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ADVOCACY ALERT


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Dear APF Member,
I am writing to ask you to TAKE ACTION. There are two critical actions you can take right now that will help advance pain care in our country.

1. Click here to request that your Congressperson attend the Congressional Briefing on Pain to be held THIS Thursday, November 8th (more information below.)
2. Click here to ask your Congressperson to co-sponsor the National Pain Care Policy Act of 2007 (HR 2994).

If you have already taken action on these issues, THANK YOU! If you have not, PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW. The only way we can make pain care a national priority is to let our national leaders know that we care and that we want them to act in our behalf.
In this case, as in many others, IT IS OUR VOICES THAT WILL MAKE THE DIFFERENCE.
Thank You,
Will Rowe
Executive Director
American Pain Foundation
A United Voice of Hope and Power over Pain
The American Pain Foundation, The American Cancer Society and the Pain Care Forum in cooperation with Representative Lois Capps (D-CA-23) and Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI-8) and are pleased to announce:
A Congressional Briefing:

“National Pain Policy: Tackling Barriers to Proper Pain Management”

Thursday, November 8, 2007
Noon to 1:30 pm, Rayburn House Office Building, Rm. 2218

The purpose of the briefing is to educate Congress on the serious need for federal policy reform affecting pain management.
This briefing provides an immediate action opportunity to spread the word and urge everyone concerned about pain care in America, to fax or email their Representatives to encourage their attendance at this briefing!
It is critical to generate large Congressional attendance, in order to:

• Increase their awareness that pain is a major public health problem and there is a critical need to improve access to appropriate pain care.
• Emphasize the serious need to increase pain management training for healthcare professionals as well as public education.
• Call for support in creating a national agenda for pain research.
• Increase co-sponsorship of the National Pain Care Policy Act of 2007, H.R.2994!

It is vitally important to impress upon our elected officials that they can make a difference in the lives of millions of their constituents who are currently suffering unnecessarily.
BRIEFING PRESENTERS INCLUDE:
Scott Fishman, M.D., is a leading pain medicine clinician, researcher, teacher, lecturer and writer. He is Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine and Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of California, Davis, and Board certified in Psychiatry, Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Hospital and Palliative Medicine, and Pain Medicine.
Carmen R. Green, M.D., is Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the University Of Michigan Medical School as well as an attending physician at the Center for Interventional Pain Medicine, Director for Pain Research, founding Chair of the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) Pain Management Steering Committee, and former Medical Director for the Acute Pain Service at UMHS. Her research examines the effects of sociodemographic factors on pain management and health outcomes as well as clinician variability in pain management decision-making and the quality of pain care.
Mary Vargas, J.D., is a lawyer, pain patient, and active advocate on behalf of others in pain. Following a debilitating auto accident at the age of 23, Mary faced many barriers to getting proper treatment of her pain. She now advocates on behalf of pain patients and their families through the American Pain Foundation and the Maryland Pain Initiative and speaks frequently on disparities in the treatment of pain.
FOR MORE INFORMATION about this briefing and the National Pain Care Policy Act, go to http://www.painfoundation.org/ and click on Take Action Now.
There is strength in numbers!

Thank you for being part of this effort to Unite Voices of Hope and Power Over Pain.