Day in the life If youre thinking about volunteering, go for it After a career in education, Jane Dobson found a way to use her skills to help others by becoming an Arthritis Care volunteer intErviEW: PhiL LattimoRe i was at a wedding and i was sitting next to a woman who worked for arthritis Care. I only vaguely knew about the charity, but talking to her made me realise there were good volunteering opportunities, so that prompted me to follow it up. find out more my career was mostly in further education. Ive been a teacher and lecturer, but my most recent role was as a director at a college in Tottenham, London. i started volunteering for arthritis Care in 2010. Id recently retired (Im now 69) and was looking for something interesting to be involved in. Ive had rheumatoid arthritis for around 20 years, so it seemed logical to volunteer for the organisation. what i really like about arthritis Care is that it makes sure its volunteers are properly trained. I was volunteering to be a tutor on a selfmanagement programme so had to undergo rigorous training. I really enjoyed it. We can learn from and support each other, and work together to help people with arthritis manage their condition my background in education made me feel that tutoring was the strand of volunteering to which i would be most suited. But Ive also given lots of talks about arthritis awareness to community groups, and at doctors surgeries and hospitals. Im also chair of the new Arthritis Care England Volunteer Council (EVC) and am working with the London Volunteer Forum. Its a really good initiative to provide a platform for our volunteers to be informed and have a voice in Arthritis Care. we must make the most of opportunities. We can learn from and support each other, and work together to help people with arthritis manage their condition more effectively. Listening to other peoples ideas and opinions is excellent. ive learned more about my condition since i became a volunteer. Running the courses for Arthritis Care helped me understand my condition, but I also learned so much from the people I met. Ive got a much greater understanding of what arthritis means to many different people and what can be done to improve daily life. everybodys different theres no cure-all. Its really important to be informed about new medication and ideas about exercises, physiotherapy and diet. When you have a long-term condition, you need to be involved, because its going to affect you for the rest of your life. if youre thinking about volunteering, go for it. Lots of people are very isolated because they have arthritis, so the more volunteers there are, the more successful well be at reaching these individuals and meeting their needs. Volunteering has been tremendous for me its brilliant! If you would like to volunteer with Arthritis Care, email us here or visit our website.