I had a nice surprise today, which started with a phone call a few weeks ago. Last month, I received an out-of-the-blue call from one of the specialist physicians at the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit (AEPMU), which is part of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).
I’m a patient at the AEPMU’s multidisciplinary chronic pain clinic, because of a disease called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). It affects my right hand and arm, but it has an impact on pretty much my entire life. The AEPMU team’s approach is to make their patients’ lives as good as they can be – despite their pain. Because, in many cases, medicine can’t resolve chronic pain.
Why was the AEPMU calling me? To ask whether the MUHC could quote me, for an article about the pain clinic in their newsletter – and on their website. You can probably guess that I instantly agreed, right? The piece was going to be about the triage system at the pain clinic, including the orientation session that they offer to potential patients; people who’ve been referred to the AEPMU by other physicians.
The surprise today was seeing that this MUHC article has now been published, with my quote. You can read the piece, “Shorter wait times and better care at the MUHC Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit”, here:
https://muhc.ca/news-and-patient-stories/shorter-wait-times-and-better-care-muhc-allan-edwards-pain-management-unit
If you don’t want to read the entire piece, here’s an excerpt with my quote:
The new process has enabled the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit to cut the average wait time from two years in 2009 to 6 months today, and this in spite of a constantly rising number of consultations over the same period. This is by far the lowest wait time of any tertiary pain management unit in Quebec, and one of the lowest in Canada.
For patients, the shorter wait times have made all the difference.
“It immediately felt as though I’d found a safe place – to be a patient, a person,” says Sandra Woods, a patient of the AEPMU. “The impact of my disease wasn’t something that I’d have to struggle to communicate to another disbelieving physician. That feeling, of the AEPMU being my ‘safe place’ remains intact”.”
I think this is the first time that I’ve been quoted, and it was truly a pleasure to be able to help spotlight the outstanding work that the AEPMU does for its patients. For people like me.
As an added bonus, each time I have an appointment at the AEPMU – housed within the Montreal General Hospital (MGH) – I get to see some lovely views of the city. The mountainside location of the MGH is like a scenic lookout, with good views to the east, south, and west of the city ‘-)
