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Advocacy
There are many ways to draw attention to pressing issues surrounding Chronic Pain.
Until recently, Pain patients have lived on the fringes of society, unwilling or unable to fight for their rights surrounding health care choices, disability benefits and modified workplace needs. With deep budget cuts to pain care and certain pain treatments being taken off the table in Canada and elsewhere, it has necessitated Pain Patients becoming more vocal in Pain advocacy.
As patients of what often presents as a life - long disease , we spend so much time daily managing our pain, attempting to care for spouses and children, there is little energy left over to champion our rights and make our own lives better. By creating these simple, colourful social media banners that are easily downloadable from a home computer or local office supply store, we hope to make it as simple as possible to join together in solidarity and Giving Patients A Voice, as much and as often we are able to.
Through the simple act of displaying these Advocacy banners in our cars, our windows at home or work, and employing them in our social media news feeds , it is a low stress way of rallying together support for both the national , and international Pain Community, drawing attention to this deadly disease.
Becoming part of a bigger picture reduces isolation through validation of our disease , compassion, support and a sense of community and belonging.
Please join us as we #GivingPatientsAVoice & advocate for better access to health care modalities that can assist us to live in dignity.
Adressing Issues on the table in Canada :
Over the past 2 years, funding of private pain clinics by the Canadian government was cut between 25 and 40 % making it difficult for these clinics to keep their doors open to treatment. Pain patients fear that one day soon, their access to essential nerve blocks and medication may be denied altogether, and they will face a lifetime of unbearable pain. Hospitals with pain clinics have 1- 3 year wait times just to get diagnosed, let alone begin treatment. Pain kills. There are twice as many suicides among pain patients than those who do not live in intractable pain. Vets returning from combat zones are particularly vulnerable. Deaths by their own hand among soldiers are up exponentially this year, from last.
The greatest challenges Canadian Pain Patients face, are inadequate funding for multi-disciplinary treatments and not enough Physicians are adequately trained to competently diagnose and treat pain. It falls to pain patients to advocate their rights for compassionate and timely pain care. Without such advocacy, there is a certain and very real danger that current, essential treatments will lose funding and be denied. It is only through timely education and communicating our issues as pain patients, that we can move towards greater societal understanding of our lives as Pain Patients. You don't have to feel alone and isolated any longer; by being part of something larger than your pain, you are surrounded by a growing family!
Pressing Issues on the table in the USA :
The War on Drugs by the D.E.A . ( Drug enforcement Agency) has reached epidemic proportions in the USA, with legitimate pain patients being forced to fight for their rights to vital medication which keeps them functioning and offers a quality of life. Without it, life itself becomes unbearable. Hundreds of pain patients in several states across the USA report in the media being turned away by their pharmacies, when attempting to renew prescription medication, or terminated from care by their Primary Physicians. Federal agencies are attempting to reduce addiction to pain meds by addicts; production of some medications are being capped or limited in circulation due to abuse by addicts.
Action to be taken :
Facebook , Twitter and other social media forums can offer a listening ear, validation, compassion and sympathy for those who experience isolation and separation from others in their day to day pain struggles.
Over the past 2 years, funding of private pain clinics by the Canadian government was cut between 25 and 40 % making it difficult for these clinics to keep their doors open to treatment. Pain patients fear that one day soon, their access to essential nerve blocks and medication may be denied altogether, and they will face a lifetime of unbearable pain. Hospitals with pain clinics have 1- 3 year wait times just to get diagnosed, let alone begin treatment. Pain kills. There are twice as many suicides among pain patients than those who do not live in intractable pain. Vets returning from combat zones are particularly vulnerable. Deaths by their own hand among soldiers are up exponentially this year, from last.
The greatest challenges Canadian Pain Patients face, are inadequate funding for multi-disciplinary treatments and not enough Physicians are adequately trained to competently diagnose and treat pain. It falls to pain patients to advocate their rights for compassionate and timely pain care. Without such advocacy, there is a certain and very real danger that current, essential treatments will lose funding and be denied. It is only through timely education and communicating our issues as pain patients, that we can move towards greater societal understanding of our lives as Pain Patients. You don't have to feel alone and isolated any longer; by being part of something larger than your pain, you are surrounded by a growing family!
Pressing Issues on the table in the USA :
The War on Drugs by the D.E.A . ( Drug enforcement Agency) has reached epidemic proportions in the USA, with legitimate pain patients being forced to fight for their rights to vital medication which keeps them functioning and offers a quality of life. Without it, life itself becomes unbearable. Hundreds of pain patients in several states across the USA report in the media being turned away by their pharmacies, when attempting to renew prescription medication, or terminated from care by their Primary Physicians. Federal agencies are attempting to reduce addiction to pain meds by addicts; production of some medications are being capped or limited in circulation due to abuse by addicts.
Action to be taken :
Facebook , Twitter and other social media forums can offer a listening ear, validation, compassion and sympathy for those who experience isolation and separation from others in their day to day pain struggles.
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Join pain support groups in your area~ to reduce isolation and demonstrate a united front. There is more power and credibility in a group of voices rallying for one cause, than a singular person. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Cite your concerns, and state examples of what is happening out there on the streets. If possible, cite specific experiences from your own life or others, and try to include references to these issues from mainstream media.
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Lobby local Politicians for changes to current pain medication legislation. Be vocal . Call in to talk shows, get invited to local radio and internet TV shows. Use social media as a way of communicating with other pain patients nationally, and develop strategies for getting the word out. Many universities and colleges have in house FM radio shows, that are easier to access than mainstream media , but still have their own dedicated following.
Pain patients, many fighting to stay alive every single day, have long remained anonymous and underground. Coping with minute to minute pain 24/7, losing ones job, ones spouse perhaps, ones station in society- doesn't leave much energy for advocacy and activism.
In the same vein as cancer, heart disease and diabetes , Pain Patients deserve access to whatever treatments or therapies work to control their particular pain offering them dignity and in many cases , self -sufficiency. Through raising awareness of our disease through grassroots advocacy, research and awareness, we can bring solutions to the table for the difficulties pain patients face in their day to day lives.
The time for silence is no more. Its up to pain patients to - #GivingPatientsAVoice !
Pain patients, many fighting to stay alive every single day, have long remained anonymous and underground. Coping with minute to minute pain 24/7, losing ones job, ones spouse perhaps, ones station in society- doesn't leave much energy for advocacy and activism.
In the same vein as cancer, heart disease and diabetes , Pain Patients deserve access to whatever treatments or therapies work to control their particular pain offering them dignity and in many cases , self -sufficiency. Through raising awareness of our disease through grassroots advocacy, research and awareness, we can bring solutions to the table for the difficulties pain patients face in their day to day lives.
The time for silence is no more. Its up to pain patients to - #GivingPatientsAVoice !