Welcome to OSWATS!

Join Us As We Grow

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Members of our own community envisioned and founded OSWATS

Our mission is to provide education, resources, and activities to achieve high quality care for the Oregon and Southwest Washington communities impacted by sickle cell and thalassemia.

At OSWATS, we believe that we can enrich our thalassemia and sickle cell community and the greater Oregon and Southwest Washington communities with our voices and experiences.

We believe this is best accomplished by building relationships and experiences that are as positive as they are memorable. We're dedicated to maximizing the health of our members and therefore, strive to bridge the gap between the community, affected families, healthcare workers, and policy-makers.

Let's do great things together.

About us

Goals and Objectives

With your help, we can acheive our goals!

Empower

To empower patients as stakeholders in the management of their thalassemia or sickle cell disease.

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Break Down Barriers

To break down barriers for providers, government entities, researchers, and social workers.

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Share Knowledge

To support a culture of information sharing.

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Links to useful resources

Ask about any resource you want that isn't available. We love hearing new ideas!

Patient Resources

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Provider resources

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News and Research

Learn the latest about sickle cell and thalassemia care... and what we're doing in Oregon and Southwest Washington that make us special.

SCD & Thalassemia News
Updates On Treatments
Research Articles

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A good friend, our President, a Warrior... Howard aka Howie, RIP. Howie was born to Howard & Rochelle McElroy December 16, 1966 in Detroit, Michigan. With his unwavering patience and compassion, he handled the hard stuff well. You wanted him on your team, and there are many teams who will feel his absence. As one who suffered from Sickle Cell disease, Howie was never deterred from living his life to the fullest.

He was a proud warrior in educating others of the disease to aid in removing negative biases towards those who suffer from the disease. In his many efforts, Howie served as President of Oregon and South Washington Association of Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease, OSWATS. He beamed with pride of being asked to hold such a position as a leader in the community. Bringing more attention to these blood disease brought him undeniable pride and joy. Howie embodied the best of qualities: unconditional love, strength of spirit, and an unending generosity that could be seen in his passion for his family, community, and spiritual work and it overflowed into his presidency at OSWATS. Click here to read the rest of the obituary: https://www.terryfamilyfuneralhome.com/obituary/Howard-McElroy

As co-founders and community members of OSWATS, we were just as proud as Howie to have him as our president. He is already sorely missed within the community and will continue to be missed. We hold him and his family close to our hearts. Howie, you have done so much for your community, sickle cell disease, thalassemia, and us as friends who walked some of your journey with you. You will be dearly missed, friend. Thank you for being the first President of our growing community.

We want to thank all the generous donors in honor of Howie, and a special thank you to the Links Portland Chapter for your amazing support in honor of Howie!

OSWATS Family

Upcoming events

OSWATS Recruitment:
Please reach out to us if you are interested in a leadership role within OSWATS. As we grow we desire engagement and ownershop of OSWATS by our community!