SNN_December 2022 Issue_web low res

SPINAL NETWORK NEWS 5
Supporting
Positive Futures
Hans Wouters
CEO’s Column
This disparity is felt very
keenly by those outside of
the disability sector too.
—Hans Wouters
Whatu Ora (MOH) for those with a spinal cord impairment
(SCI) and the owner is the Government of NZ. I want you to
know that this seemingly immovable object remains very
much in our focus at NZST. We are always on the look out
to ease the burden of our friends whose SCI was not caused
by an accident and although there is not a huge amount we
can do, we are increasing our ability to do something in
certain circumstances. Su and I were with one of our major
funders recently and found this disparity is felt very keenly
by those outside of the disability sector too. The funder has
been motivated to give us some resources to help address
the problem one small step at a time. If your SCI is a
consequence of an illness or similar (non-traumatic) and
you have been trying to have Te Whatu Ora supply some
mobility equipment, then talk to your local Peer Support
Coordinator (or me for that matter). No promises but we
may be able to help you. Our friends at Permobil have
joined with us to attempt to alleviate the burden this
elephant causes too many of our people.
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM.
There is an elephant in our room.
It is a massive problem and over the years it has only got
bigger and bigger and detrimentally affected the lives of
many Kiwis. Everyone knows about it—the whole nation
knows about it! The owners of the elephant even know it
is a problem and although they speak freely about it, they
are not motivated to deal with it. It seems that somehow
letting NZ know, that they know, that the elephant is in
the room is dealing with the problem. It is not. Over the
years we have drawn their attention to the elephant by
visiting the owners—even having their senior
management use wheelchairs in the most famous
building in NZ … on national TV no less! There are many
New Zealanders who are suffering and in fact being
disabled because of this elephant. Some of you are
reading these words now. No, this is not a cryptic
crossword—I will tell you what I am talking about. The
elephant is the disparity of support between ACC and Te
2022 has been a remarkable year that has seen us join
with our friends at Spinal Support NZ in Auckland, with
the assistance of ACC, to develop a nationwide Peer
Support service. With around 30 paid Peer Support
coordinators now dotted around the nation we are
ensuring most new patients are being discharged to a
community that has trained Peer Support available. Wow!
Who would have thought? We are also engaging with
many in our community who have lived many years with
the effects of an SCI. We hope to conclude our two-year
proof of concept project this time next year with a long
term ACC contract to cement in a powerful, necessary
service that remains one of the foundations of support for
the spinal community of NZ.
It has to be said that ACC’s support has involved a whole
lot more than funding. There’s a long list of ACC team
members who have put their shoulder to our wheel over
eight years to get to day one and beyond. This has been
incredibly encouraging and shown us time and again that
ACC want us to prove that Peer and Whānau Support is
not only needed—but also highly effective, indispensable
and worthy of long-term sustainability. We recently held a
two-day training event with the entire Peer Support team