APS Press Room
| For immediate release April 2, 2005 |
Contact: Chuck Weber (847) 705-1802 |
AMERICAN PAIN SOCIETY’S JOURNALIST AWARD PRESENTED TO ARTHRITIS TODAY MAGAZINE
BOSTON, April 2, 2005 – The American Pain Society (APS) has awarded the 2005 Kathleen M. Foley Journalist Award for excellence in reporting on pain and management to Arthritis Today magazine for its July 2004 story “Almost a Good Time for Pain.”
The award was announced today at the annual scientific meeting of the American Pain Society. APS established the Foley Award in 2002 as one of its public awareness initiatives to support and promote the Decade of Pain Control and Research.
“We are pleased to honor Arthritis Today for its outstanding coverage that raised awareness of the plight of those who have pain every day and may or may not receive optimal treatment for it,” said APS President Dennis Turk, Ph.D. “We hope this recognition shows that the pain community values the contributions of journalists who cover pain issues. Their reporting helps communicate the message that persistent untreated or undertreated pain is a serious public health problem, fueled in part by those who feel stigmatized and are hesitant to seek treatment.”
Arthritis Today magazine is the monthly consumer health publication of the Arthritis Foundation and has a circulation of more than 3 million.
“We are quite honored to receive the American Pain Society's Kathleen M. Foley Journalist Award and are dedicated to providing our readers with accurate, up-to-date information along with the inspiration and motivation they need to help them live their best life,” said medical editor Donna Rea Siegfried, who co-authored the article with Jeanne Doran, a freelance reporter based in Los Angeles. “In the article, ‘Almost a Great Time for Pain,’ we aimed to provide the latest information on pain research in a clear, understandable and comforting manner. We also wanted to provide insight into pain-associated topics, such as the physiology of pain, narcotic use and pain as the fifth vital sign,” she added.
Siegfried noted that readers of Arthritis Today magazine are very familiar with pain from living daily with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and other arthritis-related conditions. “Our readers want to live well in spite of their condition, and they want answers about what's causing their pain, how they can find relief, and what researchers are doing to find solutions,” she said. “We thank the American Pain Society for providing Arthritis Today with insightful and reliable statistics that helped us frame the seriousness of pain as a health issue for our readers, and we are so pleased to have been chosen from among the work of our talented peers. Thank you very much for this honor.”
As the leading professional society devoted exclusively to pain, pain management and pain research, APS sponsors the Kathleen M. Foley Journalist Award to recognize excellence in reporting pain-related topics. The award is designed to honor the work of journalists whose coverage of events, scientific discoveries, patient care, issues and policies contribute to furthering public awareness and understanding of pain and pain-related issues.
The APS award is named for Dr. Foley in recognition of her contributions to furthering professional and public understanding about the need for effective cancer and end-of-life pain management. She is an attending neurologist for the Pain and Palliative Care Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and director of the Project on Death in America sponsored by the Open Society Institute.
Eligibility was limited to work published or broadcast from Jan.1 to Dec. 31, 2004 by journalists who receive at least 50 percent of their income from journalistic activity, either as an employee of an independent media outlet or a free-lancer.
Entrants were allowed to submit a single article or broadcast piece or a series of stories or columns on specific pain and pain management topics. Nominations were submitted by journalists and by APS members on behalf of specific journalists. The applications were judged by an independent panel of members of the APS Task Force on the Decade of Pain Control and Research. Nominations for the 2006 award will be accepted from Oct.1, 2005 thru Mar.1, 2006.