September is National Disease Literacy month, dedicated to raising awareness of possible diseases and improving patients’ understanding of their disease diagnoses and the treatments and services available to them. Having accurate and understandable information about your condition is crucial to making informed decisions about your treatment, and never more so than in the case of rare and chronic diseases, a specialty of Paragon Infusion Centers and Paragon Home Infusion pharmacies.

To learn more about how Paragon Infusion Centers or Paragon Home Infusion can help treat your rare or chronic disease, keep reading or visit our website’s “Services” page at https://paragonhealthcare.com/services/.

What is a Rare Disease?

There is no concrete and widely accepted definition of what makes a disease rare other than it affects only a small percentage of the population. The Rare Diseases Act of 2002, at least, defines rare diseases as affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States, or roughly one in 1,500 people. Other authorities in the U.S., and some governments abroad, are slightly less restrictive with the definition, placing it closer to one in 2,000 people.

No matter the definition you use, rare diseases pose many unique challenges to a person diagnosed. The first, and the reason world governments dedicate legal space to defining them, is that rare diseases can often be a low priority for pharmaceutical and therapeutic research due to a lack of marketability and even awareness of the disease’s existence. Increasing awareness of these diseases and education on their effects and possible treatments is key to raising funding for research.

Despite being considered less marketable, and affecting relatively few people, there are still approximately 7,000 diseases considered “rare” in the U.S., and patients affected by many of these conditions are at the heart of the services offered at Paragon Infusion Centers or in a home infusion setting. In addition, we provide infusion therapies for more than 300 different disease states, most of which are considered “rare,” making Paragon a comforting and knowledgeable resource for a new diagnosis.

What is a Chronic Disease?

A chronic disease is simply one that will stay with or affect someone for much longer than a typical short-term condition. Not all chronic diseases are life-long diagnoses, but the overwhelming majority are. Because they are typically genetic, non-communicable, and can pose many health challenges, education and awareness of these diseases are incredibly important – especially where the categories of “chronic” and “rare” overlap.

Just like a rare disease diagnosis, chronic diseases can be daunting. Your disease isn’t going away any time soon and will require long-term, potentially stressful, and expensive treatment. That’s where we step in.

The Paragon of Care

Paragon offers the very best in infusion center and home infusion therapies with a combination of personal touch and comprehensiveness that meets every standard of excellence. In general, infusion (either at home or in a center) is an excellent option for those dealing with a chronic or rare disease. Every therapy administered at home or from the comfort of an infusion center recliner is a treatment that doesn’t have to be administered in a costly hospital bed. Hospitals can also be a stressful or traumatic environment for some, as opposed to one of our infusion centers, which offer several amenities focused on patient comfort: complimentary wifi, coffee and snacks, recliners, televisions, and reading materials, and more.

Paragon’s patient-focused nurses at each infusion center also ensure that everybody who walks through the door can trust their nurses’ knowledge of the rare diseases we treat and their personalized treatment plan. When facing possibly years to come of treating a chronic illness, your infusion center nurses become trusted friends and family – kind and welcoming faces to ease what can, for some, be an uncomfortable experience.

What also sets Paragon Healthcare apart is everything going on behind the scenes, before and after you receive infusion care for your rare or chronic disease. While our registered nurses and nurse practitioners are providing your treatment in an infusion center or a home health team is serving you at your house, our dedicated support team of pharmacists, dietitians, clinical liaisons, patient care representatives, and more are working to provide you with the best possible care, personalized to your needs.