Mobile recognizes USA Health efforts during Sickle Cell Awareness Month
USA Health and the local chapter of the Sickle Cell Disease Association established a partnership in 1981 to help educate the public and provide life-extending care to children and adults with sickle cell disease in the Mobile area, Gulf Coast and surrounding counties.
By Michelle Ryan
mryan@health.southalabama.edu
September is National Sickle Cell Awareness Month, and last week, the City of Mobile issued a proclamation recognizing the observance.
Representatives of the USA’s Johnson Haynes Jr. Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center, including Ardie Pack-Mabien, Ph.D., FNP-BC, director;Antwan Hogue, M.D., medical director; and Hamayun Imran, M.D., division chief of pediatric hematology/oncology; received the proclamation from Mayor Sandy Stimpson during the city council meeting.
Many other representatives from USA Health and the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Mobile Chapter were also present.
“We thank the Johnson Haynes Jr., M.D., Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center at the University of South Alabama, USA Health Department of Pediatrics Hematology/Oncology, and the Mobile Chapter of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America for working to provide comprehensive care and support to sickle cell patients in Mobile,” the proclamation read.
The sickle cell center, founded in 1980, and the local Sickle Cell Disease association chapter, established in 1976, established a partnership in 1981.
“The Johnson Haynes, Jr., M.D. Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center is a lifespan center, which uniquely offers both pediatric and adult sickle cell disease medical services, transition from pediatric to adult care, clinical research, and psychosocial support under one umbrella/entity by experts in the field of sickle cell disease,” Pack-Mabien said.
The academic health system and the local sickle cell chapter work together to help educate the public and provide life-extending care to children and adults with sickle cell disease in the Mobile area, Gulf Coast and surrounding counties.
Sickle cell disease refers to a group of inherited disorders in which a person’s inherits two abnormal genes and the body produces abnormally shaped red blood cells that resemble a crescent or sickle. It affects approximately 100,000 Americans and an estimated 5,000 Alabamians.
In addition to the proclamation, the lights of the RSA Tower in downtown Mobile were illuminated red on Sunday, Sept. 8 to recognize Sickle Cell Awareness Month.
“Both served to increase the public’s awareness, knowledge, and understanding of sickle cell disease,” Pack-Mabien said. “It recognizes and shines the light on the center's presence in the Mobile community and surrounding areas since 1980.”
