Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The Truth Lies Somewhere In Between...Somewhere Between The Billboards...

It seems like every time I pick up an article dedicated to Multiple Sclerosis, a magazine, or a recent research study, I am bombarded with some obscure figure/fact how "such and such area of the world/nation/state/region/city has the highest incident of MS". We, here in the Pacific Northwest, boast this claim...particularly Western Washington State. But then there is also Ohio and parts of Texas and a remote area of New York State...the list of "highest incidents" seems to correlate directly with whichever organization is ASKING FOR MONEY FOR MS AT THE TIME.

Here in Western Washington, AKA the Puget Sound Region, we have a very active local MS Society Chapter. This is good...because if you read the local literature, we have "one of the highest incidents of MS in the nation". LOL I don't really KNOW anymore if this statistical bragging is true...it seems everywhere I turn, MS is lurking under a rock just waiting to be discovered and added to the growing count of the "diseased". And yet, by all practical standards, Multiple Sclerosis research is one of the LEAST funded nationally unless the MS Society is throwing our donations at some research about positive experiences" , etc. (And actually, in defense of the National MS Society , they did NOT fund THAT particular nonsense research I posted about last week...no, that was our lovely federal government agency, the NIH.)


Over the past two years-ish, the local Greater Washington MS Society has been funding an expensive billboard campaign to raise MS Awareness. The billboards are designed to ask the question, "What is causing the higher incident of MS in Western Washington?" Is it the weather? The water? The rain?...it seems to be working as the billboards have caught the eye of one of our off-beat news papers, THE STRANGER . This photo ran a few weeks ago in THE STRANGER and I couldn't help myself in sharing it with you here:

Personally, I can't help but wonder if the newspaper isn't correct in their assumption, "Is it in the billboards?"...LOL...

8 comments:

Steve said...

howcomehere.org... funny.

I feel cheated, though, for not having seen any of these billboards... or maybe I just haven't noticed them! What the heck? Are they all in Seattle proper? I feel so disenfranchised down here on the Alpaca HWY.

Lisa Emrich said...

Now just how many people see one of those billboards and say to themselves - of course we would have the most MS-related anything, we're Washington, home of Microsoft (MS).

Unknown said...

the air is blamed for everything in my area of NY

Diane J Standiford said...

The billboard of this, last year, was placed behind a huge tree and only someone in a car looking for it would even see it and most of words were completely unseen. I want an audit ! And I want proof that MS is higher here or there, as you noted, our blogger friends are being told same thing in THEIR area. GIMME A BREAK Diane from Seattle

Nervus Rex said...

Oh Linda, I am LMAO!! Someone is dang funny :)

The MS Society up here claims that Western Canada has "one of the highest" rates in the world. Must be AFTER the Pacific Northwest ;)

mdmhvonpa said...

Hmmm ... I come from a little enclave in Minnesota ... Glenwood . Pop 2,560 (-1.3% growth).

From there, I know at least 6 ppl with MS ... 2.4 cases per thousand people!

Charles-A. Rovira said...

How did the song go? "Blame it on the ra-ain"

I am sick (pun intended) of everybody thinking its a disease of the nervous system when MS is a disease of the immune system.

That's why I resent going to a neurologist when my disease is much better understood by an immunologist. (Ever notice that its is only treated through immuno-suppressant drugs?)

Unknown said...

So many claims to get more money. That's what bothers me the most.