Summer 2002 Forum

'Create the Future'

Our first Roundtable Forum was held on July 20, 2002 at Froedert Hospital with 45 people in attendance.  Wisconsin CFS Association’s Executive Director, Pat Fero, began the meeting at 11:45 a.m. with a short introduction highlighting the problems she hears from people who are trying to access medical and social services in the Milwaukee area.  She also talked about common problems with patient populations who have neuroendocrineimmune disorders.

Our facilitator, James Holifield, began a sixty minute discussion by asking for each person to give their name and tell why he or she came to this meeting. Throughout the discussion, he reviewed the following needs not being addressed:

a)   Competent medical care (We deserve   a compassionate medical community who will not let our lives slip by without ever noticing.) 
b)   Peer support
c)   Family awareness and information
d)   Public relations/communications to improve understanding of illnesses
e)   Social services and transportation
f)    Kids with illness
g)   Resource exchange network
h)   Home access to Health Care
i)    Individual and collective advocacy
j)    Environmental Issues - chemical /electrical pollution making illness worse
k)   Compassion – Being treated as a deserving person. (How does one hold onto self, continue   to believe in yourself and that you deserve services?)

The facilitator and participants grouped all the different needs into three main categories:

A.  Advocacy and Public Relations (d, i ,k)
B.  Family and peer awareness (b, c, f, g, k)
C.  Social Services/ Medical Education/Awareness (a, e, g, h, j, k)

Before the informal discussion ended, the next Think Tank meeting was set for those with any of the following Neuroendocrineimmune disorders:  Fibromyalgia, Gulf War Syndrome, Lupus, Lyme and Post Lyme, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Post Polio Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 

If you would like to attend this meeting, it will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 24, 2002, at Froedert Hospital, 9200 West Wisconsin Avenue, Wauwatosa.  Use the 92nd Street entrance and take the B elevator down to room AB, on the first floor.  Please bring a lunch with you or you can purchase a lunch from the cafeteria down the hall from room AB.

Feel free to bring along your significant other or support person. The more well people we can interest, the faster we can implement change, change, change.