CANADIAN PAIN SUMMIT - a great success!
World renowned doctors, ethicists, humans rights specialists and people suffering from chronic pain provided amazing keynote presentations to over 200 delegates who gathered in Ottawa on April 24, 2012 for the Canadian Pain Summit.
You too can learn and benefit from their presentations, which were recorded and are now posted at:
http://event.on24.com/r.htme=454868&s=1&k=004587C6FDC41BA462D8908E3EA1DA94.
Simply click on the above link and view the Summit keynote presentations.
CALL TO ACTION:
Need for a National Pain Strategy in Canada
Do you believe all Canadian children deserve access to the best practice in pain care?
If you require surgery, do you want your post-0perative pain treated properly?
If you suffer a painful injury requiring treatment in an emergency department, do you want to be sure that your pain will be properly assessed and treated?
Do you want your doctor or healthcare professional to be at least as well-educated in treating pain as a veterinarian is?
If you answered YES to any of these questions, please endorse the National Pain Strategy for Canada - NPSC. Click on the Endorse the Pain Strategy button, located on the upper right of this homepage. The NPSC is sponsored by the Canadian Pain Society (CPS) and the Canadian Pain Coalition (CPC)
Make your voice heard!
Download the "Call to Action" poster today
The Summit Executive Committee encourages you to display the "Call to Action" poster in a prominent place, so Canadians from coast to coast to coast can sign on and urge their MPs to fund and support the National Pain Strategy for Canada - NPSC.
Prescription Drug Addiction is a Complex
Societal Problem
National Pain Strategy Provides a Blueprint Solution
TORONTO, ON - February, 21, 2012 - The Canadian Pain Society (CPS) applauds the development of a new tamper-resistant formulation of a useful pain drug aimed at reducing the harms due to prescription medication misuse and diversion. This represents an important strategy but we believe that reducing opioid misuse, abuse, and diversion is everyone's responsibility. This includes: health professionals, the health care system, academic institutions, patients, communities, the pharmaceutical industry, governing bodies, law enforcement, the justice system and the media.
Because addiction is a complex societal problem, it is critical to coordinate a strategic response that involves all stakeholders. Key members of the CPS have participated in the National Dialogue on Prescription Drug Misuse, sponsored by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. This group has met twice in the past year (most recently Feb 1st-2nd, 2012) to develop effective multi-stakeholder strategies that can reduce the harms of prescription pain medication misuse in a way that does not harm people with pain who require these medications as an essential part of their treatment. We cannot let people with serious pain become the collateral damage of the war on prescription drug misuse.
"Between 6 and 7 Million Canadians suffer from moderate to severe chronic painful conditions. In addition, many more people undergo surgical procedures or face painful trauma or pain related to cancer, where opioid medications are often the best option we have to treat serious pain," said Dr. Mary Lynch, co-chair of the Canadian Pain Summit and past CPS President.
"Pain in our society is still under recognized and poorly treated. This is due to many factors, including a lack of adequate education regarding pain management in our medical schools (veterinarians receive 5 times more training in pain treatment than medical doctors), and lack of funded access to non-drug treatments for pain such as physiotherapy, psychology, or multidisciplinary pain teams when complex chronic pain develops. This is also the case for our children. In fact, most Canadian children do not have access to best practice pain care. This is unacceptable in a country like Canada with a comprehensive health care system. We need to fix this chronic health issue now," Lynch added.
In partnership with the Canadian Pain Coalition (CPC) and numerous pain stakeholders, the CPS has developed a blueprint for a solution in the form of a National Pain Strategy. Please visit: www.canadianpainsummit2012.ca for more information and to show your support today.
About the National Pain Strategy
It's time for Canadians to rise up against pain. The first-ever Canadian Pain Summit will take place in Ottawa on April 24th, 2012. It is essential that Canada take a leading role in proceeding with a national pain strategy and that pain patients are part of the solution. Canadians are urged to visit www.canadianpainsummit2012.ca and endorse the national pain strategy.
