Events that Painaustralia has hosted and attended out in the community
Shingles Awareness - The Hidden Health Baggage
October 2025
Our CEO Monika Boogs was invited to join Australian TV star and comedian Julia Morris to raise awareness about the devasting impact of shingles and the long-lasting pain so many patients can experience.
The Hidden Health Baggage campaign in Sydney Harbour on 14th October highlighted that 97 per cent of Australians over 40 already carrying the virus that causes shingles from a previous chickenpox infection.
Too often, shingles is thought of as “just a rash’ when in reality, it can be painful and debilitating.
Beyond the visible symptoms, it can disrupt sleep, mood, work, and daily activities and potentially affect quality of live. For some people, it can also lead to long-term issues including chronic nerve pain.
A Painaustralia survey asking consumers about shingles and its impact found that out of 2000 respondents, 92 per cent experienced nerve pain.
Nearly half said their pain lasted more than a year. And 53 per cent said shingles affected their ability to work and were forced to reduce their hours or retire early.
One of the key messages of the campaign is to please talk to your health professional about how you can protect yourself against shingles.
Health Hub Industry Awards
October 2025
Painaustralia was honoured to be named a finalist in the Health Hub Industry Awards in the Advocacy Champion category.
Our CEO Monika Boogs was nominated for a podcast with Joyce McSwan from PainWise and Health Industry Hub’s Rozalina Sarkezians where they discussed the barriers for patients to effectively manage, downscheduling of pain medicines and the key clinical trends that will drive transformations in pain management over the next five years.
Painaustralia would like to thank Health Industry Hub for highlighting the issues and challenges faced by the many millions of Australians who live with persistent and chronic pain.
Saluda 10th Anniversary
October 2025
Painaustralia was invited by Saluda to attend the 10th anniversary of the first patient to be implanted with its first spinal cord stimulation device.
The Chair of our Consumer Advisory Council Dr Gabriella Kelly Davies, spoke at the event about the importance of innovative and systemic change for consumers who live with pain. See her speech below:
Dr Gabriella Kelly Davies
I’m excited to be here today to represent Painaustralia and to celebrate Saluda’s and Joe’s tenth anniversary.
First, I’d like to share a remarkable story with you.
While writing the biography of Professor Michael Cousins, I interviewed Michael and John Parker several times. They told me they first met in September 2009 to discuss John’s idea of developing an advanced form of spinal cord stimulation for pain management.
John told Michael he wanted to figure out how spinal cord stimulators worked.
‘Neurostimulators send a current through the spinal cord,’ John said. ‘Doctors hope it produces pain relief. But they have no way of knowing what’s going on in the spinal cord and whether it works. The only way they have of measuring the response is to ask the patient if their pain has improved.’
After chatting about John’s idea for an hour, Michael Cousins looked at him. ‘We’ll measure this thing no-one’s ever measured before’, Michael explained. ‘We know it’ll be difficult to measure, but if it works, we’ll be able to see what the spinal cord stimulator is doing in the patient’s body. We might also be able to see the underlying pathology of chronic pain. I don’t think this will succeed. I think you’re dreaming. But if it does, it’ll be vital, so I’ll back you.’
What followed was several years of painstaking research to develop a more advanced form of spinal cord stimulation.
Several independent research studies across the globe have revealed that Saluda’s spinal cord stimulator significantly reduces patients’ chronic pain.
Joe is one of hundreds of people whose lives have been transformed by the device.
It’s vital that more of the 3.7 million Australians living with chronic pain can access effective pain management.
This will enable them to get back to work; reduce their medication intake, doctor visits and hospital admissions; improve their relationships; increase their ability to contribute to the community; and improve the quality of their life.
In 2011, when Michael Cousins founded Painaustralia, he knew the only way to improve access to pain management was for members of Australia’s pain sector to collaborate to bring about systemic change.
That’s exactly what Painaustralia continues to do and why we value our relationships with innovative organisations like Saluda.
Saluda genuinely cares about patients, which is vital given the health system’s lack of focus on people living with pain and the stigma attached to chronic pain
Saluda is also one of the members of our pain sector transforming the lives of hundreds of people by reducing the impact of chronic pain in their lives.
Thank you.