A new social media campaign targeting pain management in children will launch next month in Canada. “It Doesn't Have to Hurt,” the one-year initiative, will focus on a wide range of topics relevant to both acute and chronic pain in newborns to adolescents. The impetus for the initiative is a lack of evidence-based pain care geared toward younger patients.
Organizers, led by the Centre for Pediatric Pain Research in Halifax, Nova Scotia, will measure the reach and impact of the campaign on parents’ awareness and use of evidence-based pain management techniques with their children. The initiative will use blogs, videos, Twitter, Facebook and other tools to disseminate and glean information, and to foster discussion. “It Doesn’t Have to Hurt,” is primarily funded by the Halifax-based Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
The initiative launches with a public forum on Monday, September 21, 2015, at 6:30pm-8pm Eastern Standard Time at the Halifax Central Library in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The forum will include a brief panel presentation moderated by Carol Schadelbauer, an expert in science and health public relations. The event will feature André Picard, Health Reporter for the Globe and Mail; Erica Ehm, CEO of YummyMummyClub.ca, Canada’s largest independently owned online magazine; Christine Chambers, Professor of Pediatrics and Psychology & Neuroscience at Dalhousie University & the IWK (Izaak Walton Killam) Health Centre; and Isabel Jordan, parent of a child with a rare disease. The event will be live streamed on the official “It Doesn’t Have to Hurt” website where you can also learn more about the initiative and register.
