Release as a PDF
SEVENTH ANNUAL FEEDING TUBE AWARENESS WEEK® FEBRUARY 5– 9, 2018
January, 2018
New York, NY– The Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation is celebrating its seventh annual Feeding Tube Awareness Week® from February 5 to 9, 2018. About half a million children and adults in the United States alone rely on feeding tubes, a number that is expected to increase. Feeding tubes are not just for those at the end of life, they provide necessary nutritional support for children to live, grow and thrive. There are well over 350 conditions and diseases that can require tube feeding in children.
In 2011, Feeding Tube Awareness launched the first annual Feeding Tube Awareness Week®. The mission of Awareness Week is to promote the positive benefits of feeding tubes as a lifesaving medical intervention. The week also serves to educate the broader public about the medical reasons that children are tube fed, the challenges that tube feeding families face, and day-to-day life with a child who is tube fed. The theme of the week in 2018 is “Fired Up About Nutrition” because feeding tubes make it possible for those unable to eat or drink enough on their own to get the nutrition and hydration they need for life.
In 2017, Feeding Tube Awareness Week reached several million through social media, blogs, websites, and traditional media stories featuring families who are tube feeding. We anticipate the reach to be far greater in 2018.
Feeding Tube Awareness Week® is supported by participating companies, organizations, and associations. The Oley Foundation is a partner organization for the week.
Download Press Release as a PDF
SEVENTH ANNUAL FEEDING TUBE AWARENESS WEEK® FEBRUARY 5– 9, 2018
January, 2018
New York, NY– The Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation is celebrating its seventh annual Feeding Tube Awareness Week® from February 5 to 9, 2018. About half a million children and adults in the United States alone rely on feeding tubes, a number that is expected to increase. Feeding tubes are not just for those at the end of life, they provide necessary nutritional support for children to live, grow and thrive. There are well over 350 conditions and diseases that can require tube feeding in children.
In 2011, Feeding Tube Awareness launched the first annual Feeding Tube Awareness Week®. The mission of Awareness Week is to promote the positive benefits of feeding tubes as a lifesaving medical intervention. The week also serves to educate the broader public about the medical reasons that children are tube fed, the challenges that tube feeding families face, and day-to-day life with a child who is tube fed. The theme of the week in 2018 is “Fired Up About Nutrition” because feeding tubes make it possible for those unable to eat or drink enough on their own to get the nutrition and hydration they need for life.
In 2017, Feeding Tube Awareness Week reached several million through social media, blogs, websites, and traditional media stories featuring families who are tube feeding. We anticipate the reach to be far greater in 2018.
Feeding Tube Awareness Week® is supported by participating companies, organizations, and associations. The Oley Foundation is a partner organization for the week.
###
About Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation®
The Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation's mission is to raise awareness of tube feeding, to increase the visibility and acceptance of tube feeding in our communities, and to help parents get the practical knowledge and support they need. FTAF was founded in 2010 by parents of children who are tube fed with the goal of bringing together parents, healthcare companies, and clinical practitioners to help children grow and thrive in all aspects of their lives. The Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation’s Facebook page is the world’s largest online support group for tube feeding. It is a registered 501(c)(3) charity. This year's Feeding Tube Awareness Week will include a campaign geared to social media and other events. For more information, visit feedingtubeawarenessweek.org
Contact: Traci Nagy, Founder
traci.nagy@feedingtubeawareness.org
The Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation's mission is to raise awareness of tube feeding, to increase the visibility and acceptance of tube feeding in our communities, and to help parents get the practical knowledge and support they need. FTAF was founded in 2010 by parents of children who are tube fed with the goal of bringing together parents, healthcare companies, and clinical practitioners to help children grow and thrive in all aspects of their lives. The Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation’s Facebook page is the world’s largest online support group for tube feeding. It is a registered 501(c)(3) charity. This year's Feeding Tube Awareness Week will include a campaign geared to social media and other events. For more information, visit feedingtubeawarenessweek.org
Contact: Traci Nagy, Founder
traci.nagy@feedingtubeawareness.org
Statistics about Tube Feeding:
- The Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation has identified over 300 conditions that can require children to need nutritional support through tube feeding. We are certain that this list is incomplete. See the Condition List.
- According to Halyard, makers of the MIC-KEY button enteral feeding tube, “To date, roughly half a million people in the United States rely on feeding tubes and that number is expected to rise by eight percent over the next three years." – Thriving with a Feeding Tube, EndoNurse, December 2012
- A decade ago (2003) there were about 344,000 U.S. residents using feeding tubes in their homes, according to the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. Source: http://www.sptimes.com/2003/10/26/Tampabay/Images_of_death_haunt.shtml
- Based on the following information, the Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation estimates that children 18 and under represent approximately 20% of the enterally fed (tube fed) population. According to the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) 2007 data, of the 39,541,948 weighted patient discharges from short stay hospitals, approximately 246,999 patients received EN during their hospital stay. Results from that same database indicate that there were more than 188,000 procedures for percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement. A PEG is a more permanent type of feeding tube, the placement of which indicates the need for an enteral feeding regimen for an extended period of time. Of the patients who had a PEG tube placed during their inpatient hospital stay, approximately 68% were 65 years of age and older and 69% had Medicare as their primary payor. (HCUP Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). Healthcare Cost andUtilization Project (HCUP). Rockville, Md: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 2007. www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/nisoverview.jsp. Accessed January 10, 2010.) Reported in Nutrition in Clinical Practice. Source: http://ncp.sagepub.com/content/25/5/548
Other Helpful Materials:
