Volume 1
Welcome to the Arthritis Advocate
Arthritis Consumer Experts’ (ACE) newest publication, The Arthritis Advocate, is where people living with arthritis can find the knowledge, confidence, and tools to become stronger advocates—for themselves and for others. From practical tips for getting the most out of medical appointments to insights on health policy and opportunities to influence change, each article is designed to help you take action. Whether you are newly diagnosed or have been living with arthritis for decades, advocacy starts with understanding your disease and asking questions. Because when informed patients speak up, better decisions are made, better care is delivered, and stronger arthritis policies become possible.
Learn
When I founded ACE 27 years ago, I thought I was creating a place where people like me—living with rheumatoid arthritis—could learn how to better manage our disease. I never imagined that learning together would become the foundation for something much bigger: a national movement to improve arthritis care in Canada.
One of the first initiatives we created was a series of free, in-person workshops called Plan to Win. People living with arthritis were encouraged to bring a family member or friend so we could learn together from a leading rheumatologist and from me—as a health educator and someone living with the disease. For three hours, we learned, laughed, cried, and, in many ways, triumphed over the challenges arthritis placed in our lives.
Between 2003 and 2006, ACE delivered 30-plus “Plan to Win” in-person workshops, reaching more than 5,000 people living with arthritis, along with their families and friends. Together, we explored the latest evidence about arthritis, medications, physiotherapy, exercise, mental health, and self-management. Perhaps most importantly, we discovered that what we do for ourselves every day can be just as important as what our doctors or the health care system do for us.
We learned. Together.
Lead
As ACE grew, so did our understanding of the barriers people with arthritis faced in getting the care they needed. We saw delays in diagnosis, inequitable access to medications, and too many people being told—directly or indirectly—that their arthritis could wait. It couldn’t.
More than six million Canadians live with arthritis, yet the disease has too often been underestimated in our health care system. Watching people struggle to access timely care, innovative treatments, and equitable reimbursement wasn’t just frustrating—it demanded action.
So we took what we had learned and began to lead.
We advocated for Health Canada approval of the first biologic therapies for arthritis and the many innovative treatments that followed. We worked to improve equitable public reimbursement for biologic medications. We challenged inequities in public drug plans and called for greater transparency so Canadians could see what treatments their tax dollars supported—and where gaps remained. We championed access to biosimilars and generic medicines and, alongside our partners, supported the creation of nurse practitioner billing codes in rheumatology.
Not every campaign succeeded. But many did. More importantly, each one demonstrated that informed, persistent advocacy can improve policy, expand access to care, and make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.
Leading wasn’t about speaking the loudest. It was about bringing credible evidence, lived experience, and practical solutions to the tables where decisions are made.
Today, people living with arthritis face new challenges and opportunities, like advances in targeted cellular and molecular therapies, expanding use of biosimilars, and the growing use of artificial intelligence, whch affect how people access care and make decisions about their health. More than ever, informed patients need trusted information and a strong voice.
Influence
Over nearly three decades, ACE has become a trusted voice with federal, provincial, and territorial governments. Together with our community, we’ve helped shape policies that improved access to biologic medicines, advanced patient-centred drug reimbursement decisions, and strengthened arthritis advocacy across Canada.
Influence also means looking inward. It means acknowledging the role our own community has played—and continues to play—in the inequitable treatment of Indigenous Peoples within Canada’s health systems. It means committing ourselves to meaningful action in support of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, particularly Calls 18 through 24 related to health. Advocacy isn’t only about asking others to change; it’s also about challenging ourselves to do better.
That commitment to learning, leading, and influencing is what inspired The Arthritis Advocate.
This blog will share ACE’s perspective on the challenges, opportunities, and emerging issues affecting people living with arthritis across Canada. It will offer practical self-advocacy tools, thoughtful policy analysis, and conversations that matter. It will be grounded in evidence, informed by lived experience, and guided by the belief that people living with arthritis deserve to be active partners in shaping the decisions that affect their lives.
Will every article challenge conventional thinking? Not necessarily. But every article will challenge us to think critically, ask better questions, and strive for better solutions. For too long, the voices of people living with arthritis have been missing from some of the most important conversations in health care. The Arthritis Advocate exists to help change that.
This is more than a blog. It is an invitation—to learn something new, to lead with confidence in your own care, and to influence the future of arthritis care in Canada. Whether your next step is asking a better question at your medical appointment, sharing your story, contributing to a policy discussion, or standing alongside others to advocate for change, your voice matters.
Welcome to The Arthritis Advocate.
Let’s learn together. Lead with purpose. And influence a future where every person living with arthritis is heard, respected, and able to receive the care they deserve.
Cheryl Koehn
Founder and President
Arthritis Consumer Experts