Summer 2014 (Volume 24, Number 2)
AHPA in Whistler: 2014
By Leslie Soever, BScPT, MSc, ACPAC
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The Arthritis Health Professions Association (AHPA) was pleased to join the CRA for the Annual Scientific Meeting in Whistler, British Columbia. This year featured our 6th annual pre-course for arthritis health professionals with 93 attendees. There was an excellent slate of speakers including Dr. Shahin Jamal (Biologics Update—What’s New, What’s Old, What’s Coming);
Dr. Maysan Abu Hakima (Update on Gout); Cheryl Koehn and Kelly Lendovy, Arthritis Consumer Experts (Patient Advocacy/Access Issues); and Dr. Linda Li, physiotherapist (Outcome Measures).
We presented a number of service and research awards. Terri Lupton received the Extraordinary Service Award, which recognizes contributions by an AHPA Board Member in advancing the mission, vision, and goals of our association. Terri has been tireless in her efforts related to the AHPA pre-course and deserves a lot of credit for it being such a success. She has been instrumental in securing funding as well as excellent speakers over the years. The pre-course is an excellent demonstration of interprofessional knowledge translation and sharing amongst arthritis health professionals across Canada.
The AHPA Clinical Innovation
Award recognizes members who have designed and implemented an innovative clinical project or related initiative that benefits the lives of Canadians living with arthritis. This year’s winners were Dr. Sydney Brooks-Lineker and her research team members, Dr. Elizabeth Badley, Dr. Mary Bell, Dr. Vernon Curran, Lisa Fleet, Fran Kirby, Dr. Peter Tugwell, Bob Glynn, and Anuj Charan for their project "Getting a Grip on Arthritis Online". 
Top: Terri Lupton receiving the Extraordinary Service Award.
Middle: Judit Takacs receiving the TAS Research Award.
Bottom: Gail Paterson receiving the ARF Movement and Mobility Award.
Through the generous support of The Arthritis Society (TAS), a $5,000 Research Award was presented to Judit Takacs for her work, "The Effect of Dynamic Balance Training and Physical Function in Those with Knee Osteoarthritis."
The Arthritis Research Foundation (ARF) also generously supported a $5,000 Movement and Mobility Award, presented to Gail Paterson for her research on "Pilot Test of a Pragmatic Randomized Control Trial of the OA GO AWAY, a Self-management Intervention to Promote Prescribed Exercise and Physical Activity for Patients with Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis."
The Carolyn Thomas Award was established in honour of Carolyn Thomas, a founding member of AHPA who supported research. It is given to the first author of the year’s best scientific abstract. The recipient was Dr. Susan Bartlett for her research “Assessing Significant Flares in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Validity of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Preliminary Flare Questions in the Canadian Early Arthritis Cohort”.
The Barbara Hanes Memorial Award was established in honour of her work as an Occupational Therapy Director at TAS, Ontario Division, and her contributions as a teacher and a contributing author to the rheumatology textbook Physical Therapy in Arthritis. This award was issued to Sabrina Cavallo for her research entitled “Predictors of Leisure Participation in Children and Youth with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis”. Sabrina Cavallo also received the Best Trainee Abstract for the same research.
Congratulations to all AHPA award winners and thank you for your excellent work! I would also like to thank all members of the AHPA Board and regional representatives for their dedication and efforts in the ongoing work of AHPA.
Leslie Soever, BScPT, MSc, ACPAC
President,
Arthritis Health Professions Association
Bolton, Ontario
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