Arthritis peaks merge to boost advocacy
The Arthritis Movement aims to deliver enhanced services and stronger advocacy for people living with arthritis including aged care recipients.
A new alliance advocating for people with arthritis has its sights set on stronger engagement with the aged care sector.
Earlier this month, Arthritis Queensland and Arthritis NSW announced it would merge to form The Arthritis Movement from 1 January 2025 to boost its advocacy for those living with arthritis across the two states.
The merger aims to create a powerful new alliance to deliver enhanced services and stronger advocacy for people living with arthritis in a geographic area covering more than half the Australian population.
Alex Green – chief executive officer of both organisations – will become the inaugural CEO of The Arthritis Movement.
“The merger aims to increase our impact by combining resources with teams based in Queensland and New South Wales and a focus on growing impact through innovative services,’’ said Mr Green in a statement.
Speaking with Community Care Review, Mr Green said The Arthritis Movement was open to exploring involvement with the National Aged Care Alliance as an opportunity to strengthen its connection with the aged care community.
“We recognise the high prevalence of arthritis within the aged care sector and anticipate this will only increase over time. Moving forward, we’re committed to deepening our engagement with aged care services, recognising this community as a vital partner in supporting arthritis management and care,” Mr Green told CCR.
“So far, we’ve provided arthritis-specific services within retirement homes across Queensland and New South Wales, including warm water exercise classes and health seminars.”
The Arthritis Movement will operate under a single governance structure, with the directors of Arthritis Queensland and Arthritis NSW combining to form one board.
The merger follows close operational alignment between the two organisations since 2022, with shared staffing and systems resulting in record fundraising and thousands more people served across both organisations.
The two organisations have successfully collaborated on a range of initiatives including Dance for Arthritis, Arthritis Moves, a webinar series, Arthritis Assist and Tai Chi for Arthritis.
“The creation of The Arthritis Movement promises potential improvements to service quality from streamlined operations and enhanced resources,” Mr Green said.
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