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Quarterly Newsletter – Volume 1, Issue 4, 2015

In this issue

  1. Welcome
  2. OA Action Alliance Program Updates
  3. Upcoming OA Action Alliance Events
  4. Work Group Updates
  5. Take Action Now!

Notes from the Chair

The OAAA saw a lot “new” this last quarter to be excited by. As we are wishing you “A Happy New Year from the OA Action Alliance!”, the OAAA saw a whirlwind of activity in the last few months of 2015, as we completed the transition to a new organizational structure, with new leadership. We brought in new members and as we ushered in the New Year, with new Honorary Co-Chairs:
Lennie and Dianne Rosenbluth.
We are pleased to welcome them to the Alliance and to the Steering Committee. The OAAA is looking forward to working with them to raise awareness for OA. Please take a minute to become acquainted with them in this newsletter below. You will hear more in the months ahead.
We were excited to begin moving forward in 2016.

What else have we done this quarter?

Whether you are a member or just a friend, we want to hear from you! Here are three ways you can help us fulfill our mission to prevent and control osteoarthritis:

(1) Fill out this short survey with your ideas on how the OA Action Alliance can work toward achieving our 5 overarching goals (i.e. Invoke policymakers, foster communities, mobilize health systems and health care professionals, educate people with osteoarthritis, prevent onset of osteoarthritis). We will share your ideas with or work group leaders.

(2) Join the conversation on social media. Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. We see social media as a way for us to carry out the OA Action Alliance mission every day, to share critical information and provide the public with a better understanding of the work we do. Please like, share and retweet our posts and spread the word about our work, and remember to use the hashtag #osteoarthritis in your posts!

(3) Provide us with feedback and let us know how we can improve your experience as a member of the Alliance or as a friend with interest in OA. Share your vision of how we can make the OA Action Alliance the nexus for public health research, policy, and practice for all things osteoarthritis! We would love to hear your feedback on our quarterly and biweekly newsletters. Let us know how we can better support your organization’s mission by emailing us at oaaction@unc.edu. 

We plan to keep you updated on our progress toward our goals as a coalition and keep you abreast of developments in our working groups and Steering Committee. In the coming months, we look forward to  promoting our lower limb injury prevention toolkit, disseminating our resource library, strengthening our membership by recruiting new members with relevance to and interest in OA; collaborating with national and regional partners, raising funds for our small grants program, continuing our educational Lunch & Learn seminars, developing Executive-level task forces, and revamping our biweekly letter to connect our members with the most relevant resources, news, and events from all of our member organizations.

Thomas Trojian, MD, CAQSM, FACSM
Chair, OA Action Alliance

Director’s Corner
Happy New Year to all of you! 

2015 proved to be a transformative year for the OA Action Alliance with our evolution to a new organizational structure, growth with many new members, election of outstanding workgroup and steering committee leaders, recruitment of enthusiastic co-honorary chairs, and development of a new set of goals to achieve. We have our work cut out for us in 2016 and I am confident that we can work together as a coalition to continue to elevate osteoarthritis as a national health priority and promote effective policy, systems and environmental solutions that address the individual and national toll of OA.

On behalf of the OA Action Alliance, thank you for your continued support,

Leigh F. Callahan, PhD
Director, Osteoarthritis Action Alliance

OA Action Alliance Program Updates

The OA Action Alliance welcomes Honorary Co-Chairs, Lennie and Dianne Rosenbluth

The OA Action Alliance is excited to introduce our Honorary Co-Chairs, Lennie and Dianne Rosenbluth. Collegiate basketball fans will remember Lennie from his award-winning years on the UNC men’s basketball team. Most notably, Lennie led the 1957 team to a 32-0 season and UNC’s first NCAA national championship. He has since been listed among the “100 Greatest College Players of All Time.” Later in 1957, Lennie joined the NBA’s Philadelphia Warriors as a first-round draft pick. After retiring from basketball, he enjoyed many years as a high school teacher and basketball coach. Lennie has developed knee osteoarthritis, but it doesn’t seem to slow him down. He and Dianne regularly attend UNC home games and are making plans to travel to Washington, DC, for this year’s ACC tournament.

