Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Thank you for the privilege of presenting to your committee today.
My name is Dr. Ramesh Zacharias. I am the president and CEO and medical director of the Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans. We are an independent not-for-profit organization that was established on April 1, 2020. We are funded by Veterans Affairs Canada to study the effects of chronic pain in Canadian veterans and to focus on improving pain management and overall well-being of Canadian veterans and their families.
Chronic pain affects 20% of the general population of Canadians. That number increases to 40% of veterans, and sadly it affects 50% of female veterans. In addition, 60% of veterans suffering from chronic pain also suffer from mental health issues, and 63% of veterans suffering from mental health issues also suffer from chronic pain.
In the last three years, CPCoE has funded 43 research projects involving 24 institutions across Canada, including seven postgraduate research projects with master's and Ph.D. candidates. One candidate is our next presenter, Hélène Le Scelleur, a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces. She will share her remarkable story shortly.
Sixty to seventy per cent of my clinical practice involves veterans at the Michael G. DeGroote Pain Clinic at Hamilton Health Sciences. The statistics I have presented are reflected in the population of patients I treat every day. It is critical that both pain and mental health issues be treated concurrently to achieve any relief from these debilitating chronic conditions. Our clinic has the best success in treating veterans through an interdisciplinary team using a biopsychosocial model of care.
I will now have the co-chair of the CPCoE's advisory council of veterans, Hélène Le Scelleur, share her amazing story of resilience.