Project Wellbeing will give more Australians access to life-changing MS Wellbeing Centres.
You can help to build and expand future MS Plus Wellbeing Centres across Australia so that more Australians can access specialist support and services.
Right now, there are more than 33,000 people living with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Australia.
They all deserve to get the holistic care needed to better their MS symptoms.
Please help to build and expand the MS Plus Wellbeing Centres, make more research like Dr Phu’s happen, and help people to live well with MS.
The overall vision is enough specialist MS Plus wellbeing centres across Australia, