Arthritis Patient Services

Programs: The Community Arthritis Project (CAP, 2006, Charlotte, North Carolina) offers an innovative approach to arthritis management by providing some of Mecklenburg County’s most vulnerable arthritis sufferers the knowledge required to develop crucial self-management skills. The overarching goal of all the CAP’s activities is to increase knowledge about arthritis self-management skills, and provide opportunities for access to these skills. The most significant CAP component bundles services and takes them to persons at 12 congregate lunch sites managed by the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services Senior Nutrition Program (MCDSS-SNP), and four additional neighborhood areas of need for a total of 16 locations in a service area that includes the greater Charlotte area, Pineville, Matthews and Mint Hill. The CAP is a comprehensive approach to arthritis management, developed in response to the National and North Carolina State Guidelines for arthritis care. This on-location delivery of a comprehensive, portable, evidence-based, and professionally facilitated program demonstrates remarkable outcome measures showing improvement in the following areas by as much as 10 - 30% or more: activities of daily living, pain perception, physical fitness and self-efficacy. Arthritis Services offers the following 12- week bundling of services at each community site: * 5 one-hour self-management classes taught by a registered nurse and educator, * 24-30 one-hour adaptive exercise classes taught by physical therapists/certified exercise instructors * 1 osteoporosis screening utilizing a Sahara Bone Sonometer/risk analysis by a registered nurse.