As Autumn Approaches: Fall Into Epilepsy Awareness!

The days are growing shorter, the nights longer, the air is getting cooler, and the leaves are changing colors.  All of this indicates that we getting into the season of autumn.  As it approaches, we must remember first that November is Epilepsy Awareness Month.  A time to wear your purple proudly to promote Epilepsy Awareness as well as support any friends, family, or loved ones who deal with the effects of Epilepsy, or any other type of seizure disorder/syndrome.

Just wanted to let you know what events are coming up, within the next 30 days, to promote, celebrate, and be educated about Epilepsy Awareness.  Here is the run down, in order of appearance.

October 20th & 21st - UEA (Utah Education Association) Convention and Education Exposition

• at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy.
• the largest professional conference for educators in Utah
• provides dozens of professional development workshops for K-12 educators
• keynote speakers
• a New Educators’ Workshop
• the Idea Fair
• hundreds of vendor booths, including the Epilepsy Association of Utah!
• promoting awareness of Epilepsy to teachers, which will enable them with...
• knowledge of how to deal with seizures in the classroom 
• ability to discourage oppressive and stigmatizing comments made by classmates
• so other students can get seizure smart as well!
• ability to give rescue medication for long-lasting seizures
• knowledge of awareness activities, events, and conferences

October 22nd - Halloween Carnival, called Whispers in the Park 
The Annual Halloween Carnival is an awareness and fundraising campaign, held in October, to celebrate the Spirit of All Hallows Eve. Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. Of shorter days and longer nights, of roaming between life and death. It's a time when we shed who we are and become the playful, frightening things we have always wanted to become. With gentle whispers, the Epilepsy Association of Utah is taking the superstition and mysticism out of living with Epilepsy and putting those things where they belong: Halloween.

• at West Jordan Memorial Park
• from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm
• Raffles
• Vendors
• Live Performers
• Battle of the Rockbands (the game!)
• Cake Decorating
• Costume Contest
• Games & Activities
• Photos
• and MORE!

November 3rd  - Artilepsy: Visualizing Hope

•  Free Art Galleryby people of all ages who are affected by Epilepsy.  
• With statistics of 1 in 26 people developing Epilepsy, we are all affected by it, so there is no reason to not enter in your creation, no matter the media type.  :D
• Entries due October 22nd
• Many Mediums
• computer assisted graphics
• creative arts (home crafts)
• fine arts (paint, pencil, watercolor, oils, etc) 
• music composition
• photography 
• Be sure to read through the description on the facebook page to access the entry forms and other deatils.  (Link to facebook is above.) 

 November 4th - Night Among the Stars Gala
Come and celebrate a black tie evening and dinner to help Utahn's dealing with epilepsy. Dinner will be held at Noah's in South Jordan, Utah. Tickets are available for $100/plate or $700 per table of eight. We will be also selling gold and silver dedication stars for $10 and $24 each which will hang at the gala. Let a loved one know you think they are a star!  Click on the link above to register.

November 5th - Seizure Smart Education Conference.
This is a great opportunity to come and meet with a few neurologists and find new information from the medical community. It is also a great place to get outside references. We will have the privilege of hearing from Glenn Fenster. Glenn has bicycled six times across the United States to raise awareness for epilepsy on behalf of his son and all those affected by epilepsy. 

• at the U of U Neuroscience Building
• 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
• FREE to attend 
• get seizure smart
• workshops/classes to educate yourself and others about Epilepsy. 
•  including a breakout session with Holly E. Ferrin about dealing with the social stigma and oppressive forces of Epilepsy.   

 We've got a busy autumn coming up, but with all the activities and events we have coming up, I am sure that it will be easy to "Fall into Epilepsy Awarenss!"


 Be sure to follow us on Facebook & Twitter for live updates!  



Thanks everyone, for your continued support!