Dear RIMS members
Dear colleagues with an interest in MS
Seasons are changing again, so it is about time to update you on activities, programs and conferences within RIMS, as well as decisions of the executive board.
RIMS Meetings and Conferences
In autumn 2011, two Special Interest Groups organize their 'in-between conferences' meetings.
- SIG Mobility. Meeting in Barcelona, Spain on September 30th and October 1th with topic "Treatment of Balance and Gait". Local organizer is Carme Santoyo.
- SIG Communication & Swallowing, SIG Integration & Participation, SIG Occupation and SIG Psychology & Neuropsychology. Joint meeting in Melsbroek, Belgium on November 18-19th with topic "The multidisciplinary approach for assessment and management of cognitive disorders in people with MS". Local organizer is Daphne Kos and the Melsbroek team.
Attendance to SIG Meetings and part of accommodation and catering costs are free for RIMS members. For more information on content, please consult the SIG webpages of RIMS.
Next (17th) annual conference of RIMS will take place in Hamburg, Germany on 31 May-2 June 2012 and is organised by Prof. Dr. Christoph Heesen and Prof. Dr. Thomas Henze.
- Primary topics are "Shared-Decision Making in MS Rehabilitation" and "Towards Evidence-based Motor System Regeneration".
- Secondary topics are "concepts of trial designs" and "patient-reported outcome measures"
The full program is available on www.rims2012.org. We would like to encourage active participation and interaction of clinicians and researchers, and therefore invite you to submit your abstract for poster or platform presentation before December 23th. All abstracts will be published in Multiple Sclerosis journal.Poster presenters will also be provided with short time to present themselves to the audience.
RIMS fellowship and grant programs
We very much wish to encourage persons to experience other member centers through the RIMS fellowship program. Recently, Maria Esperanza Rubio (PT) from the MS Foundation Madrid, Spain has visited the MS Center in Haslev, Denmark. She reports that this fellowship was very informative both regarding organization as well as concept and content of care. A special appreciation also for Hans van Tongeren (PT, Haslev). New applications can be made continuously throughout the year, and are discussed at next executive board meeting.
As announced before, applications can now be made for the new RIMS grant program. This program aims to stimulate and facilitate collaboration between members regarding shared best practice networks, implementation of innovation, research projects, multi-center studies, etc. Applications can be made when members from different countries participate, for a maximum amount of 5,000 Euros (submission rules and procedure can be found on this website). The submission deadline has been extended to November 21th at noon. Feedback will be provided by February 2012.
News from the Executive Board
Functions of executive board members have been clarified and transferred from previous to current members, during a board meeting in Brussels, Belgium on July 14th. As well, an inventory of action points was identified and will be elaborated in coming months. The next meeting of the executive board takes place in Milan, Italy on November 28th. Requests or proposals can be discussed if received by November 21th at noon.
The executive board has decided to be assisted regarding administrative duties such as membership communication and inventory, website monitoring and other duties. We welcome administrator Mrs. Grace Donovan from Southampton (UK), who will closely collaborate with the membership and SIG officer, as well as web editor, Vicki Matthews.
News from partners
The International Journal of MS Care (www.mscare.org) informed us that a special issue will be published in summer 2012 regarding "Novel Approaches for Assessing and Facilitating Cognition in MS". Guest editors are R.H.B. Benedict and K. Fuchs. You are invited to submit your original research, case reports, and reviews on this topic of critical importance to all clinicians caring for MS patients before February 1th, 2012.
Other RIMS activities
Two articles reporting on previous multi-center studies on walking ('effect of time of day' and 'differential value of short and long walking tests') that were performed by members of the SIG Mobility group, are (about to be) published in Multiple Sclerosis journal.
A new multi-center study on effects of different rehabilitation programs on balance and walking in general, and responsiveness of walking measures in specific, is currently being performed in quite many centers or community settings across Europe. More information can be found on this website ('projects').
On October 7-8 at the Italian MS Society Center "I Girasoli" of Lucignano, Italy, there is the third investigators' meeting of the AutoMS Project (www.automsproject.org). Participants will be psychologists, physicians and other SIG Education and Participation professionals from Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Italy and Serbia. The main theme of the meeting will be the quality of the MS consultation, and the measurement of patient involvement in decision-making tasks.
We very much look forward to further working and collaborating with you; on research projects, sharing expertise and exchanging experiences in MS rehabilitation.
Peter Feys,
President of RIMS
On behalf of the executive board.