OA Action Alliance Program Updates
Thurston Arthritis Research Center hosts the OA Action Alliance Strategic Planning Meeting
On April 8, 2015, the Osteoarthritis (OA) Action Alliance hosted a Strategic Planning Retreat at the Thurston Arthritis Research Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Steering Committee (SC) along with other visitors in attendance learned more about developing an effective coalition, reviewed and revised the organization’s vision and mission statements and reevaluated the structure of the organization to broaden our focus and impact. Additionally, the SC reviewed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the organization to guide our action plan development. Finally, we discussed sustainability for the OAAA and the advantages of expanding our funding sources beyond CDC. Furthermore, we are committed to sustainability and our proud to designate our 2015 Strategic Planning Meeting as a Carolina Green Event!
Participants at the meeting then drafted action plans and developed strategies around the five overarching coalition goals that were initially developed in September 2014 by CDC, Arthritis Foundation and OAAA leadership and revised by the SC this spring. These overarching goals seek to:
1) Invoke policymakers at all levels to make OA a public health priority.
2) Foster communities to disseminate information and resources, and support implementation of community-based interventions.
3) Mobilize healthcare systems and providers to proactively address OA in clinical care.
4) Engage individuals in clinical and self-management strategies such as weight management, physical activity, movement and education.
5) Prevent OA through injury prevention and weight management.
While pursuing these five goals, the OAAA will continue to refer to the objectives and strategies outlined in the 2010 National Public Health Agenda for Osteoarthritis as a blueprint for action.
Given the outcomes from the SC’s Strategic Planning Retreat described above, our immediate next step was to amend the OAAA bylaws as follows:
➢Propose a new organizational structure to include 5 work groups focused on the coalition goals listed above. The proposed working groups will subsume the content areas outlined in the OA Agenda (weight management, injury prevention, physical activity, and self-management education) in ongoing and future endeavors and have broader impact overall.
➢Broaden language about funding and disbursement of funds to allow and provide guidance for diversified sponsorship beyond the CDC.
The bylaws were amended on Thursday, July 8th, 2015
In the coming months, we will be strategizing with our Steering Committee and Work Group leaders to ensure a smooth transition of our work groups that are committed to fulfilling our organizational mission. If you are interested in learning more about a leadership position with the OA Action Alliance, please contact us.
Implementation Strategies to Increase Physical Activity among Adults with Osteoarthritis Grant Program Awardees Announced
The OA Action Alliance launched its first small grant program this year. The grant program was organized by the OAAA Physical Activity Work Group and led by task group leader, Yvonne Golightly, PT, MS, PhD (representing member organization, the UNC Thurston Arthritis Research Center)
The purpose of the grant program is to engage community organizations and to advance the objectives of the 2011 report, Environmental and Policy Strategies to Increase Physical Activity Among Adults With Arthritis, which focuses on the benefits of physical activity and ways to make it more convenient and accessible to people with arthritis.
In our first year of the small grant program, we received an overwhelmingly positive response, with nearly 40 applications from 19 states, representing a diversity of sectors and geographic locations.
The 2015 awardees include: Arizona State University and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Wellness Program, Wellpath; Associated Recreation Council of Seattle, and the Texas State University Employee Wellness Pilot Program
We thank all of our applicants and reviewers for their participation in this year’s small grant program! We hope to have the fund to continue this program next year. Please stay tuned for updates on our website on each of our awardees.
For more information, please find the press release here
Launch of the OA Action Alliance Bi-weekly Digest
We recently launched a bi-weekly digest! We plan to use this digest to share the latest OA Action Alliance news, as well as OA-related resources, publications, achievements, events, opportunities from or for our member organizations.
Have something you would like to share with us? Have feedback on the digest? Please email My-Linh Luong at mylinh.oaaa@gmail.com with your comments
Missed the most recent newsletter? You can visit our archive here!
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 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 |
Director’s Corner