About the Canadian Pain Society
The Canadian Pain Society has been a chapter of the International Association for the Study of Pain since 1982. The aim of the CPS is to foster and encourage research on pain mechanisms and pain syndromes and to help improve the management of patients with acute and chronic pain by bringing together the basic scientists and health professionals of various disciplines and backgrounds who have an interest in pain research and management. (www.canadianpainsociety.ca/@CanadianPain)
For further information:
For further information or to schedule an interview, please contact:
Rob McEwan
Argyle Communications
(416) 968-7311 ext. 242
rmcewan@argylecommunications.com
Caroline De Silva
Argyle Communications
416-968-7311 ext. 231
cdesilva@argylecommunications.com
National Pain Strategy for Canada released
Toronto, ON – December 15, 2011 – Chronic pain is an under-treated health crisis affecting an estimated one in five Canadians. Chronic pain is also associated with the worst quality of life as compared with other chronic diseases such as chronic lung or heart disease. It is estimated that the annual cost of chronic pain in Canada is at least $60 billion dollars causing a large strain on our economy.
Pain is often poorly managed in Canada and this has a major impact on the quality of life and the ability of patients to function. The Canadian Pain Society (CPS) and the Canadian Pain Coalition (CPC) have issued a blueprint to outline the social, economic and personal impact of chronic pain on Canadians and why a national pain strategy is needed.
The strategy will address key target areas including: awareness and education, access, research and ongoing monitoring.
The document has been reviewed and supported by various pain stakeholders such as Health Canada, The Canadian Medical Association, The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the Canadian Association of Retired Persons to address the gaps that exist in pain management and to minimize its burden on Canadians living with pain, their families and society.
It’s time for Canadians to rise up against pain. Canadians will rally in Ottawa on April 24th, 2012 at the first-ever Canadian Pain Summit. It is essential that Canada take a leading role in proceeding with a national pain strategy and that pain patients are part of the solution.
Canadians are urged to visit www.canadianpainsummit2012.ca to sign a declaration in support of the National Pain Strategy for Canada - NPSC.
Media are encouraged to speak with members of the national pain summit committee to learn more about the goals of the national pain strategy and its importance.
Who: Members of the National Pain Summit committee (researchers and clinicians)
What: An opportunity to learn about the target areas the national pain strategy will address
When: December 15th, 2011 onwards
Where: Telephone or in-person interviews
About the Canadian Pain Society
(www.canadianpainsociety.ca /@CanadianPain)
The Canadian Pain Society has been a chapter of the International Association for the Study of Pain since 1982. The aim of the CPS is to foster and encourage research on pain mechanisms and pain syndromes and to help improve the management of patients with acute and chronic pain by bringing together the basic scientists and health professionals of various disciplines and backgrounds who have an interest in pain research and management.
About the Canadian Pain Coalition (www.canadianpaincoalition.ca)
The Canadian Pain Coalition (CPC) is THE National Voice of People with Pain. Incorporated in 2004 as a non-profit organization, the CPC is a partnership of pain consumer groups, individuals, health professionals who care for people in pain and scientists studying better ways to treat pain. CPC promotes sustained improvement in the understanding, prevention, treatment and management of all types of pain in Canada. CPC accomplishes this through pain education, awareness activities and advocacy initiatives. CPC obtained the Senate Declaration of National Pain Awareness Week in 2004.
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For further information or to schedule an interview, please contact:
Kristina Rikunova
Argyle Communications
(416) 968-7311 ext. 243
krikunova@argylecommunications.com
CANADIAN PAIN SUMMIT 2012
"Access to pain management is a fundamental human right".
Excerpt from the: Declaration of Montreal, IASP - International Association for the Study of Pain - September 3, 2010
The Canadian Pain Summit will be held on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at the historic Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Rise up and contribute your voice to this vitally important initiative. Your valued support will assist the Canadian Pain Society (CPS) and the Canadian Pain Coalition (CPC) to ensure that all Canadians can benefit from the latest research and treatments to address chronic pain.
Help us to improve access of all Canadians to appropriate and timely pain care!
Confirmed Guest Speakers
Renowned medical ethicist with a passionate commitment to people's human right to have proper access to pain management, Dr. Margaret Somerville will deliver a keynote address at the Canadian Pain Summit 2012. Dr. Somerville is Founding Director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, located in Montreal, Quebec.
Dr. Michael J. Cousins, Professor of Anaesthesia at the University of Australia will also speak about the Australian experience at the Canadian Pain Summit 2012. Dr. Cousins was Chair of the Australia Pain Summit, held in March 2010 and he will share his observations about progress of pain management in Australia.
