NMCC nursing students attend Maine Pain Initiative Conference

    FORT KENT – Twenty nursing students from Northern Maine Community College joined with nursing students at the University of Maine at Fort Kent along with health care professionals and social workers recently at a Maine Pain Initiative conference held in Fort Kent.     The morning began with guest speakers Frank Chasse, PhD, Jenny Radsma, PhD, RN, and Craig Hurwitz, MD. Topics included approaches to pain management and ethics. The afternoon session featured guest speakers Ruth Collins, RN, Jane Zimmerman, RN and Gary Allegretta, MD, who spoke about the importance of managing pain in the elderly and the critically ill.
    MPI was formed by the Maine Hospice Council in 1993 to provide education in the management of pain and the development of programs to assist health care professionals and their patients in overcoming barriers that may impede access to necessary pain medications. The non-profit organization is made up of health care professionals and consumers. The initiative’s primary focus is to help people get the treatment and medications they need so that they may live pain free and enjoy a better quality of life.
    “All of the students enjoyed the conference, they thought the presentations were excellent and felt that it was definitely a worthwhile day,” said Janet Durgin, council board member and NMCC nursing instructor.
    “I believe the conference fits well with the syllabus and criteria for the Community Health Applications course and we think it would be a good idea to hold the conference at NMCC next year,” she said. “We also are looking to lend our support to students from both NMCC and UMFK in their efforts to raise scholarship funds to ensure all students are able to attend.”
    Forty students are expected to participate in the conference next spring.
    “I think it is extremely important that people receive the pain treatment they need and that our future health care workers are aware of this necessity,” said Durgin. “And although it is hard to get speakers here because of scheduling and the cost of travel, the speakers were volunteers who only received a stipend for their lodging and travel.”
    There will be a joint effort between the two schools to raise the necessary funds to cover the conference fees as a variety of fund-raising initiatives are being discussed.