February Meeting 2/9/19

This month we will be doing something different! We will be having our first online meeting on 2/9/19 at 2pm with Guest Speaker Ellen Lenox Smith who will be doing a presentation

‘How I have Improved my Life with EDS’  

Ellen Lenox Smith has emerged as a leading voice for patients living with pain in RI. 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.

Ellen 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), is appointed on the Oversight Committee for medical cannabis 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 and1000 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 45 years!

How to join the meeting