PAINS’ Advisory Committee members were asked:
“If you could give people living with pain something special during this holiday season, what would it be?”
To be heard
“To be heard in their pain and trauma, physical and otherwise, by their team of healthcare providers who, in their listening, will then be their partners in developing a safe, effective, individualized care plan.
To be heard in their frustrations with our healthcare “system” by people in charge of policy, whether legislators, insurers, or voters.
To be heard by their friends, family, and community–and then accepted and loved, rather than shunned and ignored. And to hear themselves–to hear and trust their own best internal voices about the brightness of their future, the value of self-care, and the strength and power they carry within themselves.”
Bill Walter, ND
Naturopathic Physician
Community Health Centers of Lane County
Health Insurance
“I would give them health insurance coverage for a wide array of services / disciplines that treat chronic pain.”
Jennifer Wagner
Western Pain Society
Better Quality of Life
“On the one hand, I would give them easy access to readily available and affordable comprehensive care that is safe, timely and effective, evidence-informed and personalized, and without adverse effects or stigma.
Bottom line–I would give them better quality of life.”
Larry Driver, MD
Professor, Department of Pain Medicine
Division of Anesthesiology and Critical Care
University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Ability to Hold My Head High
“I’ve spent most of the day contemplating what I’d want from anyone with the power to grant even just one thing to me during this time of faith, family and friendship. I used to hold my head up high, quietly proud of the life I had lived, the service I had given, the family I had built and the love I had shared. CRPS has NOT robbed me of these things individually. Yet each day I face this disease, I find it exponentially harder to hold my head high in public. To the world, I am marginalized because I live in pain, because I don’t/can’t follow social norms, because I don’t work, because I am disabled. I’d give myself back that ability to hold my head high and to face the world with all the confidence I once had. Simply that. I can’t imagine I am alone in this wish.”
Ken Babb
Retired IBM Distinguished Engineer
Access to a Health Care Provider
“If I could give people living with pain something special during this holiday season, it would be access to a pain management health care provider who had a wide range of available strategies to offer patients to manage pain and who did not feel apprehensive to do so.”
Pat Bruckenthal, PhD, PAAN, ANP, APRN-BC
Clinical Associate Professor
Stony Brook University, School of Nursing
Integrated Chronic Pain Treatment
“I would give people living in chronic pain insurance coverage for integrated chronic pain treatment that would include coverage for a navigator/coach to help chronic pain sufferers find complementary and alternative treatment regimens to augment their current pain management efforts. This coverage would also reimburse patients for such complementary and alternative treatments.
My second gift would be a new non-opioid/non-addictive pain medication that is more effective than opioid drugs for chronic pain patients for whom pain medications is the only effective way to manage their pain.
My third (and most realistic gift) would be to give them Cindy Leyland’s contact information, tell them about PAINS-KC and the date and time for our meetings, and encourage them to get involved.”