As part of September's National Sickle Cell Awareness Month experts planned to pop up at selected Memphis hospital emergency departments (ED) to offer popsicles and a view of sickle cell disease (SCD) as seen through patients' eyes.

Project "PopSickleCell" was planned to heighten awareness of pain management and the opioid epidemic. Qsource has partnered with three healthcare systems representing a total of 27 hospitals, along with two local SCD centers and national experts, to educate ED staffs.

Local sickle cell patients were asked to share revealing photographs of their lives with support from Qsource, a healthcare quality improvement and innovation consultancy. The patients' poignant photographs are intended to help ED clinicians better understand the potential stigma, challenges, and barriers to appropriate care for patients living with SCD, the most common genetic blood disorder in the United States.

Popular Memphis frozen treat purveyor, Mempops, provided its treats for the PopSickleCell activation and will collect donations and tips in their three Memphis locations during September and donate those proceeds to The Sickle Cell Foundation of Tennessee.

According to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the disease occurs in approximately one out of every 365 African-American births. In Memphis and the Mid-South, the rate of disease is higher, at one in every 287 live births. Approximately 2,000 African-Americans in the Memphis area are affected by the disease.