Actress to Help Foundation 'Get the WORD Out!' During Epilepsy Month

Special to EpilepsyUSA
Posted: October 20, 2004

The Epilepsy Foundation has teamed up with Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon of ABC-TV's NYPD Blue to spread the word about epilepsy and respect during National Epilepsy Awareness Month in November.

Public service radio messages recorded by the film and television actress will begin airing on stations across the country during the month-long observance. The radio spots will continue to be aired throughout the year.

Beauvais-Nilon will also help get the epilepsy message out through a day of media interviews in November. She will also star in Eyes, a new dramatic series also on ABC, which will likely have its mid-season debut around the same time.

The November campaign is the fourth annual campaign under the Foundation’s program partnership with the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It continues the message of respect and fosters acceptance and understanding of children with epilepsy among their peers.

Another part of the National Epilepsy Awareness Month campaign in November is the Get the WORD Out! contest, which will be held by many local Foundations again this year to engage young people to learn more about epilepsy. To enter, teenagers will submit entries that explore what "respect" means to them. Entries may be in the form of essays, poems, artwork, music or any medium of the teen’s choosing.

The contest offers digital camera prizes for local winners, and four home-imaging grand prizes for national winners.

The November 2004 campaign also features a special outreach to the African American community with a focus on women of childbearing age. Women in this age group tend to be the health care educators and managers within the family.

To reach these women, the Epilepsy Foundation has forged a partnership with the Urban Beauty Coalition. The coalition will distribute printed information about epilepsy and proper first aid for convulsive seizures to its member salons in key urban areas. A special video message about epilepsy recorded by Beauvais-Nilon will also be seen on television screens in member salons.

The Epilepsy Foundation will also reach out during the month to African American faith-based organizations to help inform congregation members about epilepsy, seizures and how to respond to them.

For more information about National Epilepsy Awareness Month, check out our website.