This episode features Trish Barbato, President and CEO of The Arthritis Society. She takes us through a guided meditation and gives us an overview of The Arthritis Society (TAS) programs for COVID-19, including the Arthritis Talks Webinars.  Join us on this meditation journey to emotional wellness!

Click here to learn more.

In this episode, Cheryl Koehn takes a deeper look at the results of the “ACE National Survey on Virtual Care for People Living with Arthritis”. She explains the respondents’ experience with virtual care pre-COVID, during COVID, and what they hope will be available post-COVID. The survey identified key issues and opportunities related to the virtual care experience, such as timeliness of care, delivery challenges, and overall satisfaction levels.

Learn more about the survey results here:

• ACE National Survey on Virtual Care for People Living with Arthritis Infographic
• Full survey report

Last chance to take the ACE National Survey on Arthritis Medications Reimbursement (deadline to take the survey is April 30, 2021)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ACENationalSurveyArthritisMedsReimbursement?lang=fr

In this episode, Kelly Lendvoy and Cheryl Koehn discuss a national survey on arthritis medications reimbursement ACE has launched for Canadians living with arthritis to help identify challenges patients are experiencing in getting reimbursement for needed medications. The survey deadline is April 30, 2021.

Follow this link to take the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ACENationalSurveyArthritisMedsReimbursement

About the survey:

• Open to Canadian residents using the Canadian Healthcare system as their primary health care insurer;
• You can also answer this survey on behalf of someone you provide care to (for example, a child, spouse, or parent living with inflammatory arthritis);
• The survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete;
• Your answers will be anonymous and will be pooled for analysis to maintain anonymity;
• Your identity will never be known, and the results will remain in a secured database.

In this episode, Registered Dietitian and patient advocate Cristina Montoya speaks about her experiences living with Sjögren's syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis. Cristina explains some common misconceptions about Sjögren's syndrome, how the disease impacts the lives of patients, and why more public awareness for the disease is needed. She shares her strategies for symptom management as well as the important lessons she has learnt over the course of her disease journey.  

Check out these helpful resources to learn more

• Cristina’s website: Arthritis Dietitian 
• Sjögren's Society of Canada 
• Previous Arthritis at Home interviews with Cristina Montoya 
• Cristina’s 1:1 Coaching program “Breaking the Pain and Fatigue Cycle Club: Anti-inflammatory Nutrition and Lifestyle”

This episode  features Dr. Jane Purvis, a rheumatologist from Peterborough, Ontario and the President of the Ontario Rheumatology Association (ORA), on the rise of virtual care and telehealth during #COVID19. She also shares results of a recent Ontario Rheumatology Association patient survey regarding their experience with telehealth.

We want to continue this conversation and learn more about your experience with virtual care. Take this 7-minute survey on virtual care to help improve virtual care: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ACEVirtualCareNationalSurveyEN

In this episode, Denise Jupp, rheumatology nurse at the Diamond Centre Rheumatology Clinic, shares how rheumatology nurses are supporting people with arthritis at this time. She also shares insights on what patients should know about preparing for a virtual rheumatology appointment and what patients can do to help alleviate pain at home. 

Would you like to share your virtual care experience in arthritis health care during the pandemic? Take this quick 7-minute survey to help improve virtual care: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ACEVirtualCareNationalSurveyEN

#VirtualHealth #ArthritisAtHome

In the fall of 2020, ACE conducted a national survey to examine the student experience since the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced elementary and high schools and post-secondary schools to adopt new protocols and in some cases, close and move courses online. 

In this episode, Maya and Kelly highlight key findings from the survey, which will help ACE improve advocacy efforts and support for people living with autoimmune arthritis and their households. By sharing the results of this survey, ACE hopes to increase awareness for the concerns and challenges that the arthritis patient community is facing while navigating the school year and making decision that impact quality of life, health, education and safety.

Check out these helpful resources to learn more

• Read the full summary of the survey here
• COVID-19 resources for parents and children
• Cassie + Friends mental health resources
• Mental health and arthritis: a complex relationship

The most commonly performed joint replacements are hip and knee replacements but the procedure can also be performed on other joints, such as the ankle, wrist, elbow, and shoulder.

On this episode, Ms. Linda Wilhelm, President, Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance, and a patient advocate based in New Brunswick, talks about her shoulder replacement surgery. Linda discusses the decision-making process to have both shoulders replaced, what patients can expect in terms “of pre-habilitation” and post-surgery rehabilitation, including how to be the leader of your healthcare team and interacting with the orthopaedic surgeon and physiotherapist.

Resources

• JointHealth™ insight: The Road to Joint Replacement Surgery
• Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance 

Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation

• Learn how to prepare for and recover from shoulder surgery 

Canadian Institute for Health Information

• Canadian Joint Replacement Registry Annual Report 

Arthritis Consumer Experts (ACE) is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2020. In the second half of this special two-part Arthritis at Home interview with Founder and President, Cheryl Koehn, we learn more about ACE’s ongoing efforts to advocate for improved models of care, ACE partnership and collaboration in the Canadian and international arthritis communities and how ACE has helped amplify the patient voice. Click here to watch Part 1.

Did you know ACE is the Secretariat and one of the founders of the Global RA Network? Click here to learn more.

Check out these helpful resources on models of care:

• What is an arthritis model of care?
• Interactive Inflammatory Arthritis Care Path Toolkit 
• Visit Arthritis at Home

Arthritis Consumer Experts (ACE) is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2020. In this special two-part episode of Arthritis at Home, we speak to ACE’s Founder and President, Cheryl Koehn, and find out how ACE started, its core mission to educate and advocate on behalf of six million Canadians living with arthritis. In Part 1, Cheryl describes the grassroots origins of ACE and how its education programming has evolved with a focus on ACE’s work on the arthritis patient care experience and satisfaction issues to help enable patients speak out about what is important to them.

Check out these helpful resources:

• JointHealth™ Education
• Patient Reported Outcomes
• OMERACT (Outcome Measures in Rheumatology)