Octapharma USA Funds Only National Camp Exchange Program for Bleeding Disorders Community Camps

HOBOKEN, N.J., May 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second consecutive year, Octapharma USA will serve as the Exclusive Sponsor of the nation's only National Camp Exchange (NCE) for the bleeding disorders community, an adjunct program of the North American Camping Conference of Hemophilia Organizations (NACCHO). NCE enables professionals who plan, organize and operate camps for the bleeding disorders community to share experiences, ideas and enhance camp programs nationally.

"The National Camp Exchange program did an incredible job accomplishing its goals in its first year," said Dawn Rotellini, National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF) Senior Vice President, Program Development. "We have been extremely impressed with the organization and implementation of the exchange and the number of camp programs impacted. Octapharma's continued support of the program truly demonstrates the company's level of devotion and support for the bleeding disorders community."

The Arizona Hemophilia Association (AHA) manages NACCHO, a national conference for camp organizers, which has attracted thousands of attendees from more than 40 countries over the last 15 years. NCE allows camp professionals to attend different camps around the country for people with bleeding disorders in order to share lessons learned, suggest enhancements and develop leadership skills. AHA partners with the Wingmen Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing value-added services to facilitate camp exchange internationally.

"We are honored to again be the Exclusive Sponsor for the National Camp Exchange," said Octapharma USA President Flemming Nielsen. "Octapharma is committed to helping people with bleeding disorders get the most out of life each and every day. Our hope is to bring together as many camp organizers as possible to share their expertise because when we do children with bleeding disorders get the best summer camp experience possible."

The National Camp Exchange program helps fill an important void. Managing summer camps for children with bleeding disorders provides significant challenges, notably finding volunteers with camp experience and training. Camp programs do not have the ability to train their volunteers year-round and due to the lack of financial resources, many camps cannot pay for professionally trained staff, but recognize training and experience are vital to camp success and camper safety.

"NACCHO opened the door to reaching thousands more children and families in the bleeding disorder community by enabling new camp programs to begin and helping established programs grow and become better managed," said AHA Chief Executive Officer Cindy Komar. "NCE is a natural extension of NACCHO and we are extremely thankful to Octapharma for helping us bring this vision to life. Together, we are providing camp professionals an experiential opportunity to learn from one another and share best practices that will significantly improve the summer camp experience."

Octapharma's grant funds camp professionals to participate in the NCE and attend camps nationwide. Camp professionals interested in participating in the exchange must apply to the program by May 30^th. For more information on NCE and an application, please call AHA at (888) 754-7017 or visit www.arizonahemophilia.org/national-camp-exchange-program/.

About the Octapharma Group
Headquartered in Lachen, Switzerland, Octapharma is one of the largest human protein products manufacturers in the world and has been committed to patient care and medical innovation since 1983. Its core business is the development and production of human proteins from human plasma and human cell lines. Octapharma employs approximately 7,600 people worldwide to support the treatment of patients in over 113 countries with products across the following therapeutic areas:  Hematology (coagulation disorders), Immunotherapy (immune disorders) and Critical Care. The company's American subsidiary, Octapharma USA, is located in Hoboken, N.J. Octapharma operates two state-of-the-art production sites licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), providing a high level of production flexibility. For more information, please visit www.octapharmausa.com.

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SOURCE Octapharma USA

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