Almost half a million people in Atlantic Canada live in chronic pain everyday. And many of them can't get the help they need. Wait times in some places in our region are as long as five years. We the undersigned are demanding that provincial governments in Atlantic Canada make appropriate investments to improve access to treatment, medications and services for all types of chronic pain care. Specifically, we believe that:

• every patient should have the right to access care, diagnosis and treatment within one to three months
• every patient should have access to appropriate care as set-out in accepted medical and treatment guidelines
• every patient should have access to appropriate medicines and treatments without undue financial burden
• governments should invest in improving chronic pain education for health care professionals through better undergraduate and continuing medical education and training.

We, the undersigned, are asking for these changes because pain hurts all of us and we want change today.

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