Harrisburg, Pa.-based PinnacleHealth launched its "Knock Out Sepsis" campaign with support from Pennsylvania leaders, including Secretary of Health Karen Murphy, Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller and State Representatives Mike Regan and Patty Kim.
The campaign includes calls-to-action to the community, government, patients and the media, and urges an increase in sepsis education, awareness and prevention.
Sepsis is a complication resulting from a body's overwhelming response to infection, which can lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death, according to the CDC. From 1999 to 2014, the CDC found 2.47 million people who died listed sepsis among the causes of death.
Ms. Murphy, Pennsylvania's secretary of health, spoke at press conference for the campaign's launch and noted that in 2014 more than 110,000 patients in Pennsylvania hospitals had sepsis or septicemia and nearly 12,000 patients died. She, along with other Pennsylvania officials, called for a continued decrease in sepsis-related deaths.
A medical team at PinnacleHealth has been working to implement new protocols surrounding sepsis at the health system and noted that the protocols resulted in a 40 percent reduction in sepsis mortality at PinnacleHealth in 2015.
"These measures are saving 10 to 12 lives each month," said Thomas Stoner, DO, medical director at PinnacleHealth Community General Osteopathic Hospital in Harrisburg and one of the co-leaders of the medical team.