Thank you. You created the groundswell we needed to start getting Congress to pay attention to the “Pain Management Best Practices” report.

During our Virtual Advocacy campaign, 595 pain warriors sent 1,944 emails to Congress. 60 pain warriors made 144 calls to Congress. And #aplanforpain was tweeted out at least 500 times, reaching thousands of people, including federal legislators.

These numbers may seem small in the context of the 50 million Americans who live with chronic pain, but keep in mind: this was just one day of action.

Let’s not stop there

This campaign isn’t ending after just 24 hours. Up until Congress finalizes their budget for next year, let’s keep pushing. Share the Action Center site with your loved ones, friends, your pain doctor. We know chronic pain devastates not just individuals, but entire families. Really, it has enormous implications for all of society in terms of unnecessary suffering, lost productivity, and health care costs. Everyone should care about pain.

And if you haven’t made a call yet — we really encourage you to do so. This is the most effective way to reach policymakers and get their attention. Don’t be shy: remember, they work for you. It’s their job to listen and respond to constituents’ concerns.

Let us know if you hear back

Advocacy is a two-way street. If you receive a personal email or call from your legislator, or their aide, let us know! We’d love to hear their response and can help you if they ask for more information or a meeting.

Just shoot us an email at [email protected].

We’ll keep connecting you to action opportunities

We also want to remind you: this is only one opportunity to create change. We are always looking for other ways to bring attention to pain and improve care at a national level. For example, right now, there is the option to submit your perspective and experience as a person with pain to the CDC. The deadline to submit comment is Tuesday, June 16. (Note: in your comment to them, we encourage you to bring up the Pain Management Best Practices report!)

You have power

Chronic pain can make you feel helpless. But we hope this campaign serves as a reminder: you do have power. You do have a voice. You CAN make a difference–especially when we work together.