Looking back over the last 3 months, the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance has made tremendous strides. Most notably this quarter, CDC awarded 5 more years of funding for the OA Action Alliance to continue our efforts to raise public awareness for OA including increasing access to arthritis-appropriate, evidence-based interventions. We are incredibly proud of the work we have accomplished to date but we have a long way to go and appreciate this opportunity to keep moving forward.
In addition, we announced our small grant recipients for 2016 in July. We are excited to support community organizations in their efforts to provide physical activity opportunities and education for adults with arthritis. Many thanks go to our member organizations for supporting this year’s grant program: Alliance for Aging Research, American College of Rheumatology, American Council on Exercise, American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, Arthritis Foundation, and UNC Thurston Arthritis Research Center. In August, we rekindled our interest in connecting obesity and osteoarthritis. We engaged the Obesity Medicine Association as a member, we published in the Obesity Action Coalition’s Your Weight Matters Magazine, and we convened a task group to identify ways in which we can have a meaningful impact on the importance of weight management and joint health. In September, we participated in the American College of Rheumatology’s inaugural Rheumatic Diseases Awareness Month with a strong social media effort and participation in #RheumChat twitter chats on Understanding Rheumatic Diseases and the Importance of Medical Research.
To usher in this next phase of the OAAA, we held our second annual Strategic Planning meeting on September 29, including members and friends of our Steering Committee. In a nutshell, we addressed long-term sustainability of the Alliance through development and implementation of a marketing and communications platform and growth and engagement of Alliance members. With OAAA members spread across the country, this is a great way to connect in person, reevaluate current Alliance activities, and set us on a path for future growth.
Our workgroups continued their efforts throughout the summer – please be sure to read about their many efforts in the Workgroup Updates section of this newsletter.
We celebrated Park and Recreation Month in July to support of the great work of member organization, National Recreation and Park Association. OAAA Vice Chair, Laura Payne, represents the NRPA and we are proud to stand by their efforts to increase access and usage of parks for physical activity and overall health and wellness for everyone.
We revamped our online Resource Library to expand our educational resources for people with arthritis, healthcare providers and researchers, and policymakers. Check back often as we regularly update this important information.
Many thanks for your continued interest in the Alliance!
Thomas Trojian, MD, CAQSM, FACSM
Chair, OA Action Alliance
Director’s Corner
Our new funding from the CDC brings with it a wonderful opportunity. In addition to fostering overall growth and impact of the OAAA, we are charged specifically with promoting awareness and encouraging participation in arthritis-appropriate, evidence-based interventions (AAEBI) among adults with arthritis.
Our first goal will be to identify and implement effective intervention dissemination and delivery models for AAEBIs, with a focus on the community-based chronic disease self-management program (CDSMP) and self-directed Walk With Ease (WWE) program. One of our objectives is to develop strategic health messaging to increase the number of people participating in CDSMP, specifically. We will also sponsor a mini-grant program to support community organizations to provide and increase enrollment in WWE.
Our second goal is to identify and implement effective environmental or systems approaches that result in sustainable or permanent supports for ongoing AAEBI dissemination, delivery or referrals. For example, using outcomes from the mini-grant awardees, we will develop value propositions to encourage employers, healthcare providers and systems, insurance companies and others to implement AAEBIs through their systems. We will also develop a referral mechanism in partnership with professional healthcare provider societies to enhance enrollment into WWE, CDSMP, and other AAEBIs.
This is a very general overview but we certainly have our work cut out for us. To get it all done, we have assembled a dynamic team of OAAA staff members and collaborators.
We are thrilled to welcome Mary Altpeter, PhD, and Serena Weisner, MS, to the OAAA team. Dr. Altpeter is trained in social work, gerontology and public administration, and Ms. Weisner is a gerontologist. Both have tremendous experience and insight into the world of aging and implementation of community-based programs and services.
We will be partnering with several of our member organizations that are also funded to increase participation in AAEBIs: National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, National Recreation and Park Association, and YMCA. We also look forward to working with the Evidence Based Leadership Council, the National Council on Aging, and the Arthritis Foundation to expand and/or access their program delivery networks for CDSMP and WWE; and Canary Health for their experience implementing the online version of CDSMP. We have engaged consultants, Sue Lachenmayr (MAC, Inc. Living Well Center of Excellence), Lynnzy McIntosh (Consortium for Older Adult Wellness), Jennifer Raymond (Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley, Inc.), June Simmons (Partners in Care Foundation), and Dr. Daniel Pinto (Northwestern University) to develop value propositions and health messaging.
We are excited to move forward with this opportunity to have an impact on the lives of people with OA.
