Ask for your rheumatologist’s referral to make an appointment at the clinic!
The Surrey Inflammatory Arthritis (IA) Clinic is expanding! Located at the Surrey Memorial Hospital, the clinic provides services for people living with inflammatory arthritis. The clinic has therapists (occupational therapy and physical therapy) who are specifically trained to help you manage and treat the physical and mental impacts of rheumatoid arthritis. The program has expanded and is now available to people living with psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis (including ankylosing spondylitis and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis).
Sarah Bryant, an occupational therapist at the Surrey IA Clinic, explains her work relationship with the clinic’s physical therapist: “We work in a transdisciplinary model, which means that we both train each other in the basics of our profession in rheumatology and that if you have something really specific to the discipline, you can see either one of us, as needed.” This transdisciplinary approach eliminates the stress associated with multiple visits to the clinic.
The services provided at the clinic are publicly funded and available for people living with inflammatory arthritis who are:
- 18 years of age or older
- diagnosed within the last 4 years with any of the following: rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis (includes ankylosing spondylitis and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis)
- living in the Fraser Health region
- have a rheumatologist’s referral to the Surrey IA Clinic
The clinic can help you learn more about inflammatory arthritis, how to manage it, and what community resources are available. You can also receive personalised help from therapists who are specialized in arthritis care. There is no cost to come to the clinic, but there may be a charge if you need equipment or splints.
To subscribers who live outside of British Columbia:
If you know of a clinic in your area of Canada that offers a similar program, please email us at feedback@jointhealth.org so that we may share it on our resources page.