Being a patient, how people treated her because of the disease, the stigma of the illness and people’s perceptions that you can’t be successful with a potentially disabling disease are just some of the experiences that have shaped her as a person and as a nurse, Ms. Mintz says. Partially because of her own experience, she can adeptly assist her patients in navigating the complexities of health insurance.
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Spreading the Wealth
Throughout her career, Ms. Mintz has involved herself in myriad efforts to help the people around her achieve success. In 2009, with a fellow and a social worker on her team, she started a support and education group called Families Learning to Live with Rheumatic Diseases. Ms. Mintz first got involved as a leader within ARHP through a small project on the technology taskforce. She later worked on the Annual Meeting Planning Subcommittee and chaired the Clinical Focus Course Task Force on Immunology and Clinical Infusion. From there, she went on to membership on the ACR Committee on Education and the Executive Committee.
As president, she hopes to recruit more members to ARHP, wholeheartedly embracing the slogan, ARHP is for ME!
“I think it’s an exciting time for ARHP … I want to continue to promote that everyone is welcome in the ACR,” Ms. Mintz says. “It’s truly an interprofessional organization where I can come together with anyone who is interested or works with our patients.”
The ACR/ARHP includes rheumatologists and well over 22 different types of rheumatology professionals from private practice and academic settings, she adds. “You don’t see that in all organizations, and I learn so much from all of these professionals.”
The Right Person at the Right Time
As one of her professional colleagues recently shared with her, Ms. Mintz steps into her presidency as “the right person at the right time.”
“It’s an honor to be leading, but in my mind I am facilitating a diverse team to help them [have a positive] impact [on] the future of our organization,” says Ms. Mintz. “I feel like that’s what I do every day.”
Kelly April Tyrrell writes about health, science and health policy. She lives in Madison, Wis.