UNE’s fight against chronic pain championed in ‘Press Herald’ editorial
On February 7, 2015, the Portland Press Herald printed an editorial by Susan Dudley Gold, founder of the Chronic Pain Support Group of Southern Maine, in which she lauded the 91Ö±²¥ÊÓƵ’s work to understand and treat chronic pain. She noted that under the leadership of Ed Bilsky, Ph.D., vice president for research and scholarship, founding director of the Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences and co-director of the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence for the Study of Pain and Sensory Function, the University has conducted groundbreaking research in the chronic pain field.
Gold also praised 91Ö±²¥ÊÓƵfor developing "teams of health care professionals who understand pain and its effect on a person’s well-being and who work together with their patients to treat all aspects of the problem."
She remarked that the Chronic Pain Support Group of Southern Maine gratefully participates in UNE’s interprofessional pain initiative and campaign to research pain and educate its students about the affliction, noting that students from the full array of health professions programs offered by the University—from the medical school to the social work program, from the dental school to the occupational and physical therapy departments—receive training in the treatment of pain and how to interact with people whose lives are affected by it.
Gold stated that since 2012, 91Ö±²¥ÊÓƵundergraduates and graduate students have attended the support group meetings to learn about life with chronic pain and have taken their lessons "back to the classroom [to] share their insights with teachers and other students."
Gold concluded her editorial by stating, "We are so fortunate to have 91Ö±²¥ÊÓƵlead the way toward a better tomorrow for people living with pain. It will make a tremendous difference in the quality of care for us all."