East of England Fun Day: Reflection, Feedback and Photos07 March 2016Photos: https://www.facebook.com/jiaatnras/posts/1119253061440451 Families living with JIA hardly ever get to meet others with the same condition. This was one of our main reasons behind hosting the East of England Fun Day. At the event, friendships were formed, stories shared and phone number exchanged! The relaxed and informal nature of the day allowed for a good mix of fact finding for parents and fun for the children. Here are some quotes from families after the day: The fun day was fab and really nice to meet parents in a similar situation. Exciting to hear all the work going on to offer the children opportunities also. My little girl loved meeting other children with similar conditions and in my eyes was probably the most valuable as she has had huge confidence issues after being diagnosed with her condition and its had an impact on her life. The photo-booth amazing!!!! I look forward to coming to another event. Thank you so much for the wonderful day at Newmarket today. It was hugely appreciated by our family. So much time and effort was clearly put into organising this X. Great family day today meeting other parents and children going through the same struggle. As a family we found the day very helpful. My husband and I were given the chance to meet other families. Gracie loved the crafts and photo booth and getting the email of her new friend. I think next time what would be good would be some time for the adults to sit and chat. The information was great and I managed to talk to a couple of parents, something a little less formal maybe? Having said that the day was fantastic, venue great. Thank you to all the team involved. It was a very informative day and the children enjoyed themselves as well. It was great meeting others going through the same problems. We found the part about education/school bits very helpful. We also thought it was great to meet other doctors and people who are involved in the care of JIA children. We really enjoyed the day and came very open minded and didn’t have any expectations. Should an event be in the South East we will come along and I would like to be involved in getting a group together? I’ve taken a massive interest in JIA since Sienna was diagnosed and would like to be involved in some way where I can. Kate, Consultant Rheumatologist Paediatrics who was also involved in organising the day said: The East of England region is working hard improve the access of all children in the region to specialist paediatric rheumatology services. It was invaluable to obtain the opinions of families on how they think this could work best, with a combination of local and specialist care, the distances they would be prepared to travel to see a specialist team and the points in the journey of their child’s diagnosis when they think this is essential. To find out about future JIA-at-NRAS events, please visit our events section.