Fight Against Arthritis A Moving Affair
Saturday, June 8, 2013 @ 12:53 PM
(Walk to Fight Arthritis gets underway Saturday at Fort George Park. Photos 250NEWS)
Prince George, B.C. – An overcast sky and cool temperature could not dampen the enthusiasm for Saturday’s Walk to Fight Arthritis at Fort George Park.
The Canadian Arthritis Society has been holding the event across the country for several years, but this marked the first time it has been held in Prince George. Considering that and the weather, it was gratifying to organizers to see the size of the crowd that turned out for the walk. Participants had the option of 1 or 5 kilometre walks around the park, all in the name of raising funds to support programs and services dedicated to improving the lives of people living with arthritis. Last year’s walks throughout Canada had seven-thousand-two-hundred participants who raised nearly 1.6-million-dollars.
The Honorary Chair of the inaugural event here is Dr. Kevin Keen, a medical statistician with the Health Research Institute at UNBC. He notes that arthritis is not a single disease. “It refers to more than one hundred different diseases and conditions, but we’re probably most familiar with osteoarthritis, which affects solely the joints and is responsible for about 80% of the hip and knee replacements.” He also mentioned several other, more general forms of the disease which are responsible for a large amount disability within the community. He noted the walk on Saturday had three purposes through fundraising, namely “to provide funding for education, for advocacy and for research.”
.jpg)
The Medical Health Officer for the Northern Interior, Dr. William Osei (pictured above with Dr. Keen), was also on hand to address the gathering. He noted he attended because he supports this cause personally. “I’m here because I’m also addicted to what we call prevention. Prevention has several levels, the primary one which is preventing the issue from getting started in the first place. The secondary one is making what you have better so you can move around. The third, the tertiary one, is giving you the prostheses that you need to improve your health.” He notes that his employer, Northern Health, “has caught onto prevention. We are making sure that you have a healthy life so that your arthritis may not come at all or is postponed. So in view of this I’m asking everybody to take part in this walk today, not only today but in their lives. Look for steps that you can take to prevent not only arthritis but every other disease to make you a healthier person.”
Dr. Osei says being active is key. “We’re here to let you know that you have to move every part of your body that can move. Keep moving and move it.”
Comments
Call me when there are walks against paper cuts and hangnails. I’m busy.
Harbinger-Hope you don’t end up this disease. If you do, you may have wished you had walked or at least pledged for the people that did.
I guess you’re right. Being exposed to someone close with breast cancer, diabetes, congenital heart disease, being told breast cancer has been cured and have it come back as bone cancer, double mastectomy, two limbs amputated, and heart disease to end it all, I have had my fill connected with death and disease. Putting down three dogs along the way didn’t help. You will pardon my coldness but this attitude comes with the territory. Living is the main cause of death. So I have surmised all these years. Instead of feeling sorry for me, just go and have a nice day.
Right now I’m suffering from that rare Hawaiian disease, Lackanookie.
On reading the article it appears that they are not giving consideration to Rheumatoid Arthritis for which:
1. The underlying event that promotes Rheumatoid Arthritis in a person is unknown
2. There are no tests available that can absolutely diagnose Rheumatoid Arthritis.
3. There is no known way to prevent the development of Rheumatoid Arthritis.
4. There is no cure available for Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Malady de jour. I took French for three months in high school, mon ami.These ailments are noted in yer DNA and passed on down. They are genetic. Cure? Don’t have kids to pass it on. My neighbour went to his doctor with an ailment. The doc asked him, “Does this run in yer family?” to which my neighbour replied, “Yeah, my mother-in-law has it”. True story. Suffice to say some people are not quite clear on the concept. Money does not cure anything.
I have to admit I agree with some of the posters here about being a bit hard when it comes to fundraising to “cure” these diseases. How about the walks just be to acknowledge that these diseases exist and, certainly in the case of arthritis, how to live with them. Life isn’t easy and I don’t think it was meant to be.
We are taught early in our lives in North America that we can raise funds by simply putting our hand out.
From an early age, children are taught to sell raffle tickets, collect bottles, support a walking event, etc. to do what? Take an educational trip to Vancouver, New York, Paris; buy team uniforms, rent ice rinks, support a sports team to play in a competition in another city, etc.
That follows them in life.
Now for the politically incorrect question.
Is that so much different from the beggar on the street putting his or her hand out or the fellow on the street corner with a squeegee washing your windshield, or the person sitting on the side of the road selling small bundles of firewood?
Comments for this article are closed.