National Leaders and Organizations Endorse Four Core Messages to Drive a Cultural Transformation in the Way Pain is Perceived, Judged and Treated
At the PAINS’ Collaborators Meeting held in Washington, DC from June 27-28, 2015, four core messages originally developed by the Consumer Pain Advocacy Task Force (CPATF) were presented by Cindy Steinberg in her “call to action.” The State Pain Policy Advocacy Network (SPPAN) convened CPATF in March 2014. The task force is comprised of national leaders and decision-makers from 17 nonprofit consumer advocacy organizations, including PAINS, all dedicated to patient well-being, effective pain treatment methods and promoting the National Pain Strategy Report. Since then, these core messages have been endorsed by more than 50 national leaders and organizations.
The four core messages are:
- Chronic pain is a real and complex disease that may exist by itself or be linked with other medical conditions.
- Chronic pain is both an under-recognized and under-resourced public health crisis with devastating personal and economic impact.
- Effective chronic pain care requires access to a wide range of treatment options, including biomedical, behavioral health and complementary treatment.
- Denying appropriate care to people with chronic pain is unethical and can lead to unnecessary suffering, depression, disability and even suicide.
Those who have endorsed these messages are:
Always Think Comfort
American Academy of Family Physicians (supporting)
American Academy of Pain Medicine
American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA)
American Chronic Pain Association
American Pain Society
American Public Health Association
American Society for Pain Management Nursing
Paul Arnstein, PhD, RN, FAAN Clinical Nurse Specialist for Pain Relief Massachusetts General Hospital
Dr. Leon F. Bradway, DPT, MS, OMPT Sports Back and Pain Management Clinic Bryan, Texas
Pat Bruckenthal, PhD, APRN, FAAN Immediate past president American Society for Pain Management Nursing
Maggie Buckley Volunteer Patient Advocate
Caregiver Action Network
Center for Practical Bioethics
Central Pain Syndrome Foundation
Jan Favero Chambers President/Founder National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association
Chronic Pain Research Alliance
Collaborative for Palliative Care
Mugur V. Geana, MD, PhD Director, Center for Excellence in Health Communication to Underserved Populations University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications
The Gerontological Society of America
Elizabeth Gilbertson Chief of Strategy, UNITE HERE HEALTH
Rae M. Gleason Medical Education & Research Director National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association
Robin Hamill-Ruth, MD
Gwenn Herman, LCSW-C, DCSW Executive Director Pain Connection-Chronic Pain Outreach Center, Inc.
Malcolm P. Herman, Esq. Law Offices of Malcolm P. Herman Director Pain Connection- Chronic Pain Outreach Center, Inc.
Michael Hockley
Robert W. Hutchison, Jr., Pharm.D., BCACP Associate Professor/ Ambulatory Care Pharmacist Texas A&M University, Rangel College Of Pharmacy
Interstitial Cystitis Association
Karen Kiefer, RN-BC Garden State Chapter of the American Society of Pain Management Nursing
Lemons Center for Behavioral Pain Management
Jim G. Lemons, Ed.D. Director Lemons Center for Behavioral Pain Management
Brian Levy, EMT, Board Member Power of Pain Foundation
Marbeth Levy, Vice President Power of Pain Foundation
Janice Lynch Schuster Writer, pain patient, activist
Massachusetts Pain Initiative
Martha Brown Menard PhD, LMT Director of Crocker Institute
Millennium Health
David Nagel, MD
National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association
National Patient Advocate Foundation
Carolyn Noel PAINS Webmaster Volunteer Patient Advocate
Pain Action Alliance to Implement a National Strategy (PAINS)
The Pain Community
Pain Connection
Power of Pain Foundation
Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association (RSDSA)
Jack Siar, RN
Kathleen Sitley Brown, PhD Rehabilitation Psychologist
State Pain Policy Advocacy Network (SPPAN)
Cindy Steinberg National Director of Policy and Advocacy US Pain Foundation
Raymond C. Tait, PhD Professor, Neurology & Psychiatry Vice President, Research Saint Louis University
The TMJ Association
Trust for America’s Health
Bob Twillman, Ph.D., FAPM Executive Director American Academy of Pain Management
US Pain Foundation
Barbara Waitt
Lonnie Zeltzer, MD Director, Children’s Pain and Palliative Care Program Distriguished Professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
NOTE: The scope of these endorsements applies to the four core messages only and is not intended to imply agreement with or endorsement of any other policy or program of PAINS.
We invite others to join us in endorsing these messages by contacting us and urge the Department of Health and Human Services to incorporate these messages into the final version of the National Pain Strategy Report.
