Rainbow at shoreline

The Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association, a 501(c)3 founded in 1985, exists to meet the needs of patients with ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) or FM (Fibromyalgia), their families and loved ones. The Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association works to educate health-care providers and the general public regarding these severely-disabling physical illnesses. We also support patients and their families and advocate for more effective treatment and research.

Uncategorised

Welcome to our website

Details
Last Updated: 06 March 2012 06 March 2012
The Massachusetts CFIDS/ME & FM Association Website Committee members have experienced CFIDS/ME and FM in their lives for an aggregate of about 125 patient-years. I think that vast patient knowledge, wisdom, and experience are reflected on this site. We have tried to construct the site to be very comprehensive, especially in the areas of Diagnosis, Treatment and Disability. We feel that the illnesses described by the 2003 Canadian Definition, the 1988 CDC Definition, and the London Criteria for ME established by Ramsay and Dowsett are all the same illness. We are using CFS/CFIDS/ME as the name of the illness to reflect that belief. We also think this is not the same as the illnesses described by the flawed CDC 1994 Definition of CFS or the even more deeply flawed Oxford Criteria for CFS. Anyone who wishes to evaluate the validity of the research carried out on CFS/CFIDS/ME needs to know the difference in the various definitions of the illness, their flaws, and which was used in a given study. So we have devoted a unique amount of space on our site to that topic.

In closing, I'd like to give special thanks to our Website Committee members and our professional website designer Karan Parkin of Parkin Design. Without their expertise, this website definitely wouldn't exist.

We have tried to design our site to have something for everyone. We hope you enjoy browsing here and that you come back often!

Lucy Dechéne
Website Committee Chairperson

Contact Form

Details
Last Updated: 25 November 2015 25 November 2015

Loading...

Volunteer

Details
Last Updated: 30 October 2023 30 October 2023

Volunteer With Us 1

 

The Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association is made up almost entirely of patient volunteers and their families and friends. We need your help to keep the Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association running smoothly and to accomplish our mission. Please consider volunteering to help with this work.

We provide training and on-going supervision to allow volunteers to offer support to patients/families, or to help keep our Association running. Most volunteer work is done from home, and time commitments/hours are flexible.

Please see our Volunteer Orientation Manual for more information.

The following opportunities are available as of September, 2023.

  • Board of Directors - positions open now!  We are in need of a Tresurer.
  • Volunteer Coordinator - Recruit and manage the volunteers who power our Association. This requires a significant commitment of time and might appeal to a retired individual or part-time worker, looking to make a multi-year investment of time. Learn more.
  • Patient Support - Respond to requests for health care provider referrals using our website and proprietary healthcare provider database. A valuable and rewarding contribution can be made in as little as 1 hour per week. Approximately 20 hours of training is provided.
  • Legislative Advocacy - Participate in building an advocacy agenda for Massachusetts legislation and policy in the long covid era. Help coordinate our participation in the national Advocacy Week meetings coordinated by the  SolveME Initiative.  
  • Transcription - This is a self-paced opportunity for individuals interested in transcribing speeches, interviews and other video events.  Most of the work would be editting auto-generated transcription.
  • Other opportunities are available in telephone support to patients, membership support, support group facilitation, website migration, community outreach and help with events.

If you would like to help in these or in any other way, please fill out this form. 

If you are a healthy family member or friend we especially need your help. We will talk with you about your interests, skills, and how you can contribute. Remember, even a little time, put together with the efforts of others, can accomplish a great deal.

Contact us to volunteer.

Thank you for your support!

More Articles ...

  1. Donate
  2. Privacy
  3. Disclaimer
  4. Homepage
  5. filler text

Notice about names

The Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association would like to clarify the use of the various acronyms for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Chronic Fatigue & Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) and  Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) on this site. When we generate our own articles on the illness, we will refer to it as ME/CFS, the term now generally used in the United States. When we are reporting on someone else’s report, we will use the term they use. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal agencies, including the CDC, are currently using ME/CFS. 

Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association changed its name in July, 2018, to reflect this consensus.