Veterans Online Chat - Sept. 6, 2005

Alert from: The American Pain Foundation
August 23, 2005

Special Online Veteran Chat - September 6, 2005 @ 8:30pm EST

Battlefield Medicine and Combat Trauma: New Approaches to Pain Relief

The American Pain Foundation is pleased to announce its first Special Online Chat for Veterans. Chester "Trip" Buckenmaier III, MD, LTC, MC, Chief, Army Regional Anesthesia & Pain Management Initiative (ARAPMI) at Walter Reed Army Medical Center will be the guest speaker. Dr. Buckenmaier has been interviewed on National Public Radio, ABC TV, and by Wired Magazine, (The Painful Truth, written by Steve Silberman) an informative and descriptive story that reads like a short thriller as it describes Dr. Buckenmaier's efforts to test pain relief methods in Iraq). We are excited and honored to have him begin our series of online dialogues for veterans with pain.

Dr. Buckenmaier and his colleagues at Walter Reed focus on methods to relieve acute pain following combat trauma. Their comprehensive program combines traditional techniques (nerve blocks, narcotics, physical therapy) and nontraditional techniques (acupuncture, psychiatry, continuous peripheral nerve blocks, chiropractic). They work closely with their chronic pain medical colleagues, believing that rapid and comprehensive treatment of acute pain has positive effects on reducing chronic pain development during long-term recovery.

ARAPMI's principle goals are:
(1) the continued development of advanced anesthetic techniques in the management of acute and chronic pain in Vets as well as soldiers on the battlefield; and
(2) the integration of traditional and nontraditional pain management modalities under the direction of a pain management specialist. The overriding vision of ARAPMI is the establishment of Ambulatory Surgery and Pain Medicine Centers that will serve as models of integrated acute and chronic pain management in the United States.

Dr. Buckenmaier has extensive experience working in Walter Reed Hospital (in fact, he was born and raised there) and more recently in the battlefield in Iraq. He has fascinating knowledge and perspective on the history of medicine during wartimes. He will discuss his work and answer your questions about the medical issues specific to Veterans in pain.

You are cordially invited to join us on Tuesday, September 6, 2005 at 8:30pm EST in APF/PainAid's Conference Room One for this very special chat with Dr. Buckenmaier.

It's easy to participate or just follow the discussion. If you are a registered PainAid User, log in and go to Conference Room One. If you are new to PainAid, please register with a "user name" and password (make something up that you'll remember).

Here is the URL to log in: http://painaid.painfoundation.org/login.php

New members: please download the free Java Plug-in. It is necessary in order use our Conference Rooms and is completely safe software. Download the Java Plug-in, then come back and click on Conference Room One (the first time may take a while to load).

We recommend that you register a few days before the chat to make sure that the registration process is complete. A few minutes before the chat, click the login button with your user name and password, then click on Conference Room One. If you can't make the chat time, we will be archiving dialogue for later review. We hope to see you there!

It's not too late to join our mailing list by completing our "Get Involved" form. And please forward this to a friend who might be interested in our publications and projects.

The American Pain Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization that relies upon private donations to fund its programs, services, and distribution of educational materials. There are millions of people who live with unrelieved chronic pain. If you can help, please make a donation to the American Pain Foundation. For other ways you can support APF's work, please visit our website at www.painfoundation.org