19年的一年：互相支持
23 March 2021
Whether you’ve been shielding, juggling home schooling, working from home, supporting loved ones or caring for those in the community, we’ve all had our lives impacted by COVID-19.
In March 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation and since then it’s been a tough time, especially if you and your loved ones are living with arthritis.
尽管这些未经预言的时代面临着挑战，但我们已经聚在一起互相支持并继续使变革实现。
Influencing government across the UK
Tens of thousands of you have made your voice heard – from signing petitions or writing to politicians, to telling us and national press, radio and TV about your experiences of shielding, the impact of cancelled appointments and disruption to treatments due to the pandemic.
One of our campaigners, Rob talked about the impact of waiting for knee replacement surgery in parliament: “I have had to give up my job, I have pain walking and sleeping, and no medication has helped whatsoever. My life feels on hold and it’s extremely frustrating.”Read Rob’s story.
和超过30000of you have signed our Impossible to Ignore petition calling on UK governments to address the backlog of people waiting for joint replacement surgery.
我们很高兴分享政府为NHS额外分配了66亿英镑，他们致力于分配其中一些人来解决选修手术的积压，包括联合替代手术。
此外，我们正在与NHS England和Revormement（NHSE/I）合作，通过“最佳MSK健康计划”来塑造为关节炎和MSK条件的人恢复服务的原则。
我们将继续向英国政府施加压力，以确保那些等待痛苦的人及时获得治疗，沟通和支持。
Raising your concerns with the NHS
Thank you for your questions, comments and stories onour online community, through ourhelpline,Cova，Covid-19虚拟助手,推特,Facebook和Instagramchannels.
当我们从社区收到有关COVID-19疫苗接种资格的问题时，我们与其他组织合作开发了一个COVID-19疫苗的决策支持工具（PDF，488 KB）。
We raised the concerns of people with conditions such as狼疮和rheumatoid arthritis, as Cohort 6 eligibility for this group was based only on medications listed in GP records, and not by the conditions themselves.
The现在已经扩展了标准以包括这些组. Thank you to Kalifa and Max for joining us to spread the word about this alongside the NHS and a coalition of other health charities.
Sharing your experiences
Your stories and experiences have been a support to others and let people know they weren’t alone.
伊恩有银屑病关节炎和in April 2020, he told us how it felt to be shielding:
“在我的工作之上，事物的家庭方面很快成为一个挑战。我和我的妻子住在一起，所有的孩子都搬了出去...我们很快注意到人际关系发生了变化，我们的日常联系也消失了。”阅读伊恩的故事.
“It’s an anxious time for everybody but being in a high-risk group can feel even more so, especially with all the uncertainty.” Jasmine, 20, lives withjuvenile idiopathic arthritis并分享她的屏蔽经验.
通过与组织等组织合作British Society of Rheumatology(BSR) and the研究经理和管理人员协会（ARMA）我们已经能够领导道路并开发我们的Covid-19资源，为您在这些不确定的时期提供所需的支持。
Porscha和Bobbie与您这样的其他人分享了Covid-19如何影响您的生活，如何调整以及在日常生活中对您有所帮助。
“如果我不酸痛或疲劳，我确保每天下班每天走了一小段路。锻炼对我有很大帮助。没有这个，我的身体在早晨很难改变。”Read Porscha’s story.
Bobbie shared her quarantine routine with the Metro. “My sister goes out to the supermarket to do the food shopping. She’s the only person in our family who goes out, so we can try and keep me shielded. She wears a mask and showers as soon as she gets home, and she tries to keep two metres distance from me.”
我们听取了您对Covid-19的关注和问题，并开发了资源来帮助您manage your pain,look after your wellbeing,年轻人并support you at work.
Your advice has made such a difference to others
“During the pandemic and the first lockdown not only did gyms close, but I was physically unable to do anything.
我正在努力走路，更不用说更活跃了，然后我找到了一个Instagram帐户，他们展示了椅子瑜伽。我每天开始做最慢的伸展运动。那是痛苦的，但我觉得我在做某事。”Ananthi于2020年6月被诊断出患有血清阳性类风湿关节炎（RA）。阅读Ananthi的故事.
我们已经通过我们的Let’s Move Facebook group人们一直在分享他们如何保持积极锁定并分享我们的12周锻炼计划的方式让我们和莱昂一起移动.
我们已经适应了our local servicesto help support you including online tai chi classes and virtual coffee mornings. Thank you to our volunteers across the UK for their commitment to these programmes.
致力于研究
We’re also proud of the commitment of our research community who have continued to play a vital role to help better understand COVID-19 and help to develop treatments.
与The Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Researchwe’re jointly funding research byKing’s College London更好地理解免疫系统在患有COVID-19的人经历的病毒后疲劳中的作用.
使用我们的抗TNF研究，研究正在关注共vid感染期间或之后的免疫细胞变化帮助了解病毒的影响和develop better treatments in the future.
Our研究has helped us to make life-changing breakthroughs and improve the lives of millions of people with arthritis. Together we've achieved so much, and we’re committed to do more to improve knowledge and treatments.
Thank you
The voices of people with arthritis throughout this pandemic has placed arthritis firmly on the agenda as decision makers look at impact of COVID-19 and what could be done different in the future.
You’ve been a crucial part of shaping our influencing work, and your stories have been our most effective tool in pushing for real change. We would like to thank you for making yourselves heard.
We’re here for you
If you would like to talk to someone, you can call our freehelpline在0800 5200 520