|
|
| CPF Launches National PSA to Educate Public on Pulmonary Fibrosis |
| |
| "Target" Video Dramatizes Message that Pulmonary Fibrosis Can Strike Anyone, Anywhere; Urges Americans to work with CPF to Find a Cure |
| |
San Jose, Calif. - March 20, 2009 - Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF) claims a life every 13 minutes in the U.S., the same number of lives each year as to breast cancer; yet most Americans have never heard of the disease until it strikes them, or someone they love. The Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis (CPF) today launched a new public service announcement (PSA) to increase awareness of PF, which affects more than 128,000 Americans. Since 2001, prevalence has increased an alarming 156 percent, yet awareness and understanding of PF remains low in the general public and medical community. The goal of the PSA is to draw increased national attention to PF by educating the public on this rapidly progressing and ultimately fatal disease, and to urge people to support the CPF in its efforts to help patients and fund research efforts to find a cure.
The CPF’s "Target 2009" PSA, is available online at: http://www.coalitionforpf.org/cpf_media_archive.php
The CPF is distributing the PSA nationally through YouTube and Facebook, and broadcast-quality copies are also available for television outlets by contacting the CPF's Teresa Barnes at 888-222-8541, ext. 702.
The PSA, entitled ‘Target’, portrays a need for increased public awareness of PF by noting the rapidly increasing prevalence of the disease and the need to accelerate efforts to help patients, and understand and treat PF. The aggressive tone of the PSA highlights the ever-increasing need to work with the CPF to help the community of patients and researchers it serves,
"Our goal was to create a dramatic visual metaphor that clearly demonstrates the random and deadly nature of PF. The customized visual effect of an animated high tech moving target in an urban environment delivers a sobering message that 128,000 are now dying from PF with another 48,000 who will be 'targeted' this year by the deadly disease," said David C. Bojorquez, Director - Filmmaker with David Productions, the company that created the PSA for the CPF.
The video conveys the stealth nature of the fatal lung disease that targets its victims randomly. There is no known cause and there are no treatments, making PF a mystery to scientists, and a shocking and devastating diagnosis to patients and their families. It is the CPF's intention to create an open dialogue about the disease with the strong video message in hopes that it will lead to public support of the CPF’s continuing efforts in patient services and research efforts to find a cure.
"We are so excited about this opportunity to share this well-produced video with the public. Our patients have long waited for a national voice in the media, and we are filling that void with this production," said Mishka Michon, chief executive officer for the CPF. "Our goal is for this video to spread virally throughout the Internet and for it to also be widely broadcast on television and cable stations nationwide. It is critically important that attention be paid before hundreds of thousands more lives are claimed by PF in the coming years."
Members and friends of the CPF can impact the success of this effort. If you are a patient, family member, or someone who was been affected by PF, we urge you to share the PSA with your network of friends, family, and colleagues. Just email this link: http://www.coalitionforpf.org/cpf_media_archive.php
|
| |
| |
|
