On Tuesday, May 22, Tippy and I headed over....a 5 minute drive....to the Essex Yacht Club to speak to and profusely THANK the Essex Rotary for helping to make our partnership possible. The Rotary very generously donated $8,500 of the $9,500**($9,500 is the clients' portion of the nearly $25,000 needed to raise the service dog from "puppyhood" through graduation.) The above picture was taken by a member of the Rotary, Dick Levene, during an interview I had in preparation for my presentation. I truly think it is by far my most favorite picture as it shows the love Tippy and I have for each other. I really enjoyed speaking to the club. I love being able to speak with people about my blessing of a Service Dog, and how it has changed my life. Beyond that, the fact that these dogs are able to make such a positive change in the lives of so many with a myriad of disabilities is most definitely a miracle. It's so very interesting to find so many well educated intelligent people who truly do not know the gist of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Of course, most people are unaware of the specifics of the ADA unless they either are covered under it, or come in contact with those who are. It always feels good to leave a group of people knowing that you have provided the service of imparting vital information that every American should be aware of. I enjoy running through a bit of my daily practice sessions with Tippy. I think the club enjoyed seeing where their donation went, and the value of that donation. They don't often have the opportunity to see the "fruits of their labor".
Once again, it seems that I'm working backward chronologically. I guess it's part of what Mark calls "Wendy Speak". When people start following my train of thought, they're in trouble!
On Wednesday, the 16th, Tippy and I headed to Edison, New Jersey. I was asked to speak to a group of intervention pain physicians regarding the practice of "Step Therapy". I've mentioned this in earlier posts. Simply put, it's the practice whereby insurance companies require you to try and fail at one or more prescription medications before they will approve the Rx that your doctor initially wrote. Last year, US Pain helped to get the first bill of it's kind in the nation passed, and ultimately signed into law by Gov. Malloy in the state of Connecticut. The trip to New Jersey taught me a valuable lesson......ALWAYS ASK FOR AN AGENDA WHEN ACCEPTING A SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT!!!!! The initial invitation asked for the speaker to speak at the beginning of the meeting for 10 minutes. We(my friend Cindy went with Tippy and me), arrived at the hotel in Edison at round 4pm, checked in, tweaked my "speech" a bit, changed, and realized we were running late.....of course! We made it to the venue at exactly 6:30, rushed inside, found my contact, and readied for a speedy intro....WRONG! I was told, "We've just started our social hour....."!! Ei, yi, yi!! During the "hour", I had occasion to mention, "So, I have 5-10 minutes?" She told me, "Oh no, not even". Okay, so totally throw out my 3 pages of notes. Then, when 7:30 rolled around, my contact was 4th on the agenda, and I followed her. To make matters worse, 2 of the previous members/physicians made reference to the same topics I was going to touch on. I certainly was not about to repeat the importance of the bill to medical doctors. I went the route of the importance of their support not only for the New Jersey bill, but for their patients who would benefit by it's passage. I also explained the importance of the CT law. That it pertains to pain meds only, a good place to start and get footing, and that in CT, when your doctor writes a prescription for a pain med, your insurance company is required to approve that med, or it's generic equivalent. Also, it's important to keep the medical decisions with your own physician, the insurance companies should not, in essence, be "playing doctor".
Okay, give me a moment to step off my soap box!
Before leaving New Jersey, we were able to stop in to see Eddie. Eddie was in my class at NEADS when I was blessed with Alli.**(More on Alli to come) Eddie was wounded in Afghanistan in 2003 when an IED went off when he was out of his "Hum-V"(sp?) Eddie has probably made more of a difference in my life than most. When we arrived at NEADS, Eddie had the room next to me, we shared a common wall. During our first 3 nights at training Eddie had flashbacks, yelled and bumped the wall due to his PTSD. However, once the dogs stayed with us beginning on the 4th night, I did not hear another sound during the night for the remaining week and a half. And, this was before NEADS started their "Trauma Alert" program. **(The teams in the new "TA" program learn to recognize the onset of a PTSD episode, and help each other through.....I don't want to say more as I am not familiar enough, and don't want to make a mistake.) Eddie has gone through so much, and is a remarkable person. In any case, I met with Eddie in NJ to talk with him about possibly becoming involved with the US Pain Foundation, and possibly speaking. He has done wonderful work while involved with the Wounded Warrior Project.
I just tried and failed at my 4th try to post. I had 3 more substantial paragraphs below but lost them all. I will now try to post just the above......fingers crossed......
Once again, it seems that I'm working backward chronologically. I guess it's part of what Mark calls "Wendy Speak". When people start following my train of thought, they're in trouble!
On Wednesday, the 16th, Tippy and I headed to Edison, New Jersey. I was asked to speak to a group of intervention pain physicians regarding the practice of "Step Therapy". I've mentioned this in earlier posts. Simply put, it's the practice whereby insurance companies require you to try and fail at one or more prescription medications before they will approve the Rx that your doctor initially wrote. Last year, US Pain helped to get the first bill of it's kind in the nation passed, and ultimately signed into law by Gov. Malloy in the state of Connecticut. The trip to New Jersey taught me a valuable lesson......ALWAYS ASK FOR AN AGENDA WHEN ACCEPTING A SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT!!!!! The initial invitation asked for the speaker to speak at the beginning of the meeting for 10 minutes. We(my friend Cindy went with Tippy and me), arrived at the hotel in Edison at round 4pm, checked in, tweaked my "speech" a bit, changed, and realized we were running late.....of course! We made it to the venue at exactly 6:30, rushed inside, found my contact, and readied for a speedy intro....WRONG! I was told, "We've just started our social hour....."!! Ei, yi, yi!! During the "hour", I had occasion to mention, "So, I have 5-10 minutes?" She told me, "Oh no, not even". Okay, so totally throw out my 3 pages of notes. Then, when 7:30 rolled around, my contact was 4th on the agenda, and I followed her. To make matters worse, 2 of the previous members/physicians made reference to the same topics I was going to touch on. I certainly was not about to repeat the importance of the bill to medical doctors. I went the route of the importance of their support not only for the New Jersey bill, but for their patients who would benefit by it's passage. I also explained the importance of the CT law. That it pertains to pain meds only, a good place to start and get footing, and that in CT, when your doctor writes a prescription for a pain med, your insurance company is required to approve that med, or it's generic equivalent. Also, it's important to keep the medical decisions with your own physician, the insurance companies should not, in essence, be "playing doctor".
Okay, give me a moment to step off my soap box!
Before leaving New Jersey, we were able to stop in to see Eddie. Eddie was in my class at NEADS when I was blessed with Alli.**(More on Alli to come) Eddie was wounded in Afghanistan in 2003 when an IED went off when he was out of his "Hum-V"(sp?) Eddie has probably made more of a difference in my life than most. When we arrived at NEADS, Eddie had the room next to me, we shared a common wall. During our first 3 nights at training Eddie had flashbacks, yelled and bumped the wall due to his PTSD. However, once the dogs stayed with us beginning on the 4th night, I did not hear another sound during the night for the remaining week and a half. And, this was before NEADS started their "Trauma Alert" program. **(The teams in the new "TA" program learn to recognize the onset of a PTSD episode, and help each other through.....I don't want to say more as I am not familiar enough, and don't want to make a mistake.) Eddie has gone through so much, and is a remarkable person. In any case, I met with Eddie in NJ to talk with him about possibly becoming involved with the US Pain Foundation, and possibly speaking. He has done wonderful work while involved with the Wounded Warrior Project.
I just tried and failed at my 4th try to post. I had 3 more substantial paragraphs below but lost them all. I will now try to post just the above......fingers crossed......
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