OP0080-PARE Photo album of people with rheumatic diseases under the title: ‘there are some people… our people!!!’
Authors: K. Koutsogianni, E. Tsourlidaki, J. Papadakis, R. Stara, L. Papadaki
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2018)

<h3>Background</h3> The impact of rheumatic diseases in the daily life of people is sometimes quite dramatic, causing abundance of everyday pleasures and activities even one’s hobbies. The burden of RMDs is not adequately communicated to the public or to the state, so that this important aspect is not generally met with relevant seriousness. <h3>Objectives</h3> The goal of our campaign was: a. to give a clear picture of the difficulties that people with rheumatic diseases face in their everyday life and b. to prove that some people manage to overcome their serious movement problems, their pain and dysfunction and show, with dignity and strength, that the artistic part inside them is vividly alive.The message we would like to communicate here is: THE POWER OF MIND IS STRONGER THAN BODY WEARENESS AND CHRONIC PAIN. <h3>Methods</h3> Firstly we got in touch with members of our Association that their skills could be presented in the album and discussed our idea, which was gladly accepted by them. 10 members of the association are included in the album, all of which are people with severe inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Ignoring their obvious moving problems and putting aside their other engagements, these wonderful people follow their talents and become sculptors, icon painters, pastry chefs etc. After the nomination of the sponsor for the project, a professional photographer was selected to capture the talents, the dedication to their art and the inner feelings of those people, in a way that can only be detected through the photographer’s eye. The shooting started in March 2017 and was finished in September 2017. Each of the artists had the chance to spend time with the photographer, express their feelings and show their way of life to him. This face to face contact enabled George (the photographer) to depict on his photos the real personality of these special people. After the shooting, a website was created where the pictures were uploaded with underlined personal remarks of both the artists and the professional photographer. Information about the inflammatory rheumatic diseases and the importance of early diagnosis was added to the album. Additionally, during October 2017, a 45 s video was promoted through TV, targeting the serious problems that people with RMDs are facing in their everyday life but also revealing the strength and courage of this great artists’ team. A press conference was as well organised to support the visit of the particular website. <h3>Results</h3> Results: 173.000 people have visited the website from October to January, with another 16.800 visits through YouTube. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Through an artistic approach a patient organisation can trigger the awareness of the public, communicate the important message of the seriousness of RMDs and also underline the endless dedication and the seek for dreams to come true, even if one has to live along with a rheumatic disease all your life. <h3>Disclosure of Interest</h3> None declared