Leigh F. Callahan, PhD
Director, Osteoarthritis Action Alliance
OA Action Alliance Program Updates
October Events
Step It Up USA Challenge with Fitbit and US Surgeon General | October 13-26 | How’d you do? Some of us joined the Walk With a Doc team, which logged a whopping 20,703,968 steps. Total for all Step it Up participants? 60,918,912,344 steps. That’s 1,152 times around the Earth.
Lunch & Learn webinar with Paul Jones: National AgrAbility and Arthritis Foundation Partnership| Wednesday, October 19 | Watch the webinar recording
Work Group 4 Meeting (Individual Engagement & Education) | Thursday, October 20 | 11:00am ET
11th Annual UNC Wellness Centers Health & Wellness Expo @ UNC Wellness Center-Meadowmont, Chapel Hill, NC | Saturday, October 22 | Great connections with Fleet Feet, Orange County Dept. on Aging, and Chapel Hill Parks and Rec! Wonderful to see our faithful Walk with a Doc walkers and we look forward to seeing new walkers next month.
Work Group 2 Meeting (Foster Communities) | Thursday, October 28 | 12:00pm ET
Work Group 1 Meeting(Policy & Advocacy) | Monday, October 31 | 2:00pm ET
Upcoming Events
November
Work Group 5 Meeting (OA Prevention) | Monday, November 7 | 4:00pm ET
Movement is Life Caucus (Are you attending? Visit us at our poster!) | Washington, DC | November 10-11
Lunch & Learn webinar with Nick Turkas – Conquer Arthritis with New Tools & Resources from the Arthritis Foundation | Wednesday, November 16 | 12:00pm-12:30pm ET | Register here
Work Group 4 Meeting (Individual Engagement & Education) | Thursday, November 17 | 11:00am ET
Walk with a Doc @ UNC Wellness Center-Meadowmont, Chapel Hill, NC | Saturday, November 19 | New time! 10:00amFree for all
December
Work Group 2 Meeting (Foster Communities) | Thursday, December 1 | 12:00pm ET
Steering Committee Meeting (closed) | Thursday, December 8 | 4:00pm ET
Work Group 3 Meeting(Mobilize Healthcare Systems & Providers) | Tuesday, December 13 | 10:00am ET
Lunch & Learn webinar with Dr. Paul Lam – Tai Chi for Arthritis (pre-recorded)| Wednesday, December 21 | 12:00pm-12:30pm ET | Register here
Work Group 4 Meeting (Individual Engagement & Education) | Thursday, December 15 | 11:00am ET
Walk with a Doc @ UNC Wellness Center-Meadowmont, Chapel Hill, NC | Saturday, December 17 | New time! 10:00amFree for all
Work Group 2 Meeting (Foster Communities) | Thursday, December 22 | 12:00pm ET
Stay Connected with Us
Newsletters
We are pleased to feature several e-newsletters sharing the latest news about OA, research findings, events, our members, and our own Alliance updates. Subscribe to one or all and get news delivered to your email inbox!
Biweekly Digest – Sharing the latest OAAA news and OA-related resources, publications, achievements, events, opportunities from or for our member organizations. Did you miss an issue? Check out the archive of Biweekly Digests.
Research Roundup – Highlighting the latest osteoarthritis-relevant, peer-reviewed publications, funding opportunities and current study recruitment each week. View the latest Research Roundup here.
Social Media
We have updated our websiteand launched our presence on social media platforms includingTwitter 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 in your posts.
Work Group Updates
All Workgroups have defined goals and action plans to advance the mission of the OAAA in 2016. Workgroup efforts and progress from this quarter are highlighted on our website.
Workgroup 3: Healthcare Systems & Provider Mobilization
Workgroup 4: Individual Engagement & Education
Workgroup 5: OA Prevention
Please note that you do not need to be affiliated with a member organization to participate on our work groups or task forces.
Take Action Now!
Whether you are a member or just a friend, we want to hear from you!Here are 3 ways you can support the OA Action Alliance: (1) Social media. Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. Check out our website and share our resources with your networks. (2) Send us feedback and let us know how we can better promote your organization by emailing us at oaaction@unc.edu or fill out a short surveywith your ideas (3) Join an Executive-level task forceto provide your expertise on Funding, Resource Development, Sustainability; Marketing, Visibility & Communications; Strategic Planning Management and Evaluation; Membership
Meadowmont, Chapel Hill, NC | Saturday, October 22 | Great connections with Fleet Feet, Orange County Dept. on Aging, and Chapel Hill Parks and Rec! Wonderful to see our faithful Walk with a Doc walkers and we look forward to seeing new walkers next month.
