Moelle épinière et motricité Québec is a non-profit organisation that has been operating since 1946. Its mission is to promote self-sufficiency, independence and quality of life for people living with disabilities. The organization intervenes to facilitate the social integration of people with spinal cord injury, to promote their rights and support research. It also aims at developing the employment of people with physical and neurological limitations.
Social integration
Our integration services meet the needs of people with spinal cord injuries from across Quebec by ensuring a continuous presence in the three main readaptation centres in the province: the IRDPQ, the IRGLM and the CRLB. We also have a presence throughout Quebec in other rehabilitation centers and in hospitals that are centers of expertise for SCI when our services are needed. MEMO-Que offers various services to enable patients to maximize their rehabilitation and social integration after a spinal cord injury, working in tandem with the readaptation centres throughout the patient’s readaptation process. In addition our integration counsellors, who are themselves living with a spinal cord injury, can be beneficial to our members as peers by sharing their experiences and achievements, giving support, guidance and information throughout their lives.
Employment
Our employment services are available to aid people with physical or neurological disabilities in their process to find employment or return to school. The primary objectives of our counselors are to help our members develop their autonomy, promote their social integration, and above all to help keep them employed.
Advocacy
MEMO-Qc is responsible for educating the public, policy makers and employers about spinal cord injury and people living with disabilities. Our counselors can also assist individual members who feel their rights are not being respected. Moreover, the prevention of spinal cord injury is one of our major concerns.
Research Support
MEMO-Qc also has the task of raising funds to support projects to enable it to meet challenges in three specific areas:
• curing spinal cord injuries
• Improving the quality of life of people with spinal cord injuries
• prevention of spinal cord injuries
In 2010, the Quebec Paraplegic Association (QPA) joined forces with the Foundation for Spinal Cord Injury Research (FREM) and became MEMO-Qc. In the Association and Foundation sections, you can learn about their rich history and their complementary missions.
Our organization could not support people living with spinal cord injuries without the generous participation of its Board of Directors and our spokespersons, as well as the members of our work team and our volunteers who work tirelessly to empower people living with spinal cord injuries or other disabilities.