Just like that, 2020 is almost done. I know we say this all the time, but the days seem to have passed a bit faster this year.
But 2020 is not all about pandemic, though. Ben’s Friends has actually been quite busy even though we’ve been through different forms of lockdowns.
Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of 2020 at Ben’s Friends.
 | Rare Disease Awareness Our student interns at UofT organized a seminar on rare neurological disorders early this year. Speakers include specialists as well as members of the Toronto Fibromyalgia Support Group. | |
COVID-19 and Mast Cell During the first few months of the pandemic, people were clueless about what exactly is the impact of COVID-19 to the majority of the population. Even more questions abound as to how it could affect rare disease patients. Our moderator Don Snyder searched all relevant studies that could shed light on COVID’s impact on mast cell patients |  | |
 | Helping each Other During the early days of COVID-19 lockdowns, Clasina found an interesting article about how helping others benefits both the giver and receiver of help. According to Clasina, this article reminded her of how Ben’s Friends members help each other by simply hanging out in their communities. | |
| Congrats, Meli! Ben’s Friends former intern, Meli, is now Dr. Melissa Jones, MD. |  | |
 | Promote Ben’s Friends! With our partnership with ClozTalk, our members and supporters can now purchase Ben’s Friends apparel online to help people know about Ben’s Friends. | |
Ben’s Friends Volunteer Family Our volunteer family is growing! And with the launching of our online training facility Ben’s Friends U, our interns and volunteers easily learn about Ben’s Friends philosophy and the moderator trade. |  | |
 | What Not to Say Some words are better left unsaid, as the cliche goes. This is also true for psoriatic arthritis patients. Clasina shared some of them in an interview with HealthCentral. | |
We have redecorated! All our communities now feature a cleaner and simpler look! |  | |
 | Ben’s podcast interview Global Genes’ RARECast features Ben where he shared the story about his AVM, the founding of Ben’s Friends and the amazing things members get from our communities. | |
Scott’s podcast interview What’s Your And? Podcast features Scott where he talked about his volunteer work at Ben’s Friends and shared how it feels to be able to change people’s lives. |  | |
 | Vaccine protocols Ben’s Friends is lucky to have our Co-ED, Tom James, that we can easily turn to when we have some medicine-related questions. Tom gave a very easy to digest overview on vaccine protocols and what lies ahead in relation to COVID vaccine. | |
Happy Anniversary! Our Living with PsA community turned 10 this year. As a way of celebrating, our moderators shared some memorable and heartfelt messages. |  |
2020 may not be our favorite year, but it is still a very fruitful one.
And as the year comes to a close, we’d like to wish everyone a much better year ahead.
