Our History
The Arizona Hemophilia Association was established in 1967. In the beginning, there were some moms who felt the need to establish an organization that would provide support for those suffering from a bleeding disorder. Now those moms are grandmothers! Since the inception, our programs have increased dramatically. For the first time in 15 years, we had to use a wait list for Camp HONOR, our summer camp program for children with bleeding disorders and their siblings, fortunately all those on the list were able to attend. We are pleased with the growth that we have experienced and are looking for creative methods to reach all of our community members. We are a statewide organization with community reaching from Nogales to the Navajo Reservation.
We continue to partner with both HTC's (Hemophilia Treatment Centers) and their staff is very involved with our agency. For example, they provide the physicals for our camp participants and they volunteer at Camp HONOR for the week.
Some recent highlights would be the Governor declaring March as Hemophilia Awareness Month! We had our first billboard announcement posted during March declaring Hemophilia Awareness Month. We continue to advocate for our community members by having regular meetings with the advocacy committee and developing a plan that we have brought to our legislators that will help us to meet the needs of our community.
We would not be able to provide the programs that we have if it weren't for our volunteers. Many of our volunteers have been involved for ten years or more! They keep coming back to us and for that we are grateful, this helps us to preserve our history!
We are becoming involved on the National level so look for our National Hemophilia Awareness Walk that we will be hosting in September 2008!