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We have collected internet sites that we feel offer reliable information. Many of the sites are provided by the EPEC curriculum, and others come from our own experience. The Jason Program is not responsible for the content of these sites, and it takes no formal position regarding the information they present. As always, review information carefully, and talk with your physician.

Maine Resources                                       Last updated: April 28, 2008

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Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation of New England
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Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation of New England is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to brightening the lives of seriously ill and hospitalized children and their families through innovative programs that empower, educate, entertain, and inspire.
By blending the worlds of entertainment, technology, and pediatrics, Starlight Starbright provides programs and services that enable children and their families to address the social, emotional, and medical aspects of living with a serious illness. Starlight Starbright in-patient and outpatient programs help reduce the stress, boredom, pain, anxiety, and isolation felt by many ill children and their families.
Working with 60 local hospitals, Starlight Starbright’s New England chapter brings smiles to over 100,000 children each year in the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Our programs are offered free of charge to children, families, and healthcare professionals during the course of an illness and during recovery.
With your support, we can ensure that, throughout the entire journey of their illness, a seriously ill or chronically ill child experiences the joys of childhood, too!

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Starbright Services

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AirLifeLine 
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A national non-profit charitable organization of over 1,500 private pilots who fly ambulatory patients who cannot afford the cost of travel to medical facilities for diagnosis and treatment. Our pilots donate their time, aircraft and fuel to make this air transportation service totally free of charge for patients who qualify.
A wonderful service provided by wonderful people.

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Maine Pain Initiative

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Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine
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We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy. Each wish surrounds the child with magical moments and touches everyone involved. We invite you to join in our ongoing story of wish families, volunteers, and supporters as they make wishes come true.

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Dreams for Maine Kids
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Dreams for Maine Kids is a non-profit organization that fulfills wishes of children with life threatening illnesses in Maine. Dreams for Maine Kids was founded in 2000 by a group of caring individuals with a shared goal.
It is the commitment of Dreams for Maine Kids to facilitate dream wish requests for Maine children, ages 5-15 years, with life-threatening illnesses regardless of race, color, creed, religion and financial constraints.

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Maine Hospice Council
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The Maine Hospice Council exists to ensure the continued development of Hospice and Palliative Care in Maine. The Council provides education and technical assistance regarding end-of-life care, as well as advocacy for terminally ill and bereaved persons regarding quality-of-life care, as well as advocacy for terminally ill and bereaved persons regarding quality-of-life issues throughout the state.

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Maine Council of Churches
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The Maine Council of Churches is many things: a forum for faith issues, an organization with a membership of more than 600 churches in Maine, a united voice calling attention to social issues of concern, such as hunger, poverty, civil rights, economic justice, environmental stewardship, criminal justice and much more.
Their mission statement clearly defines the organization: "We engage diverse faith communities and the wider society, in dialog and actions leading to justice and reconciliation. Our united voice fosters a compassionate society through discernment, education, and advocacy."

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Grief and Renewal
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The process of bereavement leads us on a path to greater understanding and acceptance of the cycle of life and death. From this understanding and greater caring the bereaved are able to bring a new perspective into their lives and a new gift into their worlds. Through this process they renew themselves and their communities, while preserving the meaning of the life of the person they have lost.
Inspired by Laura Slap-Shelton, Psy.D, this site fosters the efforts of the bereaved to give their loss meaning by making a contribution or gift of their experience.

The Jason Program is honored to share a common purpose with this group.

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American Nurses Association of Maine
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American Nurses Association of Maine (ANA-Maine) is the officially recognized Constituent Member Assembly of the American Nurses Association for the Pine Tree State. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the rights of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. Join us to advance the profession of nursing in Maine!

General Health Resources
 
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Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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This is an an online resource that allows users to learn, share, and adopt innovations in the delivery of health services
 

Community - Living With an Illness

 

Clinical Trials

 
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Acurian A site that allows you to search for clinical trials in many areas, with an option to receive e-mail notification of new trials. A free registration is required.
 

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Cancer.gov A section of the NCI, this site offers access to clinical trials in oncology.

 

Complimentary Care
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National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine

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WholeHealthMD.com
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is dedicated to providing the best in complementary and alternative medicine. All of our information is developed by a team of leading board- certified doctors and specialists.

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Healing People This site offers a large amount of searchable information, including an ability to look for practitioners in your area. 

 
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Dr. Weil A well-trained physician, Dr. Andrew Weil gives a thorough, careful assessment of many non-traditional interventions. He will reject those he feels have no value or may be harmful.

