Learn how to manage pain without opioids

HONESDALE — Six free workshops in managing pain without opiates will be offered during evenings in May at Wayne Memorial Hospital (WMH).
The workshops, titled “Positive Healing,” are open to everyone in the community and follow similar workshops offered to medical professionals in 2015 and 2016. Topics include the role of occupational and physical therapy, the benefits of sleep, the “energy” of herbs, pharmacological alternatives to opioids, cold laser therapy and meditation.
“Our area, and the entire state of Pennsylvania, is in the grip of an opioid epidemic, much of it stemming from the abuse of medicines prescribed for pain,” said Donna Decker, RN, manager of WMH Community Health and series organizer. “These workshops are designed to give people tools to control their pain and take ownership of their own pain management.”
Statistics show that in 2015, more than 3,500 people in Pennsylvania died from drug overdoses—more than the number of people who died in car crashes. What’s more, drug abuse and particularly heroin use (a cheaper alternative to prescription opiates) have been steadily rising in rural areas of the state. Studies also point out that thousands of young adults who die from prescription drug overdoses are abusing drugs not prescribed for them but for someone else.
Decker noted that both Wayne Memorial Hospital and its physician arm, the independent Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers, have changed their pain prescribing policies to be pro-active in addressing prescription drug abuse.
ScheduleAll the workshops will run from 6 to 7 p.m. in the hospital’s David Katz Conference Center on the second floor:
Monday, May 8 — “The Role of Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy in Pain Management," presented by Anne Thumann and Karen Stumpo of WMH Rehabilitation Services
Wednesday, May 10 — "Integrative Medicine and Pain Relief" and “Sleep’s Impact on Pain," presented by Carrie Demers, MD, and Linda Vose, WMH Sleep Center
Thursday, May 11 — “Positive Healing with Acupuncture” and “Energy of Herbs in Pain Management," presented by Lynn Potter, acupuncturist, and Patrick Klein, RPh
Monday, May 15 — “Food Medicine Chest — Spice it Up!” and “Pharmacological Alternatives to Opioids," presented by Barbara Griggs-Pratt, WMH clinical nutrition manager and Frank Piotrowski, Wayne Health Pharmacy and medical equipment manager
Wednesday, May 17 — “Healing with a Human Touch” and “Cold Laser Therapy and Hyperbaric Therapy," with Crystal James-Cobourn, Honesdale Chiropractic, and Jerome Casey, WMH Wound Clinic
Wednesday, May 24 — “Breathing and Meditation with Minerva” and “Apple Day Spa Resolving Pain," with Betty deMaye-Caruth, PhD, RN, Minerva Educational and Wellness Treatment Center and Karen Houshultz (owner) and Jessica Juckett, Apple Day Spa
For information call Donna Decker, RN, WMH Community Health, at 570-253-8422 or 570-253-8990.