We are a community because we share some very important things: We either share the experience of having this terrible pain or helping someone who does; we share the need to find help to eliminate or manage the pain; we often either need support from others or are in a position to provide that support; and we share the need to simply know that we are not alone.
Although we have some shared experiences, we are not exactly the same. In addition to our differences geographically, demographically, medically and more, we are all in different places dealing with facial pain. Most of us at the FPA know this – because we are also dealing with this pain. So, the theme for the FPA this year is “Helping You Where You Are.”
That’s a snazzy theme, but what does it mean? It will mean many different things to you, but here are some examples to reassure you that this effort is real:
— The Quarterly journal is going to periodically deliver resources in the forms of inserts and tear-outs you can keep until you need them (e.g., recommendations for emergency room physicians about the best care for a person with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) or other neuropathic facial pain).
— Improvements to the FPA’s mobile website so you’ll have quick information at your fingertips when you need it.
— The FPA has redoubled its efforts to ensure that all ~200,000 dentists in the U.S. are aware of TN and other neuropathic facial pain so that unnecessary dental procedures are avoided, and proper treatment is delivered faster.
— The FPA has also started to ensure that the ~16,000 neurologists in the U.S. are even more aware of all the medications and procedures that are available to help you.
— The FPA’s fourth annual virtual conference will be held this April, and it will include a great deal of information, empowering you to more effectively navigate your care whenever and wherever you need to.
Helping You Where You Are will be our focus this year, but we will also be working hard to connect with those who we aren’t effectively reaching, primarily those with lower education levels and lower income. Sadly, the entire healthcare system has been ineffective in reaching this community. Simply put, we can’t help someone “where they are” if we’re not even reaching them. To that end, I’m pleased to report that the FPA recently received its first grant — a grant to help us reach those in rural and other underserved communities.
In closing, I hope the overarching thought you take away from this letter is the sense that the FPA is working diligently to be helpful to everyone living with facial pain. For those of you who donated to our organization last year, I hope you can clearly see that your investment in the FPA is yielding big things. Without your generous help, we simply couldn’t be doing these things. Thank you for supporting our mission of reaching every person with facial pain, wherever they are.
