HRS Fights Juvenile Arthritis

We're Making Progress, and We Encourage Your Help!

With our CEO elected to chapter Board of Directors (Arthritis News), recent successful advocacy to congress has included participation in 2008's National Advocacy & Kids' Summit held in our nation's capitol.  3 precious young ladies, ages 6-12, joined in congressional meeting and eloquently advocated for themselves and their friends.  Caroline is only 6 and asserts she "can't play on the monkey bars because her arms and legs can come out of their sockets."  Tears were hard to hold back. People like Caroline make it easy to stay involved.  
 
In the very recent past we have certified that more than 46 million Americans are diagnosed with some form of arthritis, making it the #1 leading disability in the U.S.  At this point, awareness remains an essential goal.  The Arthritis Prevention, Control & Cure Act is a bill needing a push to become a law.  Through our advocacy, we have thus far successfully gained support of more than half of representatives to each the Senate and the House, and we have secured grants for further research and education.  
   
People think of arthritis as an inevitable "old person's disease" and don't understand the extent to which it affects kids, the importance of screening, and what can be done to overcome.  A small child simply doesn't realize s/he feels differently than other kids.  Although nearly 300,000 kids are already diagnosed, we expect this represents only a very small percentage of those kids who actually suffer and can be alleviated of both immediate and long term debilitation.  Those not moved by the impact on lives can certainly be moved by the $128 billion annually these unchecked diseases cost our taxpayers.   Please also visit our blog article. 
 

Why We Need to Keep Up the Momentum...

The U.S. House passed an amended and revised Arthritis Prevention Control and Cure Act on September 27, 2008. This was truly an historic day for people with arthritis, a disease which impacts one in five Americans and nearly 300,000 children. 245 Members of Congress, including a majority of this committee, support this bill.   We need this legislation now……there are 11 states without a pediatric rheumatologist and many with only one to take care of these kids.  The financial bail-out bill pushed the APCCA bill temporarily off the calendar; however, on February 3, 2009, the U.S. Senate passed an amendment to include $6.5 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health.  This is an addition to the bill’s $3.5 billion for NIH, which would bring the total to $10 billion. As of March 2009, the APCCA is back on the Senate floor and Mikayla Minnig, a ten year old from Downey, California, testifies before the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee.   
 
Visit arthritis.org for updates on how YOU can get involved! 
  

Thank You!  We send another HUGE "thank you" to all those who have contributed to our private fundraisers, awareness campaigns and chaired events.  Click here for a recap on our most recent awareness campaign in partnership with our Fox broadcasting affiliate.   

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