Speaking of Dianne, she shares many interests with Lennie, including an unbridled passion for basketball (and football!), cheering on the Tarheels year after year. Dianne is a native North Carolinian. Born in Charlotte, she moved to Chapel Hill to attend UNC and spent much of her professional career as a teacher before pursuing her interest in real estate. Dianne also has osteoarthritis, but her positive attitude and her sense of humor brighten the mood of anyone she meets.

Lennie and Dianne bring an interesting perspective to the OA Action Alliance. Their individual and shared experiences with osteoarthritis lend a dose of reality and encouragement to those who deal with the daily challenges of life with this degenerative joint disease. The Rosenbluths will be joining us in various efforts to raise awareness for osteoarthritis so be on the lookout for more in the spring. For now, we hope you will join us in welcoming Lennie and Dianne to the OA Action Alliance!

The OA Action Alliance welcomes Group 4 Leadership

In addition to our Honorary Co-Chairs, please join us in welcoming and congratulating our new Group 4 leaders to the Steering Committee! For more details please visit our website.

Work Group 4: Individual Engagement and Education

Chair: Dan Pinto, PT, PhD, joined Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2010 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences and holds a second appointment in the Center for Healthcare Studies, Institute for Public Health and Medicine. He is a board certified specialist in orthopedic physical therapy and is Residency and Fellowship trained in orthopedic physical therapy and manual physical therapy respectively. In his role as Chair of Work Group 4, Dr. Pinto endeavors to identify and implement communication strategies to educate individuals about ways in which to manage OA as well as engaging individuals with resources and opportunities provided by the OA Action Alliance.

Vice Chair, Penney Cowan is the founder and executive director of the American Chronic Pain Association. Over the past 35 years, Ms. Cowan has been an outspoken advocate and consumer representative for pain issues, contributed to numerous books, videos and websites, and consulted on the development of several pain management programs.  She served on the Steering Committee of the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance and as co-chair of the former Self-Management Working Group, 2010 to 2012. We welcome her ongoing commitment to the OAAA as Vice Chair of the Individual Engagement and Education Work Group.

Stay Connected with Us

We have updated our website and launched our presence on social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook. We see social media as a way to share critical information to our members and provide the public with a better understanding of the work we do. Please like, share and retweet our posts and spread the word about our work and use the hashtag #osteoarthritis and #OAAA in your posts. In the upcoming quarter we hope to launch a regular e-newsletter that complements our social media presence and that highlights news, research, opportunities, events, webinars, and resources from our member organizations.

We love highlighting our work groups and member organizations! If you would like us to feature you or your organization, please send your submission to mylinh.oaaa@gmail.com

OA Action Alliance staff and members kick off Walk With A Doc in Chapel Hill.

Walk With a Doc is a national non-profit organization that provides a free, year-round walking program in communities across America and internationally. The organization’s mission is to encourage healthy physical activity in people of all ages and reverse the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle, with the objective to improve health and well-being across the country. Amanda Nelson, MD, MSCR, assistant professor in the UNC School of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, and OA Action Alliance work group 3 co-chair, recently led the Thurston Arthritis Research Center  in bringing the program to UNC and Chapel Hill, NC. In particular, we want to highlight that Dr. Nelson is the first rheumatologist to promote the national program and is currently developing OA-related materials for use by physicians at other Walk With a Doc sites across the nation. Dianne Rosenbluth, our honorary co-chair is supporting the program.

Interested in learning more? The OA Action Alliance will host Dr. David Sabgir, a board-certified cardiologist and founder and CEO of Walk With a Doc, as a Lunch & Learn speaker this Wednesday, January 20th from 12:00pm-12:30pm EST.  Register for the webinar today! For more photos from the OA Action Alliance, please visit our Facebook page. We hope to expand this program nationwide, especially with rheumatologists. If you are interested in bringing Walk With A Doc to a site near you, click here to visit the Walk With a Doc website and follow them on twitter @walkwithadoc.

