Hello CFS and Fibro folks!

Welcome to Compassion in Action's new "Newsletter Committee". We will provide information regarding upcoming events and activities, and we want to keep in touch on a monthly basis. Our team consists of four: Bob Dowdell, our layout designer, Rory Murdock, Jacquelyne Paulin and Mary Lou Wood. Together we'll be reporting the news to you. Two of us have Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, bet you'll never guess who it is? Now that you know who we are, let's tell you about some very important events!

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AN INTERNATIONAL GUEST SPEAKER !

Dr. D.W. Ganong

When: May 11, 2001, Friday, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Royal Ottawa Hospital (Auditorium)
1145 Carling Ave, Ottawa

Dr. Ganong is visiting Ottawa to meet with the medical advisory team of Compassion in Action to discuss clinical findings, treatments and research he has conducted on CFS (ME), Fibromyalgia and related disorders. While Dr. Ganong is in Ottawa, he has graciously offered to present simple and practical information regarding various factors that affect our body chemistry. This knowledge should help patients in self-managing their illness towards a better well-being. Dr. Ganong is a Dental/Medical Doctor and member of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology.

This invitation is open to all people, with or without a chronic illness, and especially to the sufferers' loved ones and those who care about these illnesses.

An entrance fee of $5.00 is requested at the door, but those patients unable to pay will be admitted free of charge.

Attendees should consult their own physicians before altering their treatment plans or medications. Please refrain from wearing scented products to this event.

To register, please call (6l3) 860-2423 / 1-877-437-HOPE or, send an e-mail to compassioninaction@ncf.ca.
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FIRST INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL ILLNESS CONFERENCE

When: May 18-19, 2001
Where: Crown Plaza Hotel, Ottawa
Contact: Judith Spence, C.E.O., EISC

• 536 Dovercourt Ave. Ottawa ON K2A 0T9
• Tel.: (613) 729-8821, (613) 728-9493 or,
• Toll Free: 1-877-313-EISC
• e-mail: eisc@eisc.ca
• Website: www.eisc.ca

Registration Fee: $195

The Environmental Illness Society of Canada (EISC) and the Faculty of Environmental Design of the University of Calgary have partnered to deliver a conference on Environmental Illness. The conference, the first of its kind, will examine Environmental Illness from the perspective of the Medical Management of the EI patient and; from the perspective of EI as a Disability, specifically how to meet patients needs for accommodation, including healthy environments and vocational retraining.

Environmental Illness includes Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Fibromyalgia (FM), Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) primarily as well as the related illnesses as asthma, cancer, porphyria and allergy.

SPEAKERS: Dr. Gerald Ross, Professor Tang Lee, Dr. Karen Schad, Dr. Gunnar Heuser, Dr. Devi Nambudripad, Professor Nicholas Ashford, Dr. Lynn Marshall, Dr. Riina Bray, Professor Garth Nicolson, Claudia McKeen, Phm., Jay Kassirer, MBA, Dr. Theodore Simon

Optional pre-conference 'EI' Homelessness Celebrity Fundraising Dinner, May 17 at the Crown Plaza Hotel, Ottawa (tickets sold separately).
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SUGGESTIONS WELCOMED!

Any ideas about what you'd like to read about, or have others read? In particular, 'The Newsletter' deserves a fantastic title! We'd like to hear from you. Please contact us at:

Mary Lou Wood: marylou.wood@sympatico.ca
(613) 446-1971

Jacquelyne Paulin: j.paulin@sympatico.ca
(613) 487-4111
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MAY 12th, DID YOU KNOW?

This is Awareness Day for Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome!

Please encourage and educate others about the reality of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome on this day. This can only ease some of the tensions that we live with everyday.
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And these tips from Andy Rooney, of CBS ' 60 Minutes'...

I've learned...

• that life is tough, but I'm tougher.
• that I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.
• that no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.

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PARA TRANSPO STRIKE

For those of you needing immediate assistance or wanting to help out on the phones, an EMERGENCY HOTLINE is being set up at the Disabled Persons Community Resources.

The number is 724-5886.
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You know you have Fibromyalgia when...
you put the groceries in the trunk of your car, and forget they are there when you get home.