 

Communication & Social Awareness

 
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New! CAPC Palliative Care Discussion Forum
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The CAPCconnectSM palliative care discussion forum is a free resource for health care professionals who want to share information, exchange ideas, and get advice from their colleagues on operational issues affecting their palliative care programs.

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POLST.org
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Our goal is to effectively communicate the wishes of seriously ill patients to have or to limit medical treatment as they move from one care setting to another.
POLST Paradigm forms are now available in many states and may have a different name. We use the term POLST Paradigm to describe these programs in general.
A sample of most website materials are available at no cost to help facilitate development of other POLST Paradigm programs. There may be a low cost for larger orders to help cover expenses of a state or regional program's coordinating center.

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Caring Bridge
bulletA portal designed to help patients and their families connect through the Internet or even create their own blogs. Other connecting sites for teens and young adult cancer patients: www.teenswithcancer.org and www.planetcancer.org

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Social Medicine Portal
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All medicine by its very nature is social. The way we define diseases and health, the methods we use for diagnosis and treatment, how we finance health care, all these cannot help but reflect the social environment in which medicine operates.

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Conversations in Care
bulletConversations in Care™,  is a resource center for the improvement of healthcare through better physician/patient communications. This site allows you to explore the many challenges surrounding physician and patient communications in the field of oncology, and look at ways to build effective partnerships in care. Conversations in Care™ will continue to develop over time. It begins by examining the issues most faced by physicians.

 

Ethics
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Midwest Bioethics Center People  at this center are devoted to increasing communication about end-of-life care issues. Much of the details pertains to adults, but all of the philosophy pertains to adults and children alike. Lots of compassion.

Fibromyalgia
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Fibromyalgia Resource Center

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The National Fibromyalgia Research Association
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The National Fibromyalgia Research Association is THE source for what’s new in fibromyalgia research and education. On this site you will find fibromyalgia diagnostic criteria and an Informational Guide. Check out scientific abstracts including those from NFRA’s 1999 Subgroups in Fibromyalgia symposium. Learn about available resources to help you gain control of this condition including: Exercise videos, patient organizations, newsletters, upcoming FMS events and other web page links.

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Colorado Health Site Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Center

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A Physician's Guide to Fibromyalgia Syndrome
 

General Pediatric Issues
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American Academy of Pediatrics The premier national organization truly dedicated to improving the lives of children throughout the world.
 

Palliative Care & Hospice

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End-of-Life Care for Children

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GetPalliativeCare.org

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The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization is the largest nonprofit membership organization representing hospice and palliative care programs and professionals in the United States.  The organization is committed to improving end of life care and expanding access to hospice care with the goal of profoundly enhancing quality of life for people dying in America and their loved ones
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NHPCO now has easy online access for pediatric issues including ChiPPS

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NHPCO New Rural Listserv

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Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care
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Palliative Care Tools

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NPO Products

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Resources

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The National Palliative Care Research Center

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HospiceDirectory.org
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Hospice locator service that covers all of North America and U.S. territories

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ACT - Promoting Palliative Care for Children

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Coda Alliance - How to Talk About End of Life While Promoting Hope

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Dying Well
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Resources for people facing life-limiting illness, their families, and their professional caregivers Dr. Ira Byock, long time palliative care physician and advocate for improved end-of-life care, and a past president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, provides written resources and referrals to organizations, web sites and books to empower persons with life threatening illness and their families to live fully.

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Yahoo! Palliative Care Links

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Children's Project on Palliative/Hospice Services (ChiPPS)
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The Children's Project on Palliative/Hospice Services is working to concretely enhance the science and practice of pediatric hospice and palliative care, and to increase the availability of state of the art services to families.

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The American Hospital Association's "Put It In Writing" Web site
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This site contains resources to help people put their wishes about end-of-life care into advance directives

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Caring Connections
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Launched in late March, the Web site's focus is "Public awareness of advance care planning, hospice and other
end-of-life topics has increased dramatically over the past months and people are eager to learn more about
how to ensure their wishes are honored." Free state-specific advance directives are downloadable.

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Medscape Palliative Care Resource Center
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This Resource Center offers a collection of the latest clinical information on end-of-life care for adults and children, as well as information on supporting caregivers. Login at this link, and you will be directed to the Palliative Care home page. A link to the pediatric section is available on the left side of the page.

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LastActs
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Last Acts is a campaign to improve end-of-life care by a coalition of professional and consumer organizations. We believe in palliative care, focused on managing pain and making life better for individuals and families facing death. Last Acts envisions a world in which dying people and their loved ones receive excellent care and are honored and supported by their community. This site is for professionals and volunteers working to improve care of the dying.

