President’s Report for autumn 2021
I hope many of you watched our on-line conference presentation on Saturday 1st May. We had four excellent speakers Nicola Beswick, financial planner and Raylene Carnie, financial counsellor; Helmut Butzkeuven, Head of Department of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School, Monash University, and Director of Neurology at Alfred Health; and John Blewonski, CEO of MS Ltd.
Nicola and Raylene spoke about the difference between advisors and counsellors and the types and sources of assistance that is available to help you manage your money and avoid getting into difficulties or to help you get out of difficulty. They provided a list of organisations available to help and the types of help they can offer. Refer to page ???? for details.
Helmut Butzkeuven spoke about MS research and the remarkable progress which has been achieved over the past ten years in treatments especially for relapsing/remitting MS. He then discussed some of the reasons why there has not been the same progress in treatments for progressive MS. He suggested this is in part due to the difficulty, (and huge costs involved), in measuring whether a potential new drug will be effective against progressive MS. Helmut then discussed some exciting new ideas about the use of digital technology, (especially mobile phones), to measure changes in mobility and cognition and how this might speed up the time taken to assess the effectiveness of new drugs and hence make the process more viable.
John Blewonski described how MS as an organisation has become more customer focussed and what this means by way of improved and expanded services. MS recognises that clients at different stages on their MS journey have different needs. These varying needs are being and will be met by new technology; recruiting staff to meet the demand for allied health and information services; by providing additional physical and virtual service hubs; and by building partnerships with like organisations. Finally, John described the progress being made on new Wellbeing Centres in Sydney and Canberra and plans for additional service hubs in Newcastle and Footscray.
Overall, the speakers conveyed a sense of support, progress, and expectation. My thanks go to the speakers, and to MS for its support, and to the federal Department of Social Services for its financial support in the form of a grant.
Please note that any questions which were not addressed during the conference have been forwarded to the speakers for their attention.
There was a good deal of discussion between presentations about the NDIS proposal to introduce independent assessments, with all expressing some concern. The consultation period for this proposal finished on February 23rd and the National Disability Insurance Agency has published its findings at; https://www.ndis.gov.au/community/we-listened. However, you can still send information and questions to the NDIA at feedback@ndis.gov.au. It is important that we keep reminding them of our concerns.
Nigel Caswell