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June 10, 2006

I am just finishing a class at Lawrence Memorial Hospital on the subject of Arthritis.

The class meets every Monday night for five sessions and I highly recommend it to anyone dealing with arthritis and fibromyalgia.

The class is led by Tamra Anrig, Occupational Therapist, Kreider Rehabilitation and Betty Childers, a volunteer from the Arthritis Foundation. The textbook is “The Arthritis Helpbook”, a self-management program for coping with Arthritis and Fibromyalgia.

This is a GREAT class. It is highly educational, informative and fun. We learn not just from the instructors, but, from the other class members. The atmosphere in the classroom is informal and allows for questions and feedback from all members present.

At the same time, it is structured to cover the material and the leaders keep us on task

with a variety of methods that are designed to help us cope with the subject and self-manage our symptoms.

Just a few of the subjects covered are pain management, exercise/fitness, healthy eating, medication usage, and depression and the emotions that sometimes accompany a debilitating illness. The book is a great supplemental resource for the material presented in class.

This is a class you can feel good about recommending to your patients.

Marilyn Hardy
McLouth, KS