Saturday, April 14th 2-4:30pm

Warwick Public Library

Small Meeting Room

600 Sandy Lane Warwick, RI

Special Guest Speaker: Ellen Lenox Smith

EDS, Cannabis and the Cusack Protocol

Ellen Lenox Smith has emerged as a leading voice for patients living with pain in Rhode Island. Mrs. Smith brings a reasoned and compassionate perspective to the need for safe patient access to medicine. She was a former middle school 8th grade Social Studies teacher, master swimmer, and high school swim coach. Ellen suffers from two rare conditions. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Sarcoidosis, which causes enlarged lymph nodes and granulomas in her lungs. Both these conditions are currently not curable.

Presently, Mrs. Smith is co-director for Cannabis Advocacy for the US Pain Foundation, is on the board of both the US Pain Foundation and the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition (RIPAC) as media coordinator. She has been appointed by the governor to the ATEL Program, (Adaptive Telephone Equipment Loan Program) and helps with media exposure for the RI EDS Support group. She was a staff writer for Pain News Network and today writes for National Pain Report and 1000 Watts Magazine and along with her husband, speaks out to educate others about her condition and pain management. She is also the author of two books: It Hurts Like Hell!: I Live With Pain– And Have A Good Life Anyway and My Life as a Service Dog.

Mrs. Smith is a resident on a small farm in Scituate, Rhode Island with her husband, Stuart (and her Service Dog Maggie) Ellen and Stuart have been married for 44 years!

MAY MEETING:

May 12th 2pm to 4:30pm

Large Meeting room at the Warwick Public Library located at 600 Sandy Lane Warwick

Happy Awareness Month! We are celebrating 5 years together as a group! We will be having two contests,

1. Dress like a zebra – come show off your stripes in your best zebra inspired outfit!

2. Zebra inspired Artwork. Submit your art/craft work with a post card describing your piece with your name and contact information. We will do a blind judging and have people put tickets in baskets in front of each piece, most tickets wins!

We will also have a 50/50 raffle with proceeds benefiting the group, snacks and drinks and lots of free awareness information. If you’d like to help by donating items for prizes and raffles or funds for the event, if you’d like to help set up on the day of the event (arrive 20 minutes early) or want to help with food/drinks contact krista@rieds.org