Dr. Kathleen M. Foley is an attending Neurologist in the Pain & Palliative Care Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, located in New York City. Dr. Foley will address international initiatives dealing with cancer pain.
Jonathan Cohen, LL.B is Project Director of the Law & Health Initiative, a division of the Open Society Foundations Public Health Program. Mr. Cohen will be speaking about pain treatment as a basic human right.
ARTHRITIS: The forgotten disease that costs Canada
billions of dollars each year
TORONTO – October 27, 2011 - Arthritis has been called the invisible disease, but there's nothing imperceptible about its painful impact on patients' lives or the economic fallout for Canadian society.
A new report by the Arthritis Alliance of Canada says more than 4.6 million Canadians are affected by arthritis. And it calculates that the two major forms of the joint-destroying disease cost the Canadian economy a staggering $33 billion last year in health-care expenditures and lost productivity.
The report, entitled The Impact of Arthritis in Canada: Today and Over the Next 30 Years, predicts that figure could rise exponentially in the coming decades as a higher percentage of Canada's aging population is afflicted by the disease.
"I think people will be surprised by this, yes," Dr. Dianne Mosher said of the $33-billion price tag. "But if you look at the sheer number of people who have osteoarthritis - there's 4.4 million Canadians with osteoarthritis and in the next 30 years there will be 10 million - it's a significant portion of the population."
Mosher, a Calgary rheumatologist who co-authored the report, said the pain of both osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis can lead to a loss of mobility and an inability to perform everyday tasks most people take for granted. "Certainly some of it is because the joints are affected that they would have difficulties walking, they'd have difficulties standing," she said, adding that chronic pain can disturb sleep and lead to fatigue and depression.
Yet despite the millions of people suffering and the economic repercussions, arthritis in all its myriad forms gets little attention compared with diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. That may be in part because those diseases are life-threatening, while arthritis for the most part threatens patients' quality of life. "In our specialty, our patients don't die," said Dr. Claire Bombardier, director of the rheumatology division at the University of Toronto.
"Our patients live in pain and often in silent pain, invisible pain, and it becomes obvious when they break down. They have to stop working or their husbands leave them. There are all sorts of impacts on life: people have to move house (because) they aren't able to go up and down stairs, they're not able to go to the toilet, and they need other people to help them."
Anne Fouillard, 60, lost seven years of her career as an international development consultant because of osteoarthritis, which began in her knees when she was about 30, then moved into her hips and back. "At the worst, you're completely incapacitated," she said from her home in Kingsburg, N.S. Pain and stiffness in her joints and extreme fatigue forced her into a wheelchair for two years before she had both hips replaced at age 51, followed by spine-fusion surgery four years ago.
Being unable to work left her feeling "invalidated" and she figures the lost years cost the equivalent of half a million dollars. "That's what it cost me and what it cost the state by not having me as a fully functional human being," said Fouillard, explaining that being unable to work meant she wasn't contributing taxes to government coffers.
Mosher said the Arthritis Alliance is working on a strategy to prevent the condition and improve treatment, especially for osteoarthritis, which affects joints such as knees and hips by distorting the bones and inflaming surrounding tissues. "We don't have the magic bullet or the magic pill for the pain," she said, adding that more effective medications need to be developed. But a combination of muscle-strengthening exercises and physical activity can help control the symptoms. "Joint replacement surgery makes a huge difference for people who have hips and knees replaced ... in returning their lives towards normal," Mosher added.
On the prevention side, the report says a strategy is needed to reduce high obesity rates in Canada, as carrying too many pounds can lead to arthritis in weight-bearing joints like the knees. For rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in joints throughout the body, highly effective drugs are available. But more needs to be done to get patients properly diagnosed and started on treatment early, she said.
The Arthritis Alliance, which released its report Thursday at a scientific conference in Quebec City, is calling on government policy-makers, the corporate sector and the insurance industry to join with advocacy groups in creating a national strategy to reduce the burden of arthritis on Canadians.
The first step, said Mosher, is to change society's view of arthritis as something that people just have to live with. "I think we've got to take the smile out of arthritis," agreed Fouillard, saying she is tired of people with arthritis being told ‘if you just keep moving, everything's going to be OK.' "I think it's time to get serious and to treat it like the debilitating disease that it is."