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Rallying Points
 
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Rallying Points assists community-based coalitions in improving care and caring for those nearing the end of life. Rallying Points encourages coalitions to identify community needs for better care near the end of life, advocate for health system changes to bring about better care and develop specific projects that support dying people and their families.

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The National Alliance for Children with Life-Threatening Conditions
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NACWLTC is a coalition of organizations and individual leaders dedicated to improving palliative, end of life and bereavement services for children with life-threatening conditions and the loved ones who care for them. Pediatric articles are available here.

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Americans for Better Care of the Dying "is a non-profit public charity dedicated to social, professional, and policy reform aimed to improve the care system for patients with serious illness, and their families."

 
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On Our Own Terms Based on two years of research by Bill and Judith Davidson Moyers this site will reveal the stories of the dying, their families, and their caregivers, and illustrate the growing struggle to balance medical intervention with comfort and humanity.
 

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Completing a Life

 
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Supportive Oncology
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This journal bridges oncology and palliative care and is anchored by EPEC leaders.

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GrowthHouse
 
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Helping children, families, and professionals with illness, grief, and many other issues in end-of-life care. This page contains links to a wonderful variety of resources, including pieces written by parents and teens. 

 

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The Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care
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Children with life-threatening conditions face many hurdles. So do their families. The Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care (IPPC - pronounced "ipsee"), represents a consortium of organizations joining forces to improve the care and the quality of life of these children and their families.

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Palliative Care: One Vision, One Voice - A Site for Nurses
 
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Here nurses may share information with other professionals about initiatives related to improving patient care at the end of life. With "One Vision, One Voice" nurses have the power to transform palliative care rendered to patients worldwide.

 

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Promoting Excellence Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the mission of this site is obvious from the title - to promote excellence in all aspects of palliative care. The site was redesigned and updated in January, 2002.
 

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American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine This organization states that it is "the only organization in the United States for physicians dedicated to the advancement of hospice/palliative medicine, its practice, research and education".
 

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Center to Advance Palliative Care In its effort to extend the high-quality end-of-life care initiated by the hospice movement to hospitalized patients, CAPC works strategically with other national programs, such as EPEC (Education for Physicians on End-of-Life Care) and Last Acts, an initiative designed to improve care and caring near the end of life.
 

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Children's Hospice International An established organization with whom we share goals and philosophies.

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International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care Our mission is to increase the availability and access to high quality hospice and palliative care for patients and families throughout the world. We do this by promoting communication, facilitating and providing education, and by becoming an information resource for patients, professionals, health care providers and policy makers around the world.

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Pain Knowledge Web Site
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Physician tools include downloadable slides on how to optimize opioid therapy through rotation, titration, and conversion

Pain Management

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Pain in infants, children, and adolescents: Resources for parents and professionals

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Website: Science Daily Pain Control News

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Pediatric Pain - Science Helping Children
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Pediatric-Pain Mailing List

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Professional Resources

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Pediatric-Pain Mailing List

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Alliance of State Pain Initiatives
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Welcome to the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives, formerly known as the American Alliance of Cancer Pain Initiatives. We recently changed our name to reflect the fact that most State Pain Initiatives have expanded their focus to improving the management of cancer and all types of pain. Addressing the undertreatment of cancer pain will remain a major focus of the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives.

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PainEDU.org - News and Resources

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Healing Chronic Pain
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New Integrative Pain Medicine website from Dept. of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care Beth Israel Medical Center, New York. The site presents the best of modern and traditional medicine in holistic chronic pain treatment. Bibliographic references
provided. A multimedia, interactive feature of the website is its guided imagery or relaxation exercise presented in Macromedia Flash.

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The Suffering Child
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The Suffering Child is a "new, exclusively on-line international and multidisciplinary Journal. It will be unique because its aims are to explore all aspects of nociception, to combat the prejudice that still conditions doctors when faced with a situation of pain (especially in newborn and pre-term babies) and to formulate guidelines for acute and chronic pain."  Fabrizia Zingales, Editor

bullet Cancer Pain Release
bulletCancer Pain Release is the publication of the World Health Organization global communications program to improve cancer pain control and palliative and supportive care. Cancer Pain Release is dedicated to keeping a worldwide and multidisciplinary audience in the health professions and government abreast of relevant information and developments in clinical medicine, education and policy.
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This free service is an online forum for people living with pain, and their caregivers. It is staffed almost entirely by highly qualified volunteers with a range of backgrounds, all of whom either live with chronic pain or care for people who do.

