Close to 30 million Americans don’t have health insurance, so most aren’t able to afford these medications or medical devices. For a person on federal minimum wage, it is 65% of their income. We should all have access to life-saving medical help. This will help our mission to increase peripartum cardiomyopathy awareness and save as many mothers as possible.

Here are a few organizations that can help with medical costs provided by the DCM Foundation.

PAN Foundation Phone: 1-866-316-7263 – Offering financial assistance to help people with serious illnesses afford their out-of-pocket treatment costs and improve their quality of life.

Patient Advocate Foundation Phone: 1-866-512-3861 – Provides direct services to patients with chronic, life-threatening, and debilitating diseases to help them access care and treatment recommended by their doctor.

Healthwell Foundation Phone: 1-800-675-8416 – Helping the under-insured afford critical medical treatments — because no one should go without essential care.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of maternal death and is responsible for >33% of pregnancy-related deaths, including cardiomyopathy (10.8%), other cardiovascular conditions (15.1%), and cerebrovascular accidents (7.6%). 

LetsTalkPPCM is committed to doing everything we can to change that unacceptable reality, including mobilizing the voice of everyone affected by this disease to achieve lasting change through education and advocacy. We’ve transformed how the world treats and talks about this disease and have mobilized the largest and most passionate community. 

A physician can prescribe several medications to treat symptoms, with variations that are safer for breastfeeding women.

• (ACE) inhibitors – Help the heart work more efficiently

• Beta-blockers – cause the heart to beat more slowly so it has a recovery time

• Diuretics – Reduce fluid retention

• Digitalis – Derived from the foxglove plant, it has been used for over 200 years to treat heart failure. Digitalis strengthens the pumping ability of the heart

• Blood Thinners – To help thin the blood. Patients with PPCM are at increased risk of developing blood clots, especially if the EF is very low.

• Implantable or wearable defibrillator to remotely manage the heart rhythm if EF is <35%.

 ZOLL  medical devices save lives by providing heart rhythm protection  24/7 to patient that is at risk for cardiac arrest. It breaks our hearts when we read stories of women with peripartum cardiomyopathy who are not able to have protection for their hearts because they are too expensive.