Pain BC on Global TV скачать в хорошем качестве

Pain BC on Global TV

KELOWNA -- Chronic Pain. It's something that nearly one in five Canadians live with, according to Stats Canada. But many doctors and patients believe the system is failing those who live with chronic pain. The problem is being highlighted by Pain BC, a non-profit advocacy group, during National Pain Awareness Week November 3rd to 9th. "You get to a point where you're not really resigned to it, but you learn that it is going to be part of your life and something you need to deal with and work with," says Keith Meldrum, vice chair of Pain BC and a chronic pain patient. Meldrum had a neurostimulator implanted into his stomach in 2005. It interrupts the pain at his spinal cord, allowing him to live a more normal life than he did previously living with debilitating pain. "Certainly for me, there were times when you had some pretty low days and you just don't know if you can get out of bed and carry on," the Kelowna man says of the pain that followed after a near fatal car accident in 1986 and 14 surgeries. Meldrum was only one of four people who received a neurostimulator in BC in 2005, a $25,000 device that is also costly to implant. Pain patients are often dismissed when medical professionals can't find the source of their discomfort. "It is truly, highly misunderstood," says Meldrum. "Chronic pain is mistreated, misdiagnosed and for a lot of people there isn't this hope or this understanding out there." Pain specialist Dr. Pam Squire agrees. "I think they become incredibly frustrated by the lack of services that are available," says Dr. Squire, who travels to the Okanagan two days a month from the Vancouver area to offer services at clinics. Dr. Squire says chronic pain patients often can't afford alternative therapies that offer relief. While the Interior Health authority has studied the lack of services for chronic pain patients in the region, a lack of funding has limited implementing new strategies. "Interior health is far behind and in really in desperate need," says Dr. Squire. Interior Health says a working group has been put in place at Kelowna General Hospital that has identified some ways to move forward using existing resources. For more information about Pain BC's advocacy work, check out their website at www.painbc.ca