(From L-R) Members of the Santa Barbara Fibromyalgia/Chronic Fatigue Support Group: Dana Miranda, co-facilitator, Jean Mangus, Kat Foote (facilitator & founder), Maira Pope, and Bonnie Scott.
By Kat Foote, Founder, Santa Barbara Fibromyalgia/Chronic Fatigue Support Group and Guest Blogger for FibroBlog
I started the Santa Barbara Fibromyalgia/Chronic Fatigue Group three years ago last March. We currently have several members who are three-year regulars, including Paulette Ley, our other co-facilitator. Our email list has grown to 50+ people, many who cannot attend meetings because of physical limitations, or live out of the area. We also have many local practitioners who support our group.
Our group is founded on the principle that we are a group of friends who have fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue coming together to share and care. We also believe strongly in community education and outreach. We started a Yahoo chat group (keyword “fibro247″) especially because so many people can’t attend meetings but want a way to talk to other members.
Our meetings last about two hours: the first hour is introduction of new members, and a general topic, often chosen from the National Fibromyalgia Association newsletter or other sites’ recent discussions. In the second hour, we break into two groups, one focusing on education and information, and the other a sharing, personal problems group.
Every three to four months, we have a speaker from the community, chosen from many different practices. Every September, we have a potluck for Memorial Day at my house to include family and friends.
We also have participated in the local senior health fair, and two years in a row, we had a community lecture by our local expert Dr. Victor Rosenfeld (fibromyalgia expert and neurologist).
As our group has become much more cohesive, we hope to start new activities such as a fibro friendly exercise group and a fibro camping retreat!!
We wanted to attend the NFA’s National Fibromyalgia Day event last May, but decided to get together for lunch and march through downtown Santa Barbara with our t-shirts on (we didn’t get too rowdy). We hope to attend the NFA function as a group next year with some advance planning.
