BAILS TALES - SEPTEMBER - "BAIL BEWAIL"

In August 2012 we had a significant resignation from our Board of Trustees.
Professor Alastair Rothwell who is known to many of you, and who was a founding member of the BAIL Trust Board which began in December 2005, has tendered his resignation.
Professor Rothwell was a colleague of our founder Professor Alan Clarke and his substantial contribution certainly leaves a lasting legacy. He has been an unwavering supporter of the importance of including end users in the development of research and clinical services and focused on real life outcomes for people undergoing surgery in New Zealand. Our Trustees, Staff the wider BAIL family warmly thank Professor Rothwell for his inspirational work that has helped make the Burwood Academy of Independent Living what it is today.

As we mentioned last month Debbie has just returned from Prague where she attended the European Health Psychology Society Conference which had the theme “Resilience and Health.” This was a very research focused conference with presenters from many different countries, discussing their research examining how to improve outcomes of chronic illness. In particular much of the research presented was focused on the influence of stress on illness recovery. Debbie was also lucky enough to attend a pre-conference workshop considering how quantitative and qualitative methods could be better integrated in health research. This small and highly interactive workshop was ably facilitated by two researchers from the UK. She did have some time for rest and recreation after the conference and spent a few days in the south of the Czech Republic in a lovely medieval hamlet called Český Krumlov. She said, "While not much English was spoken the people were very friendly and the weather was superb."

We at BAIL are now planning our final educational and social events for the year and have some exciting presentations and meetings planned during October, November and December so watch this space. In particular we’d love to see you at our next peer group meeting in October when we have a chance to hear some of the Burwood presentations that will be delivered at the Australia & New Zealand Spinal Cord Society conference in Melbourne in late October. This is an opportunity to support Burwood researchers so watch out for your invite!