Upcoming OA Action Alliance Events

January

  • January Lunch & Learn with David Sabgir | Wednesday, January 20 | 12:00pm-12:30pm EST | Register here
  • Work Group 4 Meeting (Individual Engagement & Education) | Thursday, January 21 | 11:00am-12:00pm EST
  • Work Group 2 Meeting (Foster Communities) | Thursday, January 28 | 12:00-1:00pm EST

February

  • Work Group 3 Meeting (Mobilize Healthcare Systems and Providers) | Tuesday, February 9 | 10:00-11:00am EST
  • Steering Committee Meeting (closed) | Thursday, February 11 | 4:00-5:00pm EST
  • February Lunch & Learn with Kenneth L. Cameron | Wednesday February 17 | 12:00pm-12:30pm EST | Register here
  • Work Group 4 Meeting (Individual Engagement & Education) | Thursday, February 18 | 11:00am-12:00pm EST
  • Work Group 2 Meeting (Foster Communities) | Thursday, February 25 | 12:00-1:00pm EST
  • Work Group 5 Meeting (Prevent OA) | TBD February
  • Work Group 1 Meeting (Policy & Advocacy) | TBD February

March

  • March Lunch & Learn with Robert R. McLean | Wednesday, March 16 | 12:00pm-12:30pm EST | Register here
  • Work Group 4 Meeting (Individual Engagement & Education) | Thursday, March 17 | 11:00am-12:00pm EST
  • Workshop, “The Osteoarthritis Action Alliance Impact on Aging in America” presented at the 2016 Aging in America Conference, Washington, DC. | Monday, March 21 | 9:00-10:30am EST | Register to attend the meeting here.
  • Work Group 2 Meeting (Foster Communities) | Thursday, March 24 | 12:00-1:00pm EST

Please email us at oaaction@unc.edu if you are interested in presenting during an upcoming Lunch & Learn webinar.

If you are interested in joining one of our work groups, please contact the Chair or Vice Chair of that work group (see below for more information).

Work Group Updates

Our new work groups all began meeting in October and are currently developing strategies, objectives and activities to promote their work group goals and advance the mission of the OA Action Alliance using the 2010 National Public Health Agenda for Osteoarthritis, the 2015 Strategic Planning Meeting and Healthy People 2020 as a blueprint.

We welcome your participation and collaboration in prioritizing our strategies for 2016. You can choose to participate in work group(s) or on a task force or to follow up with us via email if you or your organization have programs, campaigns, or resources, events that align with our organizational mission and goal groups. If you are interested in learning more about a work group or work groups, please contact the work group chair (information below) or our staff coordinator for the group. Program Manager, Kirsten Ambrose  (kirsten_ambrose@med.unc.edu) will be working as the lead coordinator for groups 2 and 3. Assistant Program Manager, My-Linh Luong (mylinh.oaaa@gmail.com) will be working as the lead coordinator for groups 1, 4 and 5. Please note that you do not need to be affiliated with a member organization to participate on our work groups.
Policy & Advocacy Work Group Updates

  • OA Action Alliance staff participated in Hill Days for the Rally for Medical Research and the ACR Advocates for Arthritis conference
  • We have contacted all members of the Congressional Arthritis Caucus
  • We will be working with the Arthritis Foundation to educate our policymakers and the public about the effects of arthritis among military personnel and why this population requires additional attention
  • Join this work group if you are interested in involving policymakers at all levels in all sectors to make OA a public health priority. If you have an interest or background in public policy or government affairs, please contact My-Linh Luong or our work group chair, Mari Brick
  • We are seeking to increase membership a a vice chair for this work group
  • Help us prioritize strategies for this work group by providing your feedback on this survey

Please contact My-Linh Luong and Chair Mari Brick for more information.
Foster Communities Work Group Updates

