Community Planning

Vancouver, Wash. – Many older adults take medication for chronic pain. Although medications help with pain, they can cause other health problems. Learn about how to manage medications and deal with chronic pain at the Tuesday, June 20, meeting of the Commission on Aging.

The 4:30 p.m. meeting will be in the sixth-floor hearing room of the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St. It is open to the public.

Pharmacist Clara Chambers will speak about medication management, including issues related to taking multiple prescriptions and herbal and dietary supplements. As a clinical pharmacist, she has spent most of her career with the Department of Veterans Affairs in primary care, research pharmacy and inpatient and outpatient pharmacy.  

Nancybeth Trester will speak about how pain works, what makes it better or worse, and what you can do to decrease pain. She has worked as a physical therapist for 23 years, specializing in persistent pain, pelvic health and aquatics. For the past three years, she has taught community classes on understanding pain.

The June 20 discussion is the fourth of nine meetings this year focused on supportive services, especially for people 50 and older. Research reveals that 87 percent of people prefer to retire in place and will need a variety of services so they can remain in their home as long as possible. For a schedule of topics, please go to www.clark.wa.gov/community-planning/2017-supportive-services-speaker-series-0.

The Commission on Aging, supported by the Clark County council, is a nine-member volunteer group that implements the Aging Readiness Plan and provides leadership addressing needs of aging community members. For more about the commission, please visit www.clark.wa.gov/community-planning/commission-aging.

Commission meetings are carried live on CVTV Channel 23 and online at www.cvtv.org. To see replay times, go to www.cvtv.org. 

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