One of Canada’s leading home, auto and business insurance providers has donated $10,000 to Spinal Cord Injury Ontario’s Peer Support Program in association with Belleville-based McDougall Insurance Brokers.
“It’s alarming the number of Canadians currently living with a spinal cord injury. Of the 86,000 across the country, 33,000 reside in Ontario,” said Robert Gow, Economical’s vice-president of sales and distribution for Ontario. “This situation isn’t static. In Ontario, 11 people sustain a new spinal cord injury every week.”
The $10,000 will go towards training volunteers to connect people living with spinal cord injuries and their families to fully-trained peers who can share their experience and knowledge.
“The Peer Support program works wonders,” said Gow. “While nearly half of all spinal cord injuries are caused by motor vehicle crashes, it’s good to know that the use of seatbelts and airbags combined can reduce the odds of injury by 80 per cent.”
With automobile crashes being the major cause of spinal cord injuries, Don Stanton, president of McDougall Insurance Brokers is proud to have partnered with Economical in the donation.
“On behalf of McDougall Insurance, I am very proud to be associated with a donation that will help improve the lives of people with spinal cord injuries,” said Stanton.
Peer Support Volunteers receive an average of nine hours of training by the Peer Support Coordinators, according to Bill Adair, chief executive officer of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Ontario. (continued.)
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“A Peer Support Volunteer is a person with a spinal cord injury or a family member, who has made a positive adjustment to living with his or her injury,” said Adair. “The Peer Support Volunteer provides support or information to another person who is facing similar life circumstances. Through a Peer Support Volunteer’s personal experience with a spinal cord injury, people can find comfort, meaning, dignity and hope.”
According to the latest numbers from the SCI, there are 600 new spinal cord injuries every year in Ontario alone, and approximately 33,000 living with spinal cord injury in the province
