The social impact of being diagnosed with either Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinson Disease

The Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson Disease Society of Canterbury, is conducting research on the social impact of being diagnosed with either of these diseases. Very little research has been undertaken on this topic internationally.  .The aim of this project is to get realistic New Zealand experience and information on the impact of these diseases on an individual’s employment status. We hope that our findings would assist employers to decide:

·         whether they could continue employing the person in their current role.

·         whether support mechanisms are desirable for the continued employment of the individual.

·         how and when an employer/employee discussion should take place about changing their role.

Specifically we are launching a series of inter-related studies (approx. 6-8) on the experience of employers and employees when an employee is diagnosed with MS or Parkinson’s. While not unique these two diseases have a special characteristic that they are long-term degenerative disease. So when first diagnosed a person may have many years before they are seriously incapacitated (if at all). The symptoms and progress of both of these diseases is unique in an individual.

If  an employer is able to continue their employment with confidence, they do not need to lose the experience and institutional knowledge of the person and they are also able to avoid the expensive process of hiring a new person.

All studies will be supervised by an academic and research active staff member of a NZ university. The researchers involved in the study will most likely be masters and doctoral students. Our budget for each student  is about $5800.

·         A grant in aid of $3800 towards fees (this is about  50% of their student fees)  

·          $2000 per study for costs. 

On this basis the total cost of the project would be of the order of $46000 over a period of 4 years. 

We are looking for interested employers who are willing to help fund this research project.  All sponsors and sponsorship would be acknowledged in any publications/presentations. If you would like to find out more about this project, please contact:

John A George,

 Chairman of the Research Committee of the

 Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s Society Canterbury Inc.

please reply support@ms-pd.org.nz (subject: research project)

or johnageorge@xtra.co.nz

Ten questions we might be asking in Christchurch in 2026

1. Why didn’t we appreciate the scale of the rebuild and the consequential impacts of tipping $40+ billion dollars into a population of 360,700?
2. Why were we so optimistic about time frames?
3. Do we remember just  how well insured we were?
4. Did we underestimate the long term psycho-social impacts of the quakes?
5. Why didn’t we settle earlier on a common aspiration for our city, our region and our island?
6. Did we get Central Government, Local Government and our community really working towards agreed common objectives?
7. Did we put enough emphasis on the economic interdependencies between our city and our region?
8. Did we recognise early enough the importance of ensuring Council-owned strategic asset sales were finalised in a way that made Christchurch more internationally significant?
9. Did we get our transport infrastructure right; easy access in and around our city and parking in the central city?
10. Why did we ever doubt that we would create the most attractive and liveable city in Australasia post-earthquake?

I predict these will be amongst the questions we will be asking as we consider our past.

petert@cecc.org.nz
www.cecc.org.nz

Seismics and the City 2015

I’ll be speaking again on behalf of CECC at the annual cross sector Seismics and the City forum on 27 March at Rydges Latimer.  This knowledge sharing and networking forum is for representatives of public, private and community sector organisations engaged in the rebuilding of Greater Christchurch in the wake of the earthquakes of 2010-11.

The 2015 forum theme Creating a Greater Christchurch will fill in the bigger picture of recovery and renewal. It will also provide opportunities for wide ranging feedback and input to enhance the quality of high level strategic planning and implementation.

Other speakers include Hon. Nicky Wagner, Associate Minister, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery; John Ombler, Acting CEO,  CERA;  Russell Stanners, CEO, Vodafone; Joanna Norris, Editor, The Press; Ian Simpson, CEO,EQC;  David Ayers, Mayor, WDC; Kevin Lynn, General Manager Commercial, Schneider Electric NZ; Stephen Collins, Developer; Peter Rose, CEO, Southern Response; Raf Manji, Finance Spokesperson, CCC; Leanne Curtis, Spokesperson, CanCERN; Nick Hunt, Director, Lichfield Holdings and Gillian Wess, Founder, Enrich.

This year’s forum, the 4^th in an annual series convened by Lyall Lukey, SmartNet, is particularly timely

with the release on 9 March of the Christchurch City Council’s consultation document for its long term plan covering the period 2015 to 2025.

The City is going through an accelerated process under the emergency earthquake legislation for setting the direction for the social and economic development of Christchurch. The challenge is to strike the right balance between the needs of earthquake recovery and a focus on the long-term future. Seismics and the City will help to frame and facilitate productive conversations relevant both to individual businesses and the wider communities which comprise Greater Christchurch. 

With GDP growth of 10.6% for the year to March 2014 in Canterbury and with $100 million currently being spent every week in Greater Christchurch the economic indicators for the city of the region are very vibrant. The forum is also a great opportunity to network with purpose and build business relationships in respect to the rebuild by hosting present and prospective clients and potential business partners. Collaboration is one of the keys to the success of the rebuild.

The one day  event starts with a networking breakfast and cross-sector perspectives on shaping the new Christchurch. See the Programme NB Individual CECC members qualify for the group registration rate by quoting “per CECC”.  

petert@cecc.org.nz

www.cecc.org.nz

Christchurch City Consultation Document

On March 9 the Christchurch City Council released the consultation document for its long term plan covering the period 2015 to 2025.  This is a critical document that will shape the future of our Council and our City.

The document can be downloaded  at www.ccc.govt.nz.

It is really important that we all have input into the document during the consultation period which is open now and closes on 20 April 2015.

CECC will be making a comprehensive  submission. We are  however, just one voice. It is vital that individuals and companies submit on the plan. Every submission is valued and critical in ensuring that we get optimal outcomes from the plan.

The plan explains the services and projects the council will provide over the next ten years and importantly how they will be funded.

This  is a pivotal time for the Council  with a projected  $1.2 billion shortfall and  some serious choices to be made  to address the funding problem.

Have your  say. It will count!