Published: August 01, 2009 10:50 pm         

Norville going online to spread news about rheumatoid arthritis

Merle Norville was active in the family business, stayed busy raising four children and was engrossed in the local Girl Scout cookie drive.

That was before rheumatoid arthritis debilitated her health, forcing her to spend hours each day bedridden. She eventually died from complications brought on by the disease.

“Mom was the Girl Scout cookie chairman,” daughter Deborah Norville recalled. “Ours was the garage that was filled with cookies for all of the different troops in the Northwest Georgia Council. I saw her go from being that can-do kind of person to literally being unable to get out of the bed.”

Those personal experiences led Norville, an Emmy-winning journalist and face of the television news program “Inside Edition,” to become the host of an online talk show covering aspects of rheumatoid arthritis such as fitness health, nutrition, relationships and work/career management.

The 30-minute program “New Way RA” can be seen at www.newwayRA.com. A companion Web site features more information such as recipes, exercises and stories of real people living with rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic autoimmune disease that attacks joints causing functional disability, pain and stiffness. More than 1.3 million Americans have the disease.

The Web site isn’t just for people living with rheumatoid arthritis. General information is available for friends and families who have questions about the disease. Norville was 10 years old when her mother was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Merle Norville passed away 10 years later in 1978. Back then, Norville said information about the disease was difficult to find.

“We didn’t really know what questions to ask,” Norville said. “We didn’t really know what rheumatoid arthritis necessarily meant. There weren’t that many treatment options, and mom was getting the best treatments that were out there. Again, if we had access to the kind of information that’s in this program that I’m a part of I think we would have asked better questions. I think we would have known when to tell the doctors to take a hike and find a new doctor.”

Because of the online format, Norville said viewers can watch the show at their leisure. If they begin watching at night, they can pause the program and return to that point later.

“The reason I think this being a Web-based thing is maybe even a smarter approach to delivering this message than a television show or an infomercial or whatever way, it’s there when people are motivated and feel they have the time to access and process the information,” Norville said. “And the information they get is soup to nuts helpful. This is non-branded. There is nothing being sold when you watch this show.”

“New Way RA” features several experts. Dr. Hayes Wilson, chief of the Division of Rheumatology at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, talks about the importance of “taking charge of your health and two-way communication with a doctor.”

“My patients frequently share with me that living with RA can be isolating,” Wilson said in a press release. “They feel disconnected from their families, friends and the activities that they once enjoyed prior to the onset of their symptoms. A program like ‘New Way RA’ offers great expert advice and information for people living with rheumatoid arthritis to learn more about themselves and their disease, empowering them to re-engage with people, interests and activities.”

Also featured is Ellie Krieger, a registered dietitian and host of “Healthy Appetite” on the Food Network, who provides tips and recipes for people living with rheumatoid arthritis. She was diagnosed with the disease at age 28. Dr. Laurie Ferguson, vice president of research and education at the advocacy organization CreakyJoints, discusses the effect of RA on relationships.

In addition to hosting “New Way RA” and her full-time job at “Inside Edition,” Norville is working on another book. “The Power of Respect,” a follow-up to “Thank You Power” released in 2007, is expected to be released this fall.

     

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