https://conta.cc/3aMrG65

Check it out for advice on navigating disability insurance, an update on our outreach to UCHealth and and update on Postcards to Doctors!)

Our full #MEAction Colorado newsletter will be back with a regular edition for February.

Our December 2020 Newsletter has a list of ongoing advocacy opportunities, a summary of some of the press ME has been getting and a little more on how the CO emergency fund came to be.

#MEAction CO is excited to announce an Emergency Financial Assistance Fund!

The #MEAction Colorado State Chapter Financial Emergency Assistance Fund is intended to assist people with ME who find themselves unable to meet a critical need. This is a pilot program through #MEAction Colorado in partnership with #MEAction. This program is intended to help support #MEAction members, living in Colorado, who are in need of short-term financial assistance. 

Read more about it and find an application at https://www.meaction.net/co-financial-emergency-fund/. If you have questions about the this program, please email co.emergencyfund@meaction.net

Check out our latest newsletter for info on Colorado Healthcare Open Enrollment for those on a Colorado plan, How the ME community is helping COVID long-haulers and some research news.

Check out our October Newsletter for a member story and tips on post-COVID 19 care.

Check out our September 2020 Newsletter for a report on how Colorado’s members of Congress are doing at supporting ME health issues, a member’s story about her struggle with housing, and a list of where ME has been in the news lately.

The US House of Representatives is considering HR 7057, which would give $60 million over a 4 year period to the NIH for research into post-viral ME.  In previous infections like COVID-19, a turnover rate from viral infection to ME/CFS was  around 12%.  So we need you to please keep up the pressure on the House to move this legislation forward.

Even if you have contacted them on HR 7057 already, if we want to ever see this funding, we need to keep up the pressure.  So to the extent that you have the energy and health to do so, and especially if you are a healthy ally, please work through as much of the below as you can, and repeat every few days if you can!

1. Rep. Perlmutter is the only Colorado representative to have co-sponsored it yet.  No matter who your rep is or what your party is, please thank him on Twitter at @RepPerlmutter and facebook.com/RepPerlmutter.  It could be as simple as: Thank you @RepPerlmutter for co-sponsoring #HR7057.  You are a true leader for #pwME and #COVIDlonghaulers in the fight for post-viral #MECFS research.
2. If Rep. Perlmutter is your rep, email him and call his office at 202-225-2645.
3. Like/Share/Retweet whatever you can about #HR7057 on social media.
4. If Rep. Perlmutter isn’t your rep, use Solve ME/CFS’s CONGRESSIONAL MESSAGING TOOL to send an email to your Representative.  Email them using some form of this email and call using this call script.   You can find your Rep’s email address at house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative.
5. HR 7057 is in desperate need of more Republican co-sponsors, so regardless of where you live or your party, please reach out to our Republicans on Twitter at @RepKenBuck, @RepDLamborn, @RepTipton.  On Instagram at repkenbuck, douglamborn and repscotttipton, and Facebook at facebook.com/buckforcolorado/, facebook.com/CongressmanDougLamborn and facebook.com/CongressmanScottTipton.  Just say something like:  @RepKenBuck, please co-sponsor #HR7057 to fund post-viral #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis research. ME always has a huge economic cost.  If we don’t do anything about #covidlong causing post-viral #MECFS, the job loss and economic impact will be devastating.

In solidarity,
John

Check out our August newsletter to read about the latest efforts to improve research at the NIH and educate our medical providers, as well as for a tribute for Severe ME Day.

Help us win support for post-viral ME/CFS Research Funding. COVID-19 survivors are frequently exhibing long term symptoms likened to ME. Sources from Dr. Fauci himself to CNN, Forbes and Fox News are mentioning ME in the context of COVID-19.

URGENT ACTION ALERT: Ask your Representative to Co-sponsor H.R. 7057!
Solve M.E. is proud to endorse H.R. 7057, The Understanding COVID-19 Subsets and ME/CFS Act, to authorize a $60m program expansion for ME/CFS research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and expand public and medical education ME/CFS initiatives.

This legislation will bolster ME/CFS research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by an additional $60 million for ME/CFS research projects and expanding into connections between ME/CFS and COVID-19 survivors. It will also enable existing public education programs to include ME/CFS and post-viral disease information, with a focus on early diagnosis.

It is essential that as many co-sponsors as possible join this action in a united voice to call for increased funding for post-viral research into ME/CFS.

Please contact your Representative TODAY and ask them to ask them to join this effort.

We in the ME community know more than anyone the incredible suffering and life-long damage that post-viral ME will cause many COVID-19 survivors. Please do as many of these actions as you can. If you have questions or problems, please reach out to me (john.kelty@meaction.net):

• Use Solve ME/CFS’s CONGRESSIONAL MESSAGING TOOL to send an email to your Representative.
• Email your representative. If you want, use some form of this letter drafted by Solve ME/CFS.  At a minimum edit to add their name in the signature and yours at the bottom but the more personalized a letter the better. You can find their contact info via https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative.
• Call their office using this call script which has the phone contact info, again personalizing as you can.
• Post on social media and tag your Representative. You can use the graphics and sample posts attached.  On Twitter these are:
  @RepDianaDeGette
  @RepJoeNeguse
  @RepTipton
  @RepKenBuck
  @RepDLamborn
  @RepJasonCrow
  @RepPerlmutter
• Spread the word and ask anyone you can to do this!