Five Ways to Get Involved in the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Simple Tasks Campaign

If you are comfortable pitching story ideas and responding to media requests from your local media, you might be a good fit for this opportunity. Also, if you have opportunities for public speaking in your area, the ACR can help you work the messages of the Simple Tasks campaign into your presentations.

Stay Informed and Inform Others

It takes a while for a public relations campaign to gain traction, and staying informed on the most current activities of Simple Tasks will help you identify the best ways for you to get involved as well as the best ways to share the campaign with people in your community.

From www.rheumatology.org, you can log in and access a members-only campaign page that will keep you updated on the campaign’s activities. You can also visit www.SimpleTasks.org to see how the campaign is currently being presented to its audiences.

As the campaign moves along, the members-only page will include materials that you can utilize in your community. Right now, you have access to the following materials:

• The campaign’s first video: This award-winning video is a great way to put the Simple Tasks story into motion. Use this on your practice’s or institution’s website, share it via social media, or use in training/mentoring sessions.
• Campaign articles: Each month, the ACR adds a new article to the campaign website. These articles cover a number of topics ranging from what the campaign audience should know about rheumatic disease to the importance of the window of opportunity. Not only can you volunteer to author one of these articles, but you can also share these with referring physicians, lawmakers, patients, medical students, and media in your area.
• Campaign overview, Q&A, and press releases: Not sure you can answer all the questions about the campaign? Want to tell your local media about Simple Tasks, but not sure where to start? These materials will prepare you to answer questions and introduce the campaign to people in your community.

Congressman David McKinley (right) with ACR President James R. O’Dell, MD.

Participate in the ACR’s Legislative Activities

Simple Tasks supports a number of the ACR’s ongoing efforts—including advocacy. Educating lawmakers on the severity of the diseases, the expertise of rheumatologists and rheumatology health professionals, and the importance of access, research funding, and fair reimbursement is all critical to ensuring patients receive early and appropriate care from a rheumatologist.

There are several ways you can support the campaign through the ACR’s established advocacy efforts, including:

• Contact your members of Congress: You can call your members of Congress using the AMA Grassroots Hotline: (800) 833-6354 or send an e-mail through the ACR Legislative Action Center at www.rheumatology.org/advocacy.
• Get your patients involved: They are constituents too. Encourage them to call or write their members of Congress.
• Attend the ACR’s Advocates for Arthritis and invite patients to join you: Each year the ACR brings rheumatology professionals and patients to Capitol Hill to meet with their legislators. The ACR will provide training and a schedule of Hill visits and cover the cost of participation for accepted applicants. Advocates for Arthritis will be September 10–11, 2012, and the application period opens June 4.

As Simple Tasks continues to grow and accelerate, there will be many other ways for members to become involved. If you are interested in any of the above activities, or have other suggestions for how you can help promote the campaign, contact the ACR’s Director of Public Relations, Erin Latimer, at [email protected].