May Advocacy, Awareness & Education Events

It’s May and advocacy is in the air. Here is a list of just a few of the events occurring around the country:

The Organization for Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Education and Research (OFFER) will hold its annual patient conference on Saturday, May 5 in Salt Lake City. Founder Dr. Lucinda Bateman will have the opportunity to thank and honor Senator Orrin Hatch with an award for his support of CFS research and education.

On May 11, the CFIDS Association will kick off its 4th annual Virtual Lobby Day with a series of easy activities you can do from your home or office computer to add strength to efforts happening in Washington, D.C. and across the nation. You will receive an alert for each of five messages we'll directo to Congress, health policy makers and the media. 

May 12 marks CFIDS/CFS/M.E. Awareness Day and groups around the country are planning activities. Download a copy of our advocacy/media packet at http://www.cfids.org/advocacy/awareness-day.asp. 

On May 15, 85 well-trained advocates will meet with members of Congress and key staff about the need to make CFS a public health and research priority. This will be the largest Lobby Day group ever, representing 19 states and the District of Columbia. We’ve worked hard to hone our message and target our “asks” to generate the greatest impact possible. We’ll report on the results in our June CFIDSLink. Sign up to receive this free monthly e-newsletter at http://www.cfids.org/subscribe.asp.

The federal CFS Advisory Committee will meet in Washington, D.C., on May 16-17. The two-day agenda will cover updates from federal health agencies, reports from subcommittees on education, research and quality of life issues, and testimony from the public. If you can’t attend the meeting, watch for our report.

Union Station, Washington, D.C., will host the traveling portrait exhibit, “The Faces of CFS” from May 21-June 2. 80,000 people a day visit Union Station for its restaurants, retail shopping and Metro and Amtrak train services and will have the opportunity to learn more about CFS and its devastating impact. Parts of the exhibit will also be on display at the American Association for Physician Assistants annual conference May 26-31 in Philadelphia. Learn more about the exhibit by visiting http://www.cfids.org/sparkcfs/photo.asp. New venues and dates are being added regularly.

I look forward to representing the Association at most of the activities listed here. We hope you’ll take action, too, in whatever way you can! Thank you for engaging in advocacy!

K. Kimberly McCleary
President & CEO
The CFIDS Association of America