U.S. Pain is proud to announce Michele Rice as 2017’s recipient of the Joselynn Badman Ambassador of the Year. This prestigious annual award honors a U.S. Pain volunteer who has gone above and beyond for the pain community. After an open nomination period, one awardee is is selected by a committee comprised of U.S. Pain staff members.

Rice has been a California ambassador since 2014 and was an INvisible Project participant in 2015, when she shared about her struggles with reflex sympathetic disorder. Since becoming an ambassador, she has continuously kept U.S. Pain information and educational materials at her doctor’s office and regularly hosts awareness tables during important campaigns like Pain Awareness Month and Rare Disease Day.

Rice is extremely motivated in providing help and support to others while also raising awareness about living with chronic pain conditions. This year, she became even more involved in the organization by joining the Pain Awareness Month team, working on getting proclamations from cities and states across the country. Rice helped get over 60 landmarks lit up blue to raise awareness for chronic pain and has already begun working on 2018’s applications.

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Rice’s commitment to raising awareness has brought her to ambassador training sessions in Maine, Connecticut, and New York. Despite her pain, Rice is active in events in the area and all webinars and social media campaigns.

“Michele always has positive attitude and is selflessly willing to pitch in to create awareness and change, no matter what obstacles she faces because of her own health issues,” says Paul Gileno, president and founder of U.S. Pain. “Her strength, dedication and passion made her a clear choice for this year’s award. We could not do the work we do without volunteers like Michele.”

To learn more about the Joselyn Badmann Award, visit the Pain Ambassador webpage.