BIF SPRING GENERAL ASSEMBLY

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28th-29th April 2017 – Cascais Portugal

BIF members met in Cascais, Portugal at Novamente’s head office for the Annual Spring General Assembly.

NEWS FROM OUR ASSOCIATIONS

At the heart of BIF is the opportunity for our associations to meet and share news.  Other member NGOs can thereby gain insights and ideas on how to further assist individuals suffering from a brain injury, as well as the families supporting them in their home country.  Some of the highlights from the Spring General Assembly include:

HEADWAY UK

  • Action for Brain Injury Week (ABI week) 8th-14th May 2017 – Headway created a platform with the theme ‘A New Me’ for people to creatively share their experiences and challenge the misconceptions of brain injury.  Through this platform, they were also able to demonstrate the value of having access to the right help, at the right time.
  • ID cards for survivors with brain injury – these were developed as part of the Justice project to raise awareness of brain injury throughout the criminal justice system across the UK and has received the backing of the National Police Chief’s Council, Police Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.  Nearly 800 cards have been issued with very positive feedback – plans for the public launch of the initiative are underway.

NOVAMENTE PORTUGAL

  • Brain injury awareness & television – Novamente was featured in 3 scenes of a soap opera with 1 million viewers.  They were filmed working and talking to a client explaining the problems associated with brain injury, which provided a significant contribution in raising the profile of brain injury in Portugal.
  1. Click here to see behind the scenes
  2. Click here for Scene 1 (skip to 32 minutes, 01 second)
  3. Click herefor Scene 2 (skip to 32 minutes, 30 seconds)
  • Opportunity to conduct a legal study – Novamente was given the opportunity to conduct a global legal study regarding the law and brain injury.  The aim was to provide insight into a law that exists/doesn’t exist in other countries to help member NGOs have access to reports and statistics that could benefit their governmental campaigns on a regional level.  Members were given the opportunity to put forward their ideas and the study is currently underway.

FNATC ITALY

  • FNATC successfully signed a charter in San Pellegrino regarding the rights of those in a vegetative state.  This was designed to protect and ensure the dignity, freedom and rights of people in a vegetative state, minimal conscious state and those with severe acquired disabilities.
  • FNATC are working on identifying the services available to people with severe ABI across Italy (there are 20 regions in Italy).  Gaining such statistics will provide touching insights that will assist with support campaigns.

 

BIF members have access to all country reports for their reference and can contact member NGOs for support and further information.