ISSUED: 10 April 2014
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University will host the Sixth Annual Aging Well Workshop, “Pain Hurts: Listening and Helping,” Thursday, May 15 at 9 a.m. in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies.
This daylong workshop presents themes related to pain management and empowering those who suffer from pain. This workshop is open to the community and those who live with pain as well as health care professionals. It offers six continuing education units for nurses and social workers.
Keynote speaker Dr. Amjad Riar will present “Integrative Health Approaches to Pain Management” at 10:15 a.m. He is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and palliative medicine. For nearly eight years he has been providing expert symptom management and goals-of-care discussions to patients living with serious illnesses and their families. He completed training in internal medicine from Baltimore with residency clinical rotations at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and completed a fellowship in palliative medicine from George Washington University. He is author of pain management in seriously ill patients in an Oxford publication “Hospice Companion,” a widely used resource guide in the field of hospice worldwide to treat the symptoms related to serious illness. Riar is a recipient of a 2009 Maryland Governor’s Volunteer Service Award. He spoke at last year’s workshop and is back by popular demand.
Doug Lynch will give the opening plenary “How Can 100 Million People Feel Alone?” at 9:15 a.m. He has both personal and professional experience with pain management. He has suffered most of his adult life with an uncommon and painful autoimmune disease, which rendered him profoundly deaf in both ears, and with multi-systemic chronic pain. He is the former director of market development for Boston Scientific Neuromodulation, which manufactures spinal cord stimulation systems for the treatment of severe chronic pain. He is the founder and owner of the National Pain Report, the world’s No. 1 online news site for people who live in pain. Lynch holds six U.S. patents in the field of implantable medical electrical stimulation devices.
Micke Brown will give the afternoon plenary “Speak Up, Speak Out, and Join the (Pain) Conversation!” at 1:50 p.m. She is a nationally known pain management nurse and a seasoned advocate for those affected by pain. She is credentialed in acute pain management and Reiki touch therapy, has created educational and support programs, written articles, and has been honored for her efforts by the Richard S. Weiner Pain Education Fund. She currently works for the University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy in Baltimore and serves on the board of directors of the Pain Community, a national patient advocacy non-profit organization based in California.
Two workshop options, “Golden Yoga” with Lisha Simester and “Effects of Psychological Pain and Suffering on Wellness, Hope, and Recovery” with Maggie Terry are offered at 3 p.m.
The workshop is sponsored by Shepherd University’s departments of nursing education and social work, West Virginia Bureau of Seniors, and National Pain Report.
Participants must register by May 8. Seating is limited; advanced registration is recommended. All members of the community are welcome. The registration form is available at www.shepherd.edu/swweb. Workshop fees are $50 for CEUs and $20 without. For more information contact Geri Crawley-Woods at 304-876-5337 or gcwoods@shepherd.edu or Christina Wolfe at 304-876-5268 or cwolfe@shepherd.edu.
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