I am very excited to announce that I am having my first meeting with my MLA (a Member of the Legislative Assembly) next week to discuss healthcare for chronic pain patients in Alberta. I have many ideas about what isn’t working in the province, so I feel as though I owe it to myself to let the government know. I’m not ready to lobby the government until they change yet, although that sort of is a dream of mine for the future.
What do I hope to accomplish? I hope to truly illustrate to my MLA that pain patients are being left behind in the province. With 1 in 5 Canadians having chronic pain, if we are behind now we are already hooped on addressing the chronic pain problem. Alberta needs more education for both public and health professionals, more programs to deal with complex issues, and more funding to accomplish this. I also really hope to be an example, a 25-year-old woman who is benched and withdrawn from university and our society, because my province is too scared to make me worse, and I am constantly getting rejected from the very programs created for pain patients like me. I hope to be clear, back everything up with fact, and blow their minds on the failure going on in our system.
Wish me luck.
It Is What It Is 