By Professor Lorimer Moseley
L to R: Geoffrey Speldewinde, Lorimer Moseley and Fiona Hodson at the Pain Revolution 2017 arrival in Adelaide
Pain Revolution 2017 saw us depart Melbourne a week before the APS Adelaide meeting. We rode 890kms and took in Ballarat, Lorne, Warrnambool, Mt Gambier and Murray Bridge. Here are some stats:
During the week:
- 1,400 in-person engagements (350 health professionals, 900 community participants, 56 community VIPs)
- 13 outreach events
- 26 media interviews
- 486 bananas eaten
- Individual donations raising $80,000
- about 750,000 people engaged with us via social media
- estimated over 1million via television (e.g. National Nine News 5.30 and 7pm editions and the ABC Ask the Doctor programme)
- 22 exhausted, exhilarated cyclists
- one growing committed community
After the event:
We had over 1,500 contacts from people who live on or close by our 2017 route and were seeking care, all of whom have been referred to local contacts we made during the Pain Revolution. Pain Revolution has been approached by numerous regional centres and by international bodies to consider expanding the concept internationally, particularly in light of the 2018 Year of Pain Education. We have indicated that we will assist anyone else with their attempt to get it started. I am advising people in California, New York State, UK and Austria about this. To get a feel for the 2017 cycling component and some reflections (or to whet your appetite to ride in 2018!), you can view a 5 minute video here: https://vimeo.com/225503061/c493c96081
Here is what we are doing with the money:
We have appointed a Pain Revolution Project Officer, Angie Clerc-Hawke, who has commenced implementation of our vision, which is to upskill and train rurally based ‘Local Pain Educators’, who then work within their community to educate health professionals and community and promote best practice biopsychosocial care. Training includes theory and practice components, ongoing weekly mentoring and regular audit and feedback. This is a small beginning, which reflects our budget, but our vision is grand. We are currently engaging local communities in the target locations for 2018: Wollongong, Nowra, Bungadore, Canberra, Cooma, Jindabyne, Corryong and Albury/Wodonga.
We will fully evaluate our attempts via empirical methods. We now have three honours students doing projects on Pain Revolution.
Cycling Onward:
We look forward to further collaborating with the APS in 2018 and are pleased to learn that the APS Board, at their recent Strategic Planning Meeting, committed to again sponsor the Pain Revolution Ride for 2018.
We will be departing from the APS Annual Scientific Meeting in Sydney on Wednesday 11 April 2018. If you would like to learn about how you can get involved or join us for an amazing cycling and outreach experience, helping us to raise money for more Local Pain Educators, please contact Angie.Clerc-Hawke@unisa.edu.au.
Together we are paving the way to a healthier future and this is only the beginning ….again, thanks so much for the APS support. For more details, check out the Pain revolution website.
Viva la revolution!
Australian Pain Society 