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Stephanie McLean has worked hard to adjust since she lost the use of her legs, but the “fundamentally essential” confidence that helped her regain her life is now under threat.
McLean says the New Zealand Spinal Trust, based in Christchurch’s Burwood Hospital spinal unit, was a lifesaver in his recovery.
The trust is financed primarily by donations and grants, but its CEO says that requests for funds from gaming trusts have now stalled due to Covid-19.
McLean, who has lived with a spinal cord injury for nearly two years, said the trust needed a regular and sustainable source of income or even some government funding.
“If spinal trust wasn’t there, I wouldn’t know what it would be capable of.”
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McLean was working for Champion Flour in July 2018 when he fell 3.7 meters from an unsafe platform while working on a grain conveyor.
ALDEN WILLIAMS / Stuff
Stephanie McLean fell 3.7 m and sustained a spinal cord injury. He can no longer walk.
He had to relearn the simplest tasks, even sitting on a couch. She now uses a wheelchair to get around and has ACC-funded caregivers to help her with daily tasks.
She said the support from the spinal trust allowed her to have hope again.
“If it weren’t for them, you wouldn’t really know what you can accomplish in a wheelchair, because you don’t really realize ‘oh yeah, you can drive a car when you’re a paraplegic,'” he said. .
Despite the support, McLean said things were still tough.
“You still have those bad times of depression.
“You see people walking and you are envious of them … it’s as if they have denied you the privilege of walking.”
ALDEN WILLIAMS / Stuff
Stephanie McLean at her home in Christchurch, nearly two years after her injury.
‘Limited tracking’
Today, Spinal Trust’s peer support service is most effective for spinal injury survivors seeking additional help.
He has a Facebook group that people can join and four members of staff with spinal cord injuries that survivors can talk to.
The trust’s chief executive, Hans Wouters, said that if he had the funds, he would hire someone to call and regularly check on people living with spinal cord injuries.
National program director Andrew Hall said the peer support program was offered to patients recovering in Burwood’s spine unit, but that there was “limited follow-up” once they returned to the community.
The trust was “very eager” to expand to help those people, he said.
CHRIS SKELTON / Things
Andrew Hall suffered a C6 burst fracture in 1983. He was formerly CEO of the NZ Spinal Trust, but now serves as the organization’s director of national programs.
In Australia, a national spinal cord injury organization has a peer support program that offers monthly checkups, social gatherings, and educational sessions. The organization received nearly A $ 1.9 million (NZ $ 2.07 million) in government funding last year.
Regarding peer support, Hall said there was an “unmet need” for survivors living in the community, especially in the regions, due to a lack of funding.
He well understood the needs of people reconciling with a spinal injury: He has not been able to use his legs for 37 years, after diving into a lake when he was 19 years old and suffering a C6 blowout fracture.
“I know that when you have a spinal injury, your life doesn’t end.”
‘We fight to meet the need’
Hall said the trust wanted to restore funding it had more than 10 years ago from the Ministry of Social Development.
CHRIS SKELTON / Things
NZ Spinal Trust CEO Hans Wouters says that obtaining more funds from gaming trusts is a “concern” due to Covid-19.
“We already run the risk of financing our [peer support] program, so in the absence of government support, we are struggling to meet the need. “
In February, ACC evaluated an action plan developed for spinal cord injury survivors and noted that 75 percent said peer support services helped them cope and adjust to their injuries.
The evaluation said sustainable funding was needed to pay for six months of peer support once a person left the hospital.
Wouters said that the Covid-19 lockdown had stalled large gaming trusts, providing a significant portion of the trust’s funds.
“It is clearly a concern.”
The trust had already allocated some of its limited savings to maintaining current staff hours and services, but it did not have a “bottomless pit” to capitalize on.
Wouters said he was confident that services could continue, but that the trust would be forced to make changes if major donors did not show up.