  • Member organization, American Council on Exercise has agreed to contribute funds for another Physical Activity RFA Small Grants Program to promote the  Environmental and Policy Strategies to Increase Physical Activity Among Adults With Arthritis – Implementation Guide. Contact work group leadership and the OA Action Alliance if you are interested in participating in the task force for this group. Learn more about our 2015 small grant awardees.
  • Community-based walkability audit for adults with arthritis and white papers reviewing OA and physical activity are in progress.
  • A Membership Resources task force reached out to all of our member organizations compiled resources to develop a comprehensive OA Action Alliance Resource Library. We are currently seeking members to join this task force to help us create a dissemination plan to promote these resources within the organization and to the public at-large. Please contact mylinh.oaaa@gmail.com if you are interested in participating
  • Work group leaders and OA Action Alliance staff are meeting to discuss prioritized strategies for 2016 and will work with work group members to enact these strategies

Please contact Kirsten Ambrose, Chair Julie Keysor or Vice Chair Cedric Bryant for more information.
Healthcare Systems and Provider Mobilization Work Group Updates

  • Strategic Priority 1: Encourage partnerships to support programs and foster relationship with clinical care providers. 
    • We have partnered with Walk With a Doc (see above) to promote the campaign nationwide, and intend to provide information on arthritis for use at any Walk With a Doc site. 
    • We are also partnering with COAMI to promote the Exercise is Medicine campaign.
  • Strategic Priority 2: Engage primary care clinics/practice groups, professional organizations and/or content experts (medical professionals)
    • We are looking to reach out to local/regional groups to participate. Please review our member list and let us know who we should include as a stakeholder
  • Strategic Priority 3: Provide education and training about effective evidence-based interventions and enable clinicians and clinical care systems to refer and support participation in these programs. 
    • We plan to promote the Arthritis Foundation’s efforts to reach ~40% of Rheumatologists to educate and encourage the use of AF- tools and referral to evidence-based, community programs
    • We would like to present at more professional meetings to educate primary care health professionals about OA
  • Do you have suggestions or feedback on how we can promote these 3 strategic priorities? If so, please contact Kirsten Ambrose or Co-Chairs Amanda Nelson and Alexe Page to share your ideas.
Individual Engagement Work Group Updates

  • We have elected work group leadership (see above for more information). Congratulations Dan and Penney!
  • We are currently strategizing to identify our priorities for 2016. We discussed 8 potential strategies on our last work group call ranging from increasing public awareness and knowledge of OA to decreasing the impact of OA on family and significant others. If you would like to provide us with suggestions or feedback on these strategies, please fill out this survey.

Please contact My-Linh Luong, Chair Dan Pinto or Vice Chair Penney Cowan for more information about the work group
Osteoarthritis Prevention Work Group Updates

  • We are identifying specific objectives and activities to help this work group refine our priorities for 2016
  • Make OA prevention research a national priority
    • We plan to work with members of group 1 to discuss policy-level strategies that might help to promote this strategies
  • Injury Prevention
    • A task force, led by Tom Trojian, MD, is currently developing guidelines for an ACL/Lower Extremity Injury Prevention Toolkit. We have prepared our Executive Summary and draft ACL Injury Prevention Guidelines for review and our discussion our next steps of disseminating to our key stakeholders
  • Weight Management
    • We recently presented a seminar at The Obesity Week Conference to highlight the link between obesity and osteoarthritis and are working with The Obesity Society to encourage continued collaboration in the future.

Please contact My-Linh Luong, Chair Jeff Driban or Vice Chair Steve Messier for more information about the work group
Take Action Now!

Again, here are three ways you can support the OA Action Alliance
(1) Fill out this short survey with your ideas on how the OA Action Alliance can work toward achieving our 5 overarching goals
(2) Engage with us on social media. Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.  Check out our website and share our resources with your networks.
(3) Provide us with feedback and let us know how we can better promote your organization by emailing us at oaaction@unc.edu
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The Osteoarthritis Action Alliance (OAAA) is supported, in part, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Thurston Arthritis Research Center (TARC) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the lead agency. Contents are solely the responsibility of the OAAA or TARC. 

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