I was recently lucky to have the opportunity to travel to Atlanta, Georgia to attend the 2019 American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting (ACR). While it was my sixth year attending the conference, this was the first time I attended officially representing Mamas Facing Forward and as a Patient Partner with the Arthritis Foundation. I’m very glad to have had the chance to represent patients at this important conference – particularly those who are or want to become parents.
I’m pleased to share that there were multiple sessions at ACR this year focusing on issues of reproductive health for rheumatic disease patients – many more than in previous years! I will have some detailed articles about some of those sessions in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I wanted to share a just a little bit about the experiences of patients at ACR this year.
The Arthritis Foundation had a booth in the exhibit hall at ACR featuring posters from their patient partners – to help conference attendees understand the importance of the patient perspective and the real human impact of rheumatic diseases. In my poster, I shared the impact that rheumatoid arthritis has had on my family – and on the process of starting my family.
The Arthritis Foundation blog published several articles featuring the perspectives of their Patient Partners at ACR this year. You can find them here:
- Elevating the Patient Voice
- Raising the Patient Voice in the Military
- November 11: Daily Dose (This one includes some of my insight on the session: “Transform SLE Pregnancies: Prepared Providers, Empowered Patients”)
- November 12: Daily Dose
- November 13: Daily Dose
I also took the opportunity to chat with the folks at MotherToBaby about the important work that they do. MotherToBaby is the nation’s leading authority and most trusted source of evidence-based information on the safety of medications and other exposures during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. You can learn more about MotherToBaby here.
Lastly, while I was at ACR I had the opportunity to record a podcast with the International Foundation for Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Arthritis (IFAA). The podcast focused on society’s expectations for moms and the importance of pregnancy planning when living with a chronic illness – and how medical providers can help with this process. I’ll be sure to share more when the podcast goes live!
It was a very exciting conference, particularly as it serves as proof that resources and support is starting to improve for moms and moms-to-be living with chronic illnesses! More detailed information to follow!
This information is brought to you by Mamas Facing Forward and is not sponsored by, nor a part of, the American College of Rheumatology.
