Halifax Conference Seeks to Spotlight an Invisible Disease
Tuesday, October 9, Toronto, ON -- Nearly
4.5 million Canadians suffer from an invisible disease. That
disease is arthritis. It causes more pain and long term
disability than other chronic diseases and affects babies to
seniors. Despite its significant burden on the Canadian
economy – approximately $5.38 billion in 2007 with long term
disability accounting for $4.16 billion 1– it gets little
attention. A scientific gathering of leading Canadian and
international arthritis researchers will be meeting in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, from October 11 to 13, 2007, to share
advances and seek solutions to improve the quality of life
of Canadians living with arthritis. October 12th is World
Arthritis Day.
France Gervais is one of six speakers who will be sharing
their experiences of coping with arthritis with
rheumatologists, scientists, politicians and industry
representatives at the Canadian Arthritis Network’s 7th
Annual Scientific Conference. Ms. Gervais was diagnosed with
Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis at the age of two. It
profoundly affected her childhood and the day to day
existence of her family. “I suffered some anxiety and I
experienced a lot of solitude because of lack of
understanding of my illness,” explains Ms. Gervais.
She contributed to the invisibility of arthritis through
what she describes as “a phase of complete denial of my
illness.” As a teenager, she exercised constantly. “I wanted
to be the most physically fit person, to be among normal
people.”
As a new mother coping with a disease and juggling the
demands of her baby daughter, Ms. Gervais would like to see
more research conducted on arthritis and pregnancy.
Louise Bergeron is another presenter at the conference who
lives with arthritis every day. For her, arthritis is a
family affair. “My daughter, at five and 11 years of age,
suffered from bouts of inflammatory arthritis caused by a
strep infection gone wild. At the age of 39, I was diagnosed
with Systemic Lupus Erythmatosus and my sister was diagnosed
with Scleroderma (the most serious form of arthritis),” says
Ms. Bergeron. “Both my parents suffer from arthritis as
well. They are the reason I am involved in influencing the
direction of arthritis research; because of the need to find
a cure, but also to improve the quality of life for those I
love.”
Having patients speak at a scientific conference may seem
unusual, but the Canadian Arthritis Network has always
encouraged people with arthritis to play a significant role
in all aspects of the Network. Dr. Claire Bombardier,
Interim Scientific Director of the Canadian Arthritis
Network (CAN) says: “CAN has taken a bold approach by
emphasizing consumer input into research. Consumers are
fantastic in assisting knowledge transfer because they’ll
say, ‘These are the questions we want answered’ and ‘This is
the information we need.’ We have consumers with us in every
initiative we take.”
The conference is taking place at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel (1919 Upper Water St. 902-421-1700).
CAN
would like to thank the following sponsors for their
support: Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, sanofi aventis, BioSyntech,
Novartis, Merck & Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada and UCB
Pharma Canada.
Selected presenters from the conference will also be
speaking on the theme “Managing Arthritis from Childhood to
Adulthood” at a free public event being held Thursday,
October 11, in the Acadia Ballroom of the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront. This event, co-hosted by CAN and The Arthritis
Society, will run from 7-9 p.m. and media are welcome to
attend.
About the Canadian Arthritis Network
The Canadian Arthritis Network (CAN) (www.arthritisnetwork.ca)
is a not-for-profit organization, funded by the Government
of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence ( www.nce.gc.ca
), to support arthritis research and
development and to facilitate the commercialization of its
Network Investigators’ discoveries. CAN is the single point
of contact that links 179 leading Canadian arthritis
researchers and clinicians, 45 Canadian academic
institutions, The Arthritis Society, pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies, and government.
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For more information, please contact:
Stacey Johnson
Director of Communications
416-586-4685 Toronto (office)
October 10-14, please call 416-712-4448 (cell)
sjohnson@arthritisnetwork.ca
1These figures are based on findings from a 1998 study ($4.4 billion and $3.4 billion respectively) and have been adjusted for inflation
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