Sept. 16, 2019
By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer
There's often a stigma about chronic pain because it's a condition that can't be seen, a Roane State adjunct instructor wrote in an essay that won the grand prize in a recent national conference.
Sometimes, Niccole Rowe wrote, people in pain "feel they aren't believed when they talk about their pain, and family and friends don't understand that the pain is very real."
It was the first time Rowe had entered the essay contest in the PAINWeek National Conference, held in early September in Las Vegas.
For her win, Rowe's conference fees were waived, and she received a free stay at the Cosmopolitan Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.
The conference is for healthcare practitioners interested in learning more about understanding the many reasons people suffer from various pains and how best to treat those who have pain, Rowe said. About 400 to 500 doctors, nurses, therapists and other healthcare specialists attended, she said.
Rowe, a Knoxville resident, graduated from Roane State's Occupational Therapy Assistant program in 2012 and works at Pain Consultants of East Tennessee in Knoxville.
She's been a Roane State adjunct in the OTA program for six years and teaches two online courses.
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