Newsletter 1/2013 - EULAR

See you at the HP stand!
The EULAR HP Committee is delighted to
welcome you to the EULAR Congress and
invite you to visit the HP Stand.
As the incoming chair, I would really
appreciate the opportunity to meet up with
as many HP delegates attending congress
as possible – with this in mind all the HP
Standing Committee welcome you to our
own HP stand. The congress is a very busy
time for everyone and the programme has
been carefully prepared to provide interesting
and stimulating sessions and other activities,
but we hope you might find some time to
pop in and meet us. Let’s make this one a
memorable and exceptional event! As in
the previous congresses, the EULAR village
interlinks all EULAR social activities and
sister societies in the same location and
creates a cosy atmosphere for informal
meetings. The HP booth is also located in
the EULAR Village, stands No 17.
The beautiful city of Madrid provides
us with an opportunity once again for all
of us from all parts of the world to network
on important issues relevant to all of us
as Health professionals, HP researchers,
students, national representatives, and
colleagues.
So why bother to come and visit us?
Firstly, you will meet HPs across Europe,
from a range of disciplines all with a vision
and wish to collaborate together. We have
national HP presidents representing their
organisations, and the number of national
HP members of EULAR is growing fast. We
hope we can meet up informally on the stand
and learn more about each other’s work. You
can hear about our campaign to recruit more
members to build our European presence and
profile and support each other. You can get
information on how to apply for a EULAR
HP research or educational grant and much
more! We also look forward to seeing some of
you who have been awarded travel bursaries
and research grants as well as those working
on EULAR-funded projects – so some of
the committee can meet you in person and
hear how you have benefited from the grants.
Most importantly, it is an opportunity for
you to learn about what the HP committee
are doing on your behalf and have a voice
about the work of EULAR HP Standing
Committee.
EULAR Health Professionals News
The HP stand is your
information resource and
you will not regret your
visit!!
Take part – former
networking meetings are
now HP study groups
An exciting time!! Yes, an exciting time as
EULAR further supports the work of Health
Professionals. As many of you will be well
aware from previous congresses, there were
informal meetings where professional groups
met up.
Since EULAR wants to
have a stronger framework that
is robust in understanding the
activity undertaken during the
Congress, we now have study
groups which offer us time to
network, plan new initiatives
and sometimes simply consider
variance in different practices.
The more time we have to
understand the work we all
do in our different European
countries and share our
experiences within our areas of
interest the better!
It was wonderful to see how the previous
network leads have worked with the HP
Standing Committee to prepare the necessary
documents to set up the new study groups.
The study groups for nurses, physiotherapists,
occupational therapists, social workers, and
psychologists will coincide with the scientific
HP programme of the congress.
This year the podiatrists will
have their first meeting ever to
discuss starting a study group in
future congresses. In the table
are the times and places for the
groups, please take advantage
of them. You do not need to
register in advance. The study
groups are a great way to meet
with HPs with similar interests.
If you have ideas or projects
you want to discuss with the
different study groups, you can
contact the leads directly.
Sue Oliver
Chair-elect for HPs
sue@susanoliver.com
6
EULAR Standing HP Committee’s chair-elect Sue Oliver is looking
forward to seeing you all in Madrid.
Our U.S. colleagues from the Association of Rheumatology
Health Professionals (ARHP) will be joining us in Madrid. From
left to right, ARHP President-elect Karen Smarr, PhD, ARHP
President Jan Richardson, PT, PhD, and ARHP Past-president
Benjamin Smith, PA-C.
In earlier congresses the HP stand has functioned as an ideal
meeting point for HPs from Europe and beyond.