We started with our first public campaign for bleeding disorders awareness in 2021. Our virtual seminar series “Patient with bleeding disorder”, print media and real-life installations called “Sleeping Beauty” achieved high recognition both in Estonia and abroad. Campaign recieved two Golden Eggs in Estonian festival, two golds and a silver in Baltic Best 2022 and bronze awards in Epica Awards 2022 and ADC*E.
Sleeping Beauty campaign, as all the other wonderful designs in 2021 campaign were created by the IV year students in Media Graphics, Estonian Academy of Arts, guided by Kerstin Raidma (Tabasco Ad Agency)
Sleeping Beauty wonderfully and expressively touches several myths about bleeding disorders that we try to break.
Myth number one: haemophilia is only happening in royal families.
Although the genes of Queen Victoria and the tragic fate of the Romanov dynasty are important parts of hemophilia history one shouldn´t think that hemophilia is only royal disease. Bleeding disorders, including hemophilia are prevalent in all groups of the society. All bleeding disorders, taken separately, are rare or ultra rare disorders, but when assessed together as a group we can estimate that up to 1,5% of the population are affected by them without even knowing it.
Myth number two: only boys and men are hemophiliacs
There are also hemophilic women in Estonia who need treatment, and there are more and more of them in the world. Women also suffer from other bleeding disorders, such as hypo- and afibrinogenemia, von Willebrand’s disease and others. Although there are significantly more patients with severe hemophilia among men, campaign focused on women in particular. There are dozens of families in Estonia where talk about menstrual bleeding is taboo. Hundreds of girls and women who consider adulthood with severe blood loss to be normal. Neither gives the health care system always a good thought about possible bleeding disorder. One of the aims of the campaign was to encourage girls and women to seek treatment for severe menstrual bleeding, whether through a school nurse, family nurse, family doctor or gynecologist.
Myth number three: even a small injury is always accompanied by heavy bleeding and is life-threatening.
Minor injuries are safe for the hemophiliac, no one really runs out of blood from the tip of the finger. However, even small wounds may require a patch or bandage. It should also be noted that the risk of severe bleeding with mild trauma is much higher in a person with a bleeding disorder than in the general population, so that they need emergency help more quickly in the event of an accident or a deeper wound.
The Sleeping Beauty installations were located near various castles and fortresses in Kadriorg, Tartu, Rakvere, Narva, Viljandi, Kuressaare, Haapsalu and Põltsamaa.