Big announcement! The Arthritis Foundation is excited to be hosting our top advocacy volunteers from around the country March 9-10, 2020, for theAdvocacy Leadership Retreatin Washington, DC.
At the Advocacy Leadership Retreat, participants will gain the tactical skills necessary to mobilize their local communities to break down barriers to care. This 301-style event is designed to provide opportunities for champion-level volunteers to teach and learn from their peers.Continue readingExpanding Your Expertise at the Live Yes! Advocacy Leadership Retreat→
The Arthritis Foundation is happy to announce that the Oklahoma legislature passed a new law this month that will protect Oklahomans who are living with arthritis.
Thenew OK lawwill reform步治疗。Also known as “fail first,” step therapy is a process that forces patients to try and fail drugs that insurance companies choose before the patient gets to use the medicine their doctor originally prescribed. This may occur even if you are already taking a medication and doing well on it.
Oklahoma Junior Ambassador and AFJROTC member, Brianna Sommers, attended the Arthritis Foundation’s February Legislative Day and was instrumental in passing the step therapy reform bill.
“We did not know at the time of my first diagnosis that step therapy would be the cause of the majority of my pain.
“I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia at age 9. I went through years of my doctors having to make me try and fail multiple drugs, due to step therapy practices.
“Doctors are the medical experts and allowing an insurance company to control what medications a physician is able to prescribe is life-threatening. When I heard about the OK step therapy reform bill, I knew I needed to get involved.I needed to not only do it for myself, but I also needed to help others like me.
“I was a part of a group of kids who had cancer, disorders and other life-threatening illnesses, and I thought about how many of those kids were being asked to take unnecessary medications and procedures due to step therapy. When you are dealing with children, sometimes time is of the essence.I’m just glad I could make a difference.” –Brianna Sommers, Junior Ambassador from Choctaw
“Going to the WA Advocacy Summit is always a privilege. Being able to effect change to our health care law is an amazing thing,” says Heidi Barrett, Arthritis Foundation Washington state advocacy chair and a Platinum Ambassador. “Knowing this change will make the lives of the 1.3 million adults and 6,100 children in Washington with arthritis better is a humbling experience.”Continue readingUtilization Management Getting an Overhaul in Washington State→
At this year’s 2019 Advocacy Summit, the Arthritis Foundation was excited to welcomeMeg Maley, CBS’ “Big Brother” Season 17 houseguest, as a first-time Advocate.
Meg was diagnosed withpsoriatic arthritis (PsA)when she was just 12 years old. After her time on “Big Brother” came to a close, Meg decided to use her newly-found platform as an opportunity to share her story of living with PsA and uveitis. Since then, she has emceed theWalk to Cure Arthritis在纽约举办了许多筹款活动，为关节炎基金会筹款。
The final day of the Arthritis Foundation’s 2019Advocacy Summitis also the most exciting for Advocates. It’s a day filled with energy, focus and a little bit of nervousness – but those jitters were quickly funneled into fuel for a long day of meetings.Continue readingAdvocates Share Their Stories to Empower Change→
Did you know that theEmpowered to Live Yes! Advocacy Summitis taking place in Washington, DC this March 11-12? There, our Advocates and Ambassadors will gather together to be the voice for arthritis on Capitol Hill. We’re calling on you to help amplify the impact of our in-person meetings with legislators by participating virtually in our #AdvocateforArthritis social media campaign on Tuesday, March 12.
You have an important role to play in making sure these messages stand out to our members of Congress—you can help us #AdvocateforArthritis by participating in our social media campaign. With over 97% of Congress using social media platforms like twitter and facebook to connect with their constituents and learn about what is important to them, we have an enormous power to influence our policymakers by uniting online!
You can take action in five easy steps:
Create your sign:打印出这个标志and in one sentence, written large and legible, tell us why you #AdvocateforArthritis!
Take your picture:拿着你的标语拍张照片——重要的是你的文字要大，并且在图片中容易阅读。让一个朋友帮你拍照，这样他们可以确保你传达的信息是明确的!
Maggie Barrett Junior Ambassador
Set an alarm:Our goal is to flood the internet with our messages of hope and determination at 12:00 pm Eastern Time on March 12. Coordinating our posts will help our hashtag gain traction on social media. Set an alarm on your phone or calendar right now to remind yourself to post your picture online at 12:00 pm eastern on March 12!
