ESCIF Newsletter - December 2016

Newsletter December 2016

Dear ESCIF friends and colleagues

Christmas and New Year is approaching fast and so we are sending the December ESCIF Newsletter to keep you up-to-date. You will immediately see that the Newsletter has changed a great deal. We hope that you enjoy the change and that you forward this Newsletter to people you think should read it.

As you probably already know next year's ESCIF Congress and Assembly will take place 10-12 May at Dom Pacug just outside the beautiful little town of Piran, Slovenia. The theme of the congress is 'Roadmap after SCI. Following the same path?'. An important topic for all of us. Visit the congress website for registration. This year it will also be able to apply for the ESCIF Congress Grant.
In October the Strategy group had a meeting in Lobbach to discuss the future of ESCIF with very fruitful discussions.

On behalf of the ESCIF Executive we wish you

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Gunilla
Vice-President of ESCIF

'Roadmap after SCI. Following the same path?'

10 – 12 May 2017 in Piran, Slovenia

In 2017 the annual ESCIF Congress is being organised in collaboration with the Slovenian Paraplegic Association - Zveza Paraplegikov, Slovenije. This, the twelfth such congress, is being hosted in their beautifully located and accessible hotel on the Adriatic coast - Dom Paraplegikov.

The theme of this congress is: 'Roadmap after SCI. Following the same path?'
For people living with and caring for SCI, ESCIF present this important series which focus on
Quality of Life and Increased Life Expectancy - with as few as possible SCI related health issues.

To achieve this - we must all walk hand in hand with government bodies & legislation, medical care professionals and NGO's, and equally - with others living with SCI. During this congress - several different European models of how this is already being realised will be presented, and then participants will be able to share their own experiences and views in different workshops - for the profit of all. Together, we may find some new paths…

Congress information
Further information about the 2017 ESCIF congress; the programme, registration, accommodation, etc. is all available on the ESCIF website: www.escifcongress.org, along with details of the optional visitor excursions and the possibilities for an extended stay (vacation).

Additionally, ESCIF's own website is due for some updates & changes. Please follow these and all the latest news on: www.escif.org and our Facebook.

The Location
Dom Paraplegikov is a new purpose-built health resort owned by Paraplegic's Association of Slovenia (PAS). One of its foundational purposes is to encourage and support people living with SCI - of all nations - to meet and share a wealth of experiences and to spend unforgettable vacations together.

The resort is located on Slovenia's beautiful Adriatic coast. And here you will enjoy the meeting of interesting yet diverse cultures in a single beautiful location - where the agreeable outdoor climate (the warming sun and fragrance of the flora with marine scenary) is a welcome reprieve for guests from northern latitudes, or indeed from the more extreme heat and humidity of other regions. Within easily driven reach of this resort are wonderful old cities like Ljubliana and Venice, as well as a host of coastal small ports, and the diversity of rural and mountainous countryside. Slovenia is on the sunny side of the Alps.

A Special Offer - to congress participants: The Slovenian Paraplegic Association is inviting you to extend your stay in the resort before or after the congress for just 39 € per person / day - full board! (subject to availability in bookings).

ESCIF Congress Grants

ESCIF has earlier introduced the idea of a Congress Grant to aid the member organisations who's financial situation makes it difficult for them to send a delegate to the ESCIF Congress. At the Assembly during last years congress in Vienna we said that we strive to realize the Congress Grants for the Congress 2017.

Now ESCIF opens up the possibility for two member organisations to apply for the grant. ESCIF will cover congress registration costs and a fixed amount towards travelling expenses for one participant (plus assistant where required) per organisation.

If you apply please send us; a letter with reasons why you apply and the organisation's balance sheets for the last three years. We need your applications on the 31st December 2016 at the latest.

Send your application to the: treasurer@escif.org or the secretary@escif.org. If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact us.

Strategy group meeting

ESCIF was founded more than 10 years ago. The Executive considered this an appropriate time to evaluate what has been done and, more importantly, what needs to be done in the future.

During the 3rd weekend in October a Strategy group held a meeting in Lobbach to set the trajectories of the federation. The group consisted of the Executive board members and the following 'guests': Daniel Joggi, Chairman of the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation, Urs Styger – the Sescretary of ESCIF, Frans Penninx board member of DON in the Netherlands and Fiona Bolger – CEO of Spinal Injuries Ireland. Rebecca Harvey led the Strategy group through its discussions as she has over 10 years of experience in evaluating organizations across many fields of activity.

It was a fruitful meeting and the Executive is currently working on allocating the most appropriate tasks for the medium-term strategy.

On behalf of the ESCIF Executive we would like to thank all the participants and especially Manfred Sauer who hosted the Strategy group meeting.

ISCoS 2016

The ISCoS Congress 2016 took a place in Vienna. As usually we played an important role to promote the consumer perspective. We chaired the Consumer workshop and presented a poster about the 'Successful Integration Project'. We organised the workshop as a 'narrative' to emphasize that we didn't want to cover the complete 'career' in the life of a person living with a SCI nor did we want to explore one issue but rather different areas where the Consumer Advocacy Organisations play an active role to push the agenda forward.

We were really pleased to see that a large part of the ISCoS Congress actually focused on the consumer perspective.

If you want to read more about the Congress and more about the other sessions please go to www.escif.org

The Albanian Spinal Cord Injuries Association (ALSCIA)

A new European SCI Consumer organisation has been established. For several years Mr. Sokol Murataj from Albania has visited the ESCIF Congresses. He always expressed the wish to create an association for people living with SCI in Albania. We recently received information from Mr. Sokol Murataj that they have realized the plans and The Albanian Spinal Cord Injuries Association (ALSCIA) was established on 27th June 2016. We want to congratulate Mr. Sokol Murataj and the people living with SCI in Albania for this achievement. We also hope and look forward to be able to welcome ALSCIA as a member of ESCIF in the future.

Get familiar with the ESCIF Newsletter

We are working on improving the way to stay in touch with all of you during the whole year and not just on our annual congresses. On our website or Facebook page you can read about our activities continuously. In the newsletter we summarize the most important events at least twice a year.

Hopefully you will find this Newsletter more synoptic and user-friendly. You can take advantage of a following feature in a web browser on your PC or Mac. If you click on any of the headings in the 'Content', it will automatically scroll to the article you want to read. This will not unfortunately work on some of the 'smart devices', where you can though simply 'sweep' through the content. You can also easily forward the Newsletter using the button 'Forward to a Friend'. If you realize that some of the information you put in to the subscription form are incorrect or mispelled you can update it here.

If you have any suggestions on how to improve our Newsletter or you have any problems, please do not hesitate to contact us on newsletter@escif.org