The future of QASA

We had the opportunity to attend and exhibit at the biennial Congress of the Southern African Spinal Cord Association (SASCA), which was held at the Century City Conference Centre and Hotel in Cape Town from 18 to 20 May. The event provides a networking and knowledge sharing opportunity for spinal cord rehabilitation professionals with three days packed with lectures and presentation by experts in the industry. General manager, Richard Barron, was given the opportunity to present on the future of QASA at the Congress.

Throughout the years, QASA has developed a range of services to assist members with whatever need might arise. Currently, members reach out when they have a specific need. In the future, QASA hopes to build more of a community for its members. The organisation aims to journey with its members; to be the vehicle that drives them to their destination, as opposed to a pitstop along the way. Richard explored this further in his presentation.

“I was inspired by uncle Maslow and we created our own hierarchy of needs,” Richard said. American psychologist Abraham Maslow designed a model for understanding the motivation behind human behaviour. Depicted as a pyramid with several tiers, the idea is that once a need is met, the individual will move up a tier and require new needs. For example, once the basic physiological needs are met, such as food and shelter, the individual will require safety and security, followed by love and belonging.

The reimagined hierarchy of needs, presented by Richard at the Congress, ranked various QASA programmes and services according to the level of integration to broader society the member might require. At the bottom of the pyramid, as the most basic need, is education.

“I think, what underpins QASA is our advocacy and lobbying; educating our members around their rights, health, wellbeing; supporting them through peer support, through all sorts of programmes that we can offer to them,” Richard explained during his presentation.

“If that is in place, we advocate for the right stuff. We lobby for the right stuff; educating our [members]. That equips them to be more confident; knowing that they can go out [and be] integrated socially, and feel included in what’s on offer.”

Through education and peer support, QASA aims to assist members with adjusting to life after their spinal cord injury. While this is considered the first need to be met, it is a continuous process of sharing new and important information.

An example of this continued learning is the Access to Health project currently being run as a joint venture between QASA and Coloplast. The project aims to educate people who rely on intermittent catheterisation, and health professionals, on the best practices for bladder management as published by the Clinical Advisory Panel (CAP) of SASCA in 2019. The project has hosted several webinars, a symposium, and even took the stage at the Congress to share more information.

Once members are empowered with knowledge, they need to be mobilised so that they can gain more independence. This is achieved by assisting members with securing assistive devices, for examples, wheelchairs and cushions.

The next tier looks at capacitating members. The QASA Driving Ambitions programme, for example, assists members with obtaining their driver’s licence, while the Work Readiness Programme teaches them the necessary soft skills to succeed in the formal work environment. QASA also has its Education Fund, which can support members with gaining a tertiary education.

After successfully capacitating members, QASA aims to assist them with becoming economically active through employment opportunities, and by supporting them in the formal work sector. Finally, QASA hopes to have its members succeed the current leadership.

Richard used his own life as an example of how the various tiers function. He joined QASA as a beneficiary. Throughout the years, he made use of the various programmes to further empower himself. With the new found skills, he was able to pursue a career. During this time, he remained active within the organisation. This year, he resigned from his corporate job to become the QASA general manager, thus giving back to the organisation through succession.

By building a stronger community among its members, QASA hopes to offer them more support and opportunities. It aims to build connections and encourage participation that will allow the next generation of leaders to emerge from the current members so that the organisation can continue for many more years.

To learn more about the programmes we have on offer, click here. To become a member, download our membership form here. Send the completed from to us at info@qasa.co.za. For further queries, contact us at 031 767 0352.