Plan your Post:Your post can be simple, just reiterate the reason that you #AdvocateforArthritis! You’ll want to make sure to include the hashtag #AdvocateforArthritis and tag the Arthritis Foundation. You can find us onFacebook,Twitter @ArthritisFdnandInstagram @arthritisfoundation.
Send it live:美国东部时间3月12日中午12点，你的闹钟会响，告诉你是时候在网上分享你的故事了。You can view all of the posts in our social media aggregator on ourAdvocate 101 web page.
If you want to take your post to the next level, you can:
给你的国会议员贴上标签。Your post can tell them why you #AdvocateforArthritis and to keep an eye out for our Advocacy Champions on the Hill that day.
Example tweet: “I #AdvocateforArthritis with the @ArthritisFdn because patients are the ultimate stakeholders in health care. @ SenatorCantwell& @PattyMurray, look out for our Arthritis Advocates on Capitol Hill this March 12!”
TheMoschitta family #Advocatesforarthritis
Share a Link to our Action Center.Encourage your friends to take action by your side by sharing a link to org/actioncenter. There they’ll be able to pick an action alert of their choice that will allow them to send a pre-formatted letter to Congress,emphasizing the asks from our Advocacy Summit. This will help us amplify the voices on Capitol Hill an encourage members of Congress to support our arthritis priorities.
Example tweet: “I #AdvocateforArthritis with the @ArthritisFdn because patients are the ultimate stakeholders in health care. Take action with me by sharing your story with Congress at arthritis.org/actioncenter
Raise Awareness for your Walk to Cure Arthritis Team Page.By posting your reason to #AdvocateforArthritis with a link to your team or donation page, you have an opportunity to reach new people with your message and motivate them to help contribute to research for a cure.
例如，“我#倡导关节炎，因为我是美国30万患有幼年关节炎的儿童之一。你可以通过加入我的“步行治愈关节炎”团队来支持我的@构tisfdn倡议。[Include a link to your team page]”
把你的照片贴在我们的#关节炎倡导者标签上，我们将向世界展示我们有能力活着。是的!
Here are some sample signs to help you brainstorm:
Heidi Barrett Platinum Ambassador
我#关节炎倡导者，因为分享我的故事给了我每天与这种疾病斗争的希望和目标。
I #AdvocateforArthritis because people with arthritis deserve a cure.
I #AdvocateforArthritis because my child lives with JA & because of the Arthritis Foundation, she knows she/he is not alone.
我#倡导关节炎，因为我需要保护我的药物，这样我才能继续行走。
I #AdvocateforArthritis because I am the 1 in 3 military veterans that came home with this disease.
“Advocacy is really important to me because it gave me back the voice I thought I’d lost,” says Kwiecien, who was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (now known asjuvenile idiopathic arthritis) when she was 18 months old. During her elementary and middle school years, Kwiecien’s peers were unfazed by her condition and her teachers were understanding. But high school was different.
Scores of the most passionate and vocal champions of the arthritis community recently descended on the nation’s capital to hone their advocacy skills and share their personal stories with each other and with their members of Congress. Attended by nearly 130 participants from 32 states, the Arthritis Foundation’s newPlatinum Ambassadors Assemblywas held March 12-13.
Platinum Ambassadorsare top grassroots volunteers who complete six annual advocacy assignments and raise at least $1,000 to support the Foundation’s mission to conquer and cure arthritis. Forty-eight of our fifty-one Platinum Ambassadors participated in the first-of-its-kind event, along with 25Junior Ambassadors, young people ages 13 to 17 who speak out for the estimated 300,000 kids in the U.S. who battle arthritis. Also attending were 30 future advocacy leaders, highly-engaged Arthritis Foundation volunteers who have committed to achieving Platinum Ambassador status in 2018.
Earlier this week, we held our first ever Platinum Ambassador Assembly in Washington, D.C. The Assembly is a meeting for our most highly engaged advocacy volunteers to hone their skills, meet other Platinum Ambassadors from around the country and share their stories with members of Congress. Our Junior Ambassadors and future leaders – volunteers committed to achieving Platinum Ambassador status in 2018 – were also in attendance to learn, share their stories and fight for the over 54 million Americans who are living with arthritis. Continue readingPlatinum Ambassador Assembly – Highlights from Capitol Hill→
