Empowerment Through Advocacy

A special advocacy session will take place at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 10, at theAACFS conference. Advocacy is more than just influencing government - it's educating a doctor, explaining CFS to a health reporter, convincing social service agencies to serve CFS patients, and establishing group housing for CFS patients in need.

This 90-minute facilitated forum explores advocacy, in all its contexts, and ways people are empowered through actions that serve a broader purpose. In efforts great and small, our community makes progress toward a better quality of life for all those living with ME/CFS and FMS.

Nationally and internationally, individuals, groups and organizations work for the common good of patients. What works? What is your greatest success? What do you need to be more effective?

The outcome of this advocacy session will be increased understanding of others in the patient community and the exchange of ideas that may spark collaborative efforts. How might we assist each other?

Information about the conference can be found at http://www.aacfs.org. If you plan to attend the patient conference and would like to participate in this special session, please register in advance. Send a message toPat Fero, AACFS Organizing Committee Member, with your name, organization name (if applicable), geographic area and a brief description of the project or activity you want to share with participants. Time will be allotted on a first-come, first-serve basis, with a limit of one representative per group/organization to allow the greatest diversity possible.

Specific details will be sent to session registrants in September. In addition, small group sessions on specific topics, scheduled throughout the conference, will include advocacy.

Register for the session by contacting Pat Fero at:
E-mail:bp.fero@verizon.net  [Please put “Advocacy Session” in the subject line]

Postal mail: Wisconsin CFS Association
                747 Lois Drive
                Sun Prairie, WI 53590

Immediately following this session, Dr. David Bell, a clinician credited with identifying CFS in his Lyndonville, New York, community in the mid-1980s, will join us. Dr. Bell has cared for thousands of CFS patients in the past 20 years and has collaborated on dozens of CFS research projects. He will provide an update on a federal committee he chairs that makes recommendations about CFS to the Secretary for Health, Tommy Thompson (formerly the governor of Wisconsin).