An Interview with Kate Queen and  Haywood Regional Medical Center

Kate Queen, MD, Rheumatologist 

1.What is your organization’s interest in the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance?

The leadership provided by OAAA has been very important to us, particularly the commitment to Community Engagement and Mobilization of Health Care Providers workgroups. This commitment aligns with the work we have been doing in rural western North Carolina in collaboration with our healthcare system, Duke LifePoint. Haywood County is demographically one of the oldest counties in North Carolina, so we have a lot of opportunity to engage individuals with chronic conditions like Osteoarthritis. The opportunities provided by OAAA for networking and sharing, for mini grant applications, and for continuing education with lunch time webinars have been services that truly meet the needs of small, rural communities like our own.

2. What do you think is the most important issue today related to osteoarthritis?

Overcoming the myths that “There is nothing you can do for Osteoarthritis” and that “Osteoarthritis is not a serious health problem” are two of the biggest challenges we encounter. There is still a lot of work to be done educating physicians and other health care providers about the opportunities available to prevent or delay the onset of OA, manage the pain and functional limitations that accompany OA and optimize quality of life for those who struggle with those realities every day.

3. How does your work connect to issues in osteoarthritis?

We are very fortunate to have a medical fitness facility on the campus of our hospital, Haywood Regional Medical Center, and for 20 years we have been working on strategies to integrate physical activity and nutrition in chronic disease management. We believe it is critically important to create a continuum of care that assists patients to continue to move forward and achieve the highest level of wellness possible in the face of their illness. OA is one of those chronic conditions we have focused on along with the common comorbidities that often accompany OA including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. We are delighted to be participating as one of 3 clinical sites in the WE CAN (Weight Loss and Exercise in Communities with Arthritis) study, an NIH funded clinical trial, and this has allowed us to continue to raise awareness in the administrative team at our hospital, our medical staff and our community. Launching the Walk with a Doc program has also been a great way to mobilize our medical staff and their practice staff and partner with communities in our county. It was the example of other OAAA members that prompted us to explore the model and commit to delivering this program as a hospital outreach service.

4. What is a headline you’d like to see about osteoarthritis in five years?

I hope that before 2023 arrives the health insurance industry (including Medicare and Medicaid) will recognize that programs that educate and support patients with OA in weight loss and physical activity are a great return on investment and provide coverage.

5. What is one interesting fact you’d like people to know about your organization?

In 2017, our weekly Walk with a Doc events were offered on alternating weeks at Lake Junaluska and in Canton NC and we had 27 walks, 365 walkers, 27 MD walk leaders, 2 nursing schools and 49 students students. We walked a total of 128,600 steps!