If we want to be taken seriously with this illness, the medical community has to first have the tools necessary to help us. It’s sad and unfortunate, but way too often are those very ill with CFS dismissed because either: a) the doctor does not believe in the illness, or b) the doctor believes in the illness but they don’t know how to help the patient.
The CFIDS Association has worked extremely hard, especially over the past year, in getting awareness and education out to the medical community on CFS. In 2006, CFIDS.org launched their national CFS public awareness campaign. One of the main focuses of this campaign was educational outreach to primary care professionals including physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
Resource materials were not only created and spread out for the public but also for the medical community. The CDC website section that covers CFS was restructured so that it would be more user-friendly for consumers and the medical community. More than 1.2 million page views on this new campaign microsite at http://www.cdc.gov/cfs have been recorded.
The CFIDS Association and CDC developed easy to read and downloadable resourcses. The campaign’s key provider resource is the CFS Toolkit for Healthcare Professionals. This toolkit includes six fact sheets covering evidence-based approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. More than 50,000 copies of the resources have been downloaded and/or distributed at medical conferences or mailed to healthcare providers who request them.
You can read the rest of the article on this great awareness campaign by clicking below:
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