The Big Day Off - a nationwide initiative designed to raise funds to support and fund research for those affected by spinal cord injury – has been officially launched and for one local woman raising discussion is just as important.
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In the Big Day Off businesses allocate a set number of additional paid days off, staff then buy raffle tickets to win the extra days off, with all proceeds raised going to spinal cord injury support services and research.
Dunedoo woman Hayley Fagerstrom was injured after she sustained a fall from a horse drawn cart and now lives with paraplegia
She said initiatives like the Big Day Off are important because they highlight the challenges of living with a spinal cord injury in rural Australia.
“I think it’s fabulous because we need all the help we can get,” she said.
“It’s a lot more about exposure, especially out here in the bush.
“Talking about it and making more people aware helps, people can come and ask me anything but sometimes I think they’re a bit scared to.
“But if I can make one person aware then maybe they’ll talk to their friend and it spreads from there.”
Hayley said that she herself only became aware of the challenges “when it became her life”.
“After the accident I was in Royal North Shore Hospital for three months and then Ryde Royal Rehab for three months, but in Sydney there are a lot of facilities for you – west of the dividing range there are not,” she said.
“I found it really hard and I’ve got a case manager who’s equally frustrated.
“An example, you go somewhere and it says ‘disabled parking’ but generally that’s catering for someone in a zimmer frame, not some one in a chair that has to get themselves out of a car. The carpark might be gravel or the spot is on an angle.
“Maybe there needs to be more consultation with people like me in chairs.
“Because I didn’t know either before the accident and there were things I weren’t aware of until I was in the chair.
“Until it becomes your life or your friends’ life you just don’t know.”
Funds raised from the Big Day Off will be split between Spinal Cord Injuries Australia, which provides services for people living with spinal cord injury; SpinalCure Australia which funds cutting-edge research into treatments for people with spinal cord injury; and other local groups supporting people with spinal cord injury in their community.
Entries for both employers and employees close midnight June 30, 2016, employees who have won days off will be notified on July 1, 2016. For more information, to register your business, nominate your boss or buy tickets, go to www.bigdayoff.org
