Dakota15
Senior Member
- Messages
- 318
- Location
- Midwest, USA
Last Friday (3/31/23), 3 ME patients & a ME/LC expert physician testified at the Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee in the MN Senate.
They testified in support of Governor Walz’s Long COVID budget proposal (https://bringmethenews.com/minnesot...sal-seeks-6-3m-for-emerging-long-covid-crisis). Their testimony was reinforced by a bevy of supportive written testimonies from the community.
Their virtual testimonies begin at, if interested in viewing:
2:26 minute mark: Director, Minnesota ME/CFS Alliance, Billy Hanlon
2:31: Chair of MEAction MN, Terri Wilder
3:18: President, Minnesota ME/CFS Alliance, Suzanne Wheeler
3:37: ME/CFS Clinic Minnesota, Dr. Ruby Tam
Dr. Ruby Tam's testimony:
“I am Dr. Ruby Tam, I am the founder of the ME/CFS Clinic Minnesota. I am also a Family Doctor for over 10 years. Since 2016, I have been treating patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. We abbreviate that as ME/CFS.
People with this disease are often dismissed by their doctors and they are told that it is all in their head, that they are depressed, or that they are lazy. Then when COVID pandemic comes, we now have a lot of people suffering from this mysterious long-term effect after catching COVID.
They cannot get out of bed. They might walk and talk like you and I do, but they cannot drive themselves. They cannot take a shower every day because it is too exhausting. It's like running a marathon for them.
COVID is one of the many triggers of ME/CFS. We still don't know why some people just cannot get over the disease. We don't have a test to confirm if someone has Long COVID or ME/CFS. We doctors are very overwhelmed by these patients because they are very complicated - we have no answer for them or cure for them.
Their families and friends are becoming their caretakers because they cannot just shop for food or do laundry. We need funding to help these people – to put food on the table, to hire someone to help them, to do chores, to educate doctors, how to diagnose the disease, and to teach them how to treat them.
We need funding, to understand what causes ME/CFS and Long COVID - so we can find cures to bring these people back to work. I need your help - doctors need your help - all the patients with ME/CFS and Long COVID - need your help. I hope that you guys are able to pass the funding that is mentioned in this Bill.
Thank you. Thank you very much."
Just wanted to share here for advocacy purposes.
They testified in support of Governor Walz’s Long COVID budget proposal (https://bringmethenews.com/minnesot...sal-seeks-6-3m-for-emerging-long-covid-crisis). Their testimony was reinforced by a bevy of supportive written testimonies from the community.
Their virtual testimonies begin at, if interested in viewing:
2:26 minute mark: Director, Minnesota ME/CFS Alliance, Billy Hanlon
2:31: Chair of MEAction MN, Terri Wilder
3:18: President, Minnesota ME/CFS Alliance, Suzanne Wheeler
3:37: ME/CFS Clinic Minnesota, Dr. Ruby Tam
Dr. Ruby Tam's testimony:
“I am Dr. Ruby Tam, I am the founder of the ME/CFS Clinic Minnesota. I am also a Family Doctor for over 10 years. Since 2016, I have been treating patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. We abbreviate that as ME/CFS.
People with this disease are often dismissed by their doctors and they are told that it is all in their head, that they are depressed, or that they are lazy. Then when COVID pandemic comes, we now have a lot of people suffering from this mysterious long-term effect after catching COVID.
They cannot get out of bed. They might walk and talk like you and I do, but they cannot drive themselves. They cannot take a shower every day because it is too exhausting. It's like running a marathon for them.
COVID is one of the many triggers of ME/CFS. We still don't know why some people just cannot get over the disease. We don't have a test to confirm if someone has Long COVID or ME/CFS. We doctors are very overwhelmed by these patients because they are very complicated - we have no answer for them or cure for them.
Their families and friends are becoming their caretakers because they cannot just shop for food or do laundry. We need funding to help these people – to put food on the table, to hire someone to help them, to do chores, to educate doctors, how to diagnose the disease, and to teach them how to treat them.
We need funding, to understand what causes ME/CFS and Long COVID - so we can find cures to bring these people back to work. I need your help - doctors need your help - all the patients with ME/CFS and Long COVID - need your help. I hope that you guys are able to pass the funding that is mentioned in this Bill.
Thank you. Thank you very much."
Just wanted to share here for advocacy purposes.
