Learning Action Networks

Welcome to the Foundation’s Learning Action Networks (LANs)!

The Women/Girls Learning Action Networks (LANs) are the home for collaboration, education, and resources for clinics specifically devoted to the care of women and girls with bleeding and other blood disorders. 

How did the Women/Girls Learning Action Networks begin? 

In 2013, the Foundation was contacted by Oregon Health and Science University’s (OHSU) Hemophilia/Thrombosis Treatment Center and asked to assist in creating a designated young women’s clinic. The Center staff had been seeing an increasing number of young women with heavy menstrual bleeding within their regular hemophilia/thrombosis clinic; now they wanted a designated clinic day for young women and reached out to the Foundation to help. In conjunction with the Board, the Foundation identified the Learning Action Network (LAN) model as the model we would use to assist OHSU’s Center staff in the establishment and implementation of a quality interdisciplinary clinic, hence our Foundation launched the Women/Girls Bleeding Disorder (WGBD) LAN. Since then, the WGBD LAN has grown from 7 individual members to 262 members from 86 institutions in the US, Canada, and the Netherlands. In 2018, the Foundation launched the Women/Girls Sickle Cell Disease (WGSCD) LAN.  

What do members say about the LAN? 

What is the WGBD LAN? 

The Women and Girls Bleeding Disorder Learning Action Network is an exchange of key information and best practices in the care of women and girls with bleeding and other blood disorders. WGBD LAN participants are representatives of Hemophilia Treatment Centers (HTCs) as well as other healthcare institutions wishing to improve their care for women and girls with bleeding disorders and wish to start a designated interdisciplinary women and/or girls clinic, or who already have an established, designated interdisciplinary clinic for women and/or girls. All WGBD LAN participants further benefit from input and guidance from our FWG+BD experts, including our Board and Medical Advisors.

What is the WGSCD LAN? 

The Women and Girls Sickle Cell Disease (WGSCD) Learning Action Network is an exchange of key information and best practices in the care of women and girls with sickle cell disease. WGSCD LAN participants are healthcare providers wishing to improve their care for women and girls with sickle cell disease and are especially interested in the unique issues women with sickle cell disease face during pregnancy as well as later in life. All WGSCD LAN participants further benefit from input and guidance from our FWG+BD experts, including our Board and Medical Advisors.

How do the LANs operate? 

A Learning Action Network (LAN) is a network that brings together healthcare professionals around a specific agenda in order to harness the power of collaboration, spread practical implementation of best practices, and connect participants to national initiatives and resources. Typical LAN models include collaborative projects, online interactions, as well as peer-to-peer education to facilitate learning. 

Benefits of Membership and Participation 

How Can My Clinic Become a Member of the WGBD LAN or the WGSCD LAN? 

When a clinic (organization) becomes a member of one of the Foundation’s LANs, it demonstrates the organization’s commitment to making sure that women and girls with bleeding and other blood disorders are properly diagnosed and optimally treated throughout their lives. Participation begins with an organization contacting FWG+BD to discuss its current status, and discuss opportunities for potential enhancements.

Then, the organization and the respective LAN – through a series of virtual meetings and activities – work together to enhance the services offered by the organization for patients with bleeding and other blood disorders, as well as identify the critical elements to be implemented by the organization to be sure that the needs of these patients are adequately met.

To receive more information about the Foundation’s LANs and how to become a member, please e-mail Kerry Funkhouser, Executive Director.