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Pain and the Law Developed by St. Louis University and the American Society for Law, Medicine, and Ethics under a grant from the Mayday Fund, this site provides a wealth of information for professionals and patients regarding pain control, including legal and ethical issues.

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Pain.com "A World of Information on Pain" is the motto of this wonderful site. Designed for both professionals and consumers, there is truly a wealth of information here. Yow will also find support groups, personal stories, and free CME/CE offerings.

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American Pain Foundation's New Web Site (May 2005)The American Pain Foundation is a nonprofit information resource and patient advocacy organization serving people with pain. Our mission is to improve the quality of life of people with pain by providing practical information for patients, raising public awareness and understanding of pain, and advocating against barriers to effective treatment. We represent exclusively the interests of people who suffer from pain and we fill the need for a grassroots, consumer-driven, patient-focused organization promoting better pain management.

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Pain, Pain, Go Away: Helping Children With Pain A nice review for parents and children from  the Izaak Walton Killam Children's Hospital and Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

 
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The American Academy of Pain Medicine A well-constructed site, with a great deal of information.

 
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The American Academy of Pain Management Another complete site, with areas designed specifically for pain patients or medical professionals.
 

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National Pain Education Council (NPEC)
 
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Investigate the tools, services, and CME/CE programs that the National Pain Education Council (NPEC) offers via this multi-media website. Practitioners interested in advancing their knowledge in the management of pain will find assessment tools they can download and use in their daily practice, gain free access to recent abstracts from key articles on pain management from the national library of medicine, and multi-media, interactive CME/CE programs that include case-based learning systems.

 

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Basilar Artery Migraine This site, created by an individual without a connection to any recognized medical institution, offers in-depth information for the layperson about BAM, a relatively rare but disabling form of migraine.
 

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Chronic Pain Clearinghouse The challenge for patients is finding the right combination of treatment options and integrating them into daily life. Living well with chronic pain requires commitment, patience and extreme strength of spirit. However, most chronic pain can be managed to allow patients to live a fulfilling life. If chronic pain is stealing your life, I urge you to keep trying. I have lived with severe pain everyday for the past twenty-three years and have never done better than I do today. There is hope.
 
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Note: There is an interesting section here titled Eastern Medicine vs. Western Medicine . Carefully read this section : "If a patient can receive 40% reduction in pain with medication, 25% reduction in pain with Chinese acupuncture, and 10% reduction in pain with yoga or tai-chi, they have an overall improvement of 75%. I say that sounds like good medicine!"
Pat Oreilly, 2002  --- While intuitively correct, this is not necessarily an accurate statement. Two different treatments -- including those found in western medicine -- do not always work well together. Please always consult your physician for guidance.
 

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Chronic Pain Resource Center
 
bulletA new online resource is available for pain management professionals. The site provides access to interviews with experienced pain management professionals, and allows the visitor to download Power Point slide sets and images, as well as patient education materials. It also features a calendar of pain conferences and events and a shopping cart for ordering journal reprints.
 

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More Pain Management Links Here
 

Spiritual Support

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The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health
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The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish) is a university-based organization, which is working toward a more compassionate system of healthcare by restoring the heart and humanity of medicine through research, education, and policy work focused on bringing increased attention to the spiritual needs of patients, families, and the healthcare professionals.

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Wisdom Ways 
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The name "Wisdom Ways" reflects the proud heritage of the Sisters of St.Joseph and the College of St. Catherine. It addresses the richness of sacred myth, the wisdom of many ancient spiritual traditions and a reverent attentiveness to the power and meaning of symbol. Objectives are to:

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create a network of resources for spirituality in contemporary life and culture and serve as a clearinghouse for individuals and groups seeking resources, suggested speakers, specific programs, spiritual support

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serve and enrich theological education and spiritual opportunity through offering programs, workshops, lectures, conferences and retreats on a wide variety of topics

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ECap Online Dr. Bernie Siegel is a Yale-trained surgeon who, through his patients, realized the healing power of love. He has promoted his ideas for the last 15 years, and this site continues to spread his beliefs. 

 
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Spirit Site This site promotes itself as "A spirituality library and resource site". It has a comfortable style and a good deal of information and items for sale.

 
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Near-Death Experiences Find a wealth of information regarding this very interesting phenomenon.
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A reader of our site posts her near-death experience

 

 

Teaching & Research
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Electronic Resource Inventory
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Members of the Central Group on Educational Affairs (CGEA) of the AAMC have created a web site with links to resources of interest to medical educators. The sites are organized into broad topics.

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Institute for Safe Medication Practices


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Last modified: May 04, 2008