Governor Brown has issued a new proclamation policy and now asks that proclamations be submitted first to the appropriate department within the State of California. We’ve deduced that we should be sending requests to the Dept of Health Care Services (http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/” target=”_blank” . The director is Toby Douglas. Go to their webpage and watch his video… their priority is on assisting those who are low income and/or disabled. Their emphasis is on providing superb medical care.
To other IC patients, please help us get the proclamation done by introducing IC to him. Ask if he’s ever heard of it, explaining that 3 to 8 million women and 1 to 4 million men have IC in the USA. Explain that California has had a vibrant collection of support groups for the past two decades and is home to the international IC Network which works with patients in 90 countries.
Explain that IC patients often face serious struggles not only in diagnosis and treatment, but also in pain care and compassionate treatment. That students with IC have been punished for asking to use the restroom. That employees may suffer employment discrimination for needing to use restroom facilities. That some doctors refuse to look at the research and tell patients that their symptoms are all in their heads despite over $100 million in research being given to IC research at the National Institutes of Health.
California has always been a leader in the healthcare and, in fact, the only FDA approved oral medication for IC was developed at UC San Diego.. and we ask that California take a look to consider the life of someone who lives with disabling pelvic pain. Man, woman, senior, child… these patients need physicians who are informed, government officials who are aware of their plight, researchers who will fight the battle for a cure… and community members who will offer their support.