National Children's Pain Center - What is the NCPC? Who are we?


	What is the NCPC?

	The NCPC is the first-of-its-kind national non-profit dedicated to insuring state-of-the-art pain treatment for all children. The NCPC fills a huge void within the pediatric community by compiling the latest information on all aspects of pain treatment for both parents and clinicians.

	What is NCPC doing now?

	The NCPC scientists are publishing their research and providing lectures at national scientific meetings. The NCPC is increasing public awareness about children’s pain through lay publications and other media, such as this website. The NCPC is providing workshops on pediatric pain and other outreach educational activities for clinicians(See Calendar) The NCPC website is constantly updated in order to keep families and professionals informed on the latest treatments and research in pediatric pain.

	NCPC History and Misson Statement

	The National Children's Pain Center was incorporated in 2005 by a group brought together by Dr. Lonnie Zeltzer. Dr. Zeltzer is a pediatric anesthesiologist specializing in chronic and acute pain in children and is currently the director of the Pediatric Pain Program in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Through her career of research and clinical practice, she noticed a lack of public education regarding childhood pain and its proper management. Dr.Zeltzer and a variety of community figures joined together to form the National Children's Pain Center. Later, Laura Paquette , with her 15 years of pediatric AIDS agency direction, was invited to be their Executive Director. The NCPC is dedicated to empowering parents to understand and advocate for their children's pain care. The World Health Organization (2006) still recognizes inadequate pediatric pain relief as a global issue, fueled by myths (i.e., children experience pain differently than do adults, children are resilient and will forget painful events, etc.) and a lack of worldwide education. The American Pain Society estimates that 20% to 25% of North American children suffer from chronic pain (APS, 2000). There are millions of children suffering from severe pain ranging from broken bones to bouts of sickle cell anemia. Because kids are not always able to articulate their pain, they count on their parents to understand and manage the chronic and acute pain that affects them. Parents need a source of information that adequately fills the current lack of comprehensive information on symptoms, conditions and a variety of treatments. The National Children's Pain Center has garnered support from some of the finest pediatric specialists in North America. Their areas of expertise range from pre and post operative procedural preparation for children to pain management of complex conditions like cancer and fibromyalgia. These experts are from all specialty areas of pediatrics including, but not limited to pediatric rheumatology, anesthesia, psychology, psychiatry, and family practice. All are active in research, contribute regularly to professional publications and span from coast to coast in the United States and Canada. This is the body which shapes our educational content which is now being published to the Internet.

	Facts

	1 in 4 American children suffers from ongoing pain that affects his/her quality of life 32,000 children die each year without adequate pain treatment 83% of school age children report experiencing pain; more than half say pain restricts their life 99% of nurses report that the greatest barrier to reducing pain in hospitalized children is insufficient knowledge of pain treatment

	Tax ID

	20-3381529

	Who is involved in NCPC?

	If you would like to get involved in the NCPC, click here.