NATIONAL FIBROMYALGIA ASSOCIATION

Notes from the nonprofit

- Prepared written and live testimony for the Women's Health Research Public Hearings in St. Louis, MO; representing women in chronic pain.

- Participated in the Contemporary Management Strategies for Fibromyalgia Roundtable Meeting and Discussion in Miami, FL. Reviewed and contributed to the white paper published in The American Journal of Managed Care.

- OMERACT conference calls and planning meetings to ensure patient involvement in the 2010 Malaysia meeting where the NFA represented patient concerns and interests.

-NFA participated in the Patient Advocate Leadership Summit; an invitation-only meeting held in 2009 in North Carolina.

-Attended and contributed to the California Neuro Alliance meeting in Sacramento and California legislature visits.

- Responsible for several "Access to Care" letter writing campaigns concering excessive medication step-programs; supplied patient testimonials, both in written and live formats, for Medicare and Medicaid review of medication meetings in several states including: California, Missouri, Iowa, Texas, Idaho and Mississippi.

- Met with the National Institutes of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases' Director Steven Katz, MD and his staff to discuss the 2009 fibromyalgia Congressional appropriation and how to successfully develop and fulfill those approved programs.

- Exhibited at and attended several national medical association meetings, including but not limited it: American Pain Society, American Academy of Pain Management, American College of Rheumatology, American Academy of Pain Medicine, and PAINWeek.

- Presented at the California State University, Fulerton's (CSUF) Community Partners' meeting in collaboration with the CSUF Fibromyalgia Education and Research Center.

- Created, Developed, Maintained, Plublished "Fibromyalgia AWARE" - A magazine that all copy rights are owned by the NFA.

- Had the only HCP & Support Group locator on their website back in 2009

- A partner in over one dozen continuing medical education programs

- Worked in collaboration with California State University, Fullerton (HPRI) in developing exercise based protocols for FM patients.

- NFA has been at the fore-front of developing FM exercise programming that can be distributed throughout the fitness, wellness, rehab/therapy industries.

- Around-the-clock Internet Radio with: breaking news segments, Q&A experts, and interactive resources and support.

- Syndication on Health Portals:
* Web MD; Medscape; ect.
* Fitness and wellness portal links that will distribute patient information and education to the family and friends of the data base
* "The Fibromyalgia Channel" on Youtube.com and Vimeo.com
* NFA's "FUN Blog" (Also providing "Blogging Releases")
* Facebook.com (over 150,000 followers)
* Twitter.com (over 3,000 followers)