October 10, 2019

RLS Awareness Day: September 23, 2019

By Clara Schlemeyer

RLS Awareness Day is celebrated every September 23, and this year was a great success! RLS Foundation members and supporters from all over the globe participated in Awareness Day activities.

This year’s theme was #RLSAware. Throughout the day, the Foundation posted messages on social media to generate excitement and spread awareness. Each social media platform had a giveaway opportunity with three winners, and on Facebook, the Foundation’s Awareness Day image was shared 72 times! The Foundation also created a poster that was printed on the back of the Summer issue of NightWalkers and available for download at www.rls.org.

This Awareness Day included a special video message from an RLS champion: Bob Wise, who is a former governor of West Virginia. Governor Wise came to the Foundation this year looking for support. He found it at the RLS Foundation, and decided to step up and use his voice to raise awareness for the RLS community.

Another highlight was the passage of a resolution in Congress recognizing RLS Awareness Day. Steve Smith, one of the Foundation’s discussion board moderators, helped to arrange sponsorship of the resolution. Smith says that the Health and Medicine Counsel of Washington (HMCW), the RLS Foundation’s advocacy partner in DC, helped him make the request. “HMCW asked me to ask Congressman Tipton if he would be willing to sponsor a congressional resolution recognizing RLS Awareness Day; Congressman Tipton readily agreed. The resolution was read into the Congressional Record on September 18.” You can read his story on the RLS Foundation blog.

Across the globe in the Netherlands, a young woman named Lucy Hoekstra completed a 573-kilometer walking tour through three European countries in 23 days and ended her journey on September 23 in Denmark, spreading awareness about RLS through conversations and media interviews in towns she visited along the way. She literally walked for awareness! You can read more about her story at www.walkwithlucy.com.

Each year on RLS Awareness Day, the RLS community hopes to reach new people who don’t know that there is a name for what they are going through: a disease called restless legs syndrome. Approximately 10 million Americans suffer from RLS, and the RLS Foundation aims to help improve their lives by raising awareness, improving treatments, and through research, finding a cure for this disease. Thank you to everyone who participated in Awareness Day activities this year!

Although Awareness Day has passed, every day is awareness day for the RLS Foundation – and it can be for you too! Visit www.rls.org or contact the Foundation at info@rls.org to learn more.