Heritage Health and A Way Forward will be hosting a free summit Thursday to educate and inspire those in chronic pain.

The event will be from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Kootenai Health Fox Auditorium in Coeur d’Alene. Everyone is invited, and there is no cost to attend.

Ron Weaver, director of A Way Forward, an organization dedicated to helping those in chronic pain, noticed the rising concern about opioid use and prescription. A lot of chronic pain patients became very concerned about their prescriptions not getting refilled or potentially moving to a different medication.

This Thursday, A Way Forward is teaming up with Heritage Health to offer new information about opioids, the prescription painkiller crisis affecting the nation and new guidelines set by regulatory agencies and how they affect physicians and patients.

The seminar will also give people useful tools to help manage their pain such as how to gain control over your life, adjusting thoughts about pain, and understanding prescription drug use and its effects on the body.

“We’re trying to educate the community in this time of changing opioid use and prescription patterns,” Weaver said. “There’s a lot of very nervous pain patients out there right now. My phone is ringing almost daily with people worried that they’ve had their prescriptions changed and they don’t know how that’s going to affect their pain level. I’ve had some calls from people whose doctors are thinking about stopping serving the chronic pain population and sending all these people to specialists. I can imagine the fear that evokes in some of the chronic pain patients. ”

With this presentation, A Way Forward is hoping to help people suffering from chronic pain, having trouble finding help or whose medications aren’t living up to their expectations.

Presenters will be Dr. Joe Abate, chief medical officer at Heritage Health, Dr. Michael Whiting, director of pain management at Heritage Health and Ron Weaver, director and founder of A Way Forward and longtime chronic pain patient.

For more information, contact Sylvia Blakley at (208) 660-0104.