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While most kids were playing sports, Seth Ginsberg had to sit it out. At the age of 13, he was diagnosed with a rare form of arthritis called spondyloarthropathy. He says he felt alone and didn't know enough about his condition – and he wanted to make sure no one else living with a chronic disease would feel the same.

"I realized the need for education, for information, for support," Ginsberg says. "And to be around other people who understood what it was like."

So at 17, with the help of a mentor, Ginsberg started Creaky Joints, a website that provides information and support to those with arthritis.

"One of the things we see through Creaky Joints is there's a tremendous creation of community," says Laurie Ferguson, Creaky Joints V.P. of Research and Design. "So I know that I am not alone, and I feel encouraged because I am part of a community, I can reach out to people, I know there are other people going through what I am going through."

Creaky Joints has over 27,000 online members who are able to get information about free medicine, interact with others living with arthritis, and get the most up-to-date information about their disease.

"It's so important to learn, especially about our health," says Ginsberg. "If we think about it long enough we can get very depressed when it comes to living with a chronic disease."

Creaky Joints is also part of a larger organization called Global Healthy Living Foundation. Ginsberg recruits the best medical experts in the field to speak and answer questions at free interactive health forums to people in low income communities.

"I shouldn't have come out in this cold weather because cold weather is the worst things for asthmatics," says Rose Roberts, who came out for one of Ginsberg's sessions. "B I know I can always learn something."

Topics vary, and the forums are held in any of six languages depending on the needs of the community.

"The most important part about all of this, with the Global Healthy Living Foundation and Creaky Joints and everything that we do, is making a difference," Ginsberg says. "It's reaching people who live lives that are unfortunately altered permanently by chronic conditions, that we can hopefully inspire and effect change for the better."

So for reaching out to communities in need of support and helping to keep people healthy, Seth Ginsberg is our New Yorker of the Week.