Peer Support

Spinal India Peer Trainers is flagship program of The Ganga TFounation. We believe this is the most effective way to expand the footprint of reaching out to persons with spinal cord injury. A peer is a person with spinal cord injury.

To show its conviction in this model, The Ganga Foundation has already invested in six peer trainers since 2016. In addition, its Co-Founder, S Vaidyanathan, has been a Peer Trainer on a purely voluntary basis since 2010, and has touched at least 2,500 persons with spinal cord injury on a conservative basis.

We aspire to have 25 trained Peer Trainers by 2020, and 200 by 2030, touching the lives of 30,000 persons with spinal cord injury across India.

Spinal India Peer Trainers already has a Pan-India footprint with Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Bihar, Odisha and Punjab as our stronger suites.

Investment in Spinal India Peer Trainers must not be seen as `salary’, but as necessary investment in empowering lives of persons with spinal cord injury. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Accel Partners and the Class of 1991 of IIM, Bangalore, support Spinal India Peer Trainers.

Become A Partner in Spinal India Peer Trainers. Enable more Peer trainers.

Peer Trainers Introduction

`Till I met Shailesh Bhai in August 2016, I thought only death was left in my life’

Kamal Kanta
Puri
Odisha

Kamal Kanta, a young lad in his early 20s, was confined to home for about two-and-a-half years after his spinal cord injury in 2013 brooding death. He joined a networking meet at Swami Vivekananda National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research (SVNIRTAR) in Olatpur, Odisha.

Shailesh Kumar (Bihar), the most independent person with spinal cord injury in India, was the peer trainer which was organised by The Ganga Foundation for this camp. Kamal Kanta met Shailesh and his life turned on a dime.

Kamal quickly became independent, started guiding, training and motivating persons with spinal cord injury, and learnt to travel well. Since then, he has set up the Odisha Wheelchair Basketball Team, introduced sports including swimming and takes his group across India for marathons and travel experiences.

The role of SVNIRTAR and Nishad Kassim, a Physiotherapist, in shaping Kamal Kanta’s development has been exemplary.

Kamal Kanta is now a Peer Trainer engaged by The Ganga Foundation.  This type of Quality Rehabilitation and Impact underpins and excites The Ganga Foundation. We aspire to have 200 such trainers across India by 2030.

Peer Trainers at Work

Spinal India Peer Trainers will impact lives of persons with spinal cord injury, which imposes multiple, lifelong disabilities at one stroke, by

• Experience sharing with person with spinal cord injury, family, friends
• Training in skills for independent living for day-to-day activities
• Imparting best practices of bladder & bowel management
• Guiding on choosing The Right Wheelchair and its maintenance
• Training on wheelchair skills
• Facilitating travelling and community interaction
• Encouraging sports as a means of community reintegration & fitness
• Sharing guidance on livelihood and vocational training
• Training on Skin Care to live well without bedsores, the #1 enemy
• Offering 24 x7 guidance on going basis
• Doing networking meetings in his / her district plus at least one more
• Traveling to camps of persons with spinal cord injury for group training
• Ensuring fact-based New Injury Management Guidance
• Sharing information on places that offer quality rehabilitation
• Educating to prevent becoming victims of fraudulent treatments, galore
• Linking each person to others with spinal cord injury – support groups
• Giving ideas for modifications at home and in the workplace.
• Showcasing persons who have lived well with spinal cord injury
• Sharing knowledge on Government of India & State Governments
• Spreading awareness on injury prevention

Each of peer trainers will also be encouraged to lead a holistic, healthy and vibrant life so as to ensure good life-work balance for each of them, and to ensure that they serve as an example of what is possible. If he / she is excellent in any sport or art or any other activity, that would also be nurtured, subject to a healthy balance between time and effort on all aspects of work.

Networking

Relentless networking.

We connect. We understand needs. We link to a Peer Mentor.

A spinal cord injury imposes multiple disabilities for a lifetime. Each person may be in a rehabilitation facility for a maximum of three-to-six months. There will be multiple aspects of day-to-day life and health where he / she may need guidance.

It would be impossible for quality doctors / therapists / nurses in spinal cord injury to guide each and every person for a lifetime.

It is the Peer Network that is best placed to provide mutual support and guidance. A peer is a person with spinal cord injury. Bringing them together from small local groups to a national level network is the key goal of networking, so that there is a robust support system in place.

Every person with spinal cord injury is a storehouse of experience and knowledge. Collectively, they bring together the best experience of grassroots reality handled by them on a day-to-day basis.

Equipped with knowledge of best practices of Living Well with Spinal Cord Injury and adaptations made based on experience, the peer group can become a powerful force of good.

This is why The Ganga Foundation places high priority on networking.

Peer Mentor Training Program

A well-trained Peer Mentor network across India is an absolute must to ensure quality guidance for persons with spinal cord injury.

The objective is to have a growing group of well-informed and trained peers who could guide, if needed, persons with Spinal Cord Injury to live a healthy and productive life, including those with recent spinal cord injury.

It is important that Peer Mentors are equipped with knowledge of the best practices of Living Well with Spinal Cord Injury.  And it is equally important that they speak a uniform language on the best practices.

In partnership with The Spinal Foundation, The Ganga Foundationhas invested deeply in establishing and developing a Pan-India network of well-trained Peer Mentors.

100-plus peers and prospective peers from across India were trained in a series of tele-conference conversations.

Dr Anand Viswanathan, a physiatrist, who worked for about seven years at the Dr Mary Verghese Institute of Rehabilitation, a part of Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, and a wonderful communicator in simple language imparted training to Peer Mentors across India.

This training program covered all the major areas that includes

• Nerve Damage in Spinal Cord Injury, Rehabilitation Goals, Treatment Options
• Skin Care & Bedsore Management
• Bladder Management
• Bowel & Pain Management
• Sexuality & Spinal Cord Injury
• Clinical Research Process
• Stem Cell – The Reality

Each of these calls provide a valuable archive for training and referencing, development of Fact Sheets focusing on health care and help spread a uniform message across the country. These will be converted into regional languages as well so that the reach is superior.

The Ganga Foundation will continue to invest deeply in such capacity development programs, as this is the optimal way to spread the best practices of Living Well with Spinal Cord Injury. And at every step, such quality resources will be made available in regional languages across India.