January 2020 CCH Department Discovery: Pain Committee

The January 2020 Department Discovery is focusing on committee of staff at Campbell County Health: The Pain Committee.

According to the Pain Committee's Chair, Marcia Saunders, RN, the team is a multidisciplinary group of staff members who are passionate about helping people with pain.

“Pain management is a very complex issue that includes physical and emotions aspects. The group’s goal is to improve the quality and safety of the pain management provided to our patients throughout the system. We also facilitate the education of patients and staff on the benefits, side effects, safety measures and issues surrounding pain management. Our group is always looking for effective options or alternatives to the standard opioid medications to help our patients,” she says.

The Pain Committee typically consists of 10-12 employees; however, they are always open to welcoming new members who would like to participate in efforts to investigate and provide safe and effective pain management for patients.

Throughout the years, the team has developed a patient education booklet, “Pain Management Information,” and updated the organization’s Pain Scale to help addresses more than the 1-10 pain scale, but how pain affects the persons sleep, activity, mood and stress.

The last two years, the committee has held a Pain Management Symposium for residents in the Campbell County, Wyoming community who suffer with chronic pain.

“The focus of our seminar is educating people on ways to retrain your brain to control their pain and take back their quality of life,” says Marcia. “The symposium reviews different options that a person can include in their life such as breathing techniques, meditation, journaling and positive thinking, increasing pleasurable physical activity.”

The Pain Committee can be reached by contacting Marcia Saunders at 307-688-4443 or Marcia.Saunders@cchwyo.org.

A big round of applause to the Pain Committee! Thank you for all that you do for keeping our community healthy, safe and living life with a little less pain.