Last month, Cassie and Friends’ Juvenile Arthritis at School Puppet Show hit the road to bring juvenile arthritis education to the Okanagan!
The special puppet show, which was offered free-of-charge to schools by Cassie and Friends with support from a $10,000 grant from the Telus Friendly Futures Foundation, tells the story of Cassie – a young girl who likes swimming, pizza and lives with JIA. Through the interactive puppet show, students had a chance to ask questions and learn what happens when your joints get stiff and how people get arthritis.
From January 21st to 25th, the puppet show performed at elementary schools in Penticton, Kelowna, West Kelowna, Oliver and Peachland, directly reaching over two thousand students, parents, educators and school administrators.
Hundreds of thousands others across Canada and around the world were reached indirectly through a media storm around the puppet show, and the recent retirement of the only pediatric rheumatology specialist in BC’s Interior. This loss of specialized care leaves much uncertainty for over 200 pediatric patients of the Penticton Arthritis Centre and their families, and many of those families have spoken out in recent weeks.
We’re so excited to share with you the incredible media coverage of these families and their juvenile arthritis stories, the Cassie and Friends Puppet Show and the impacts on families of the loss of specialized pediatric rheumatology care in BC’s Interior.
- Global News: ‘A significant burden’: No replacement for only doctor in B.C. Interior who specializes in child arthritis
- Castanet: BC Interior losing specialist
- CBC Radio: Radio West (January 21, 2019 @ 28m33s)
- Castanet: Child left without doctor
- Global News: Penticton family speaks out about losing only child arthritis specialist in B.C. Interior
- CBC News: Only juvenile arthritis specialist in B.C. Interior retires with no replacement
- CBC Radio: Daybreak South (January 25, 2019 @ 2h17m29s)
- CHBC Global Okanagan: Puppet show teaches Okanagan students about juvenile arthritis
- Global News: Travelling puppet show visits Okanagan elementary schools, sheds light on juvenile arthritis
To keep up to date on more Cassie and Friends news and programming, sign up for our mailing list, or follow us on facebook, twitter and instagram! If you would like to book a show at your school, send us an email at kob.cassieandfriends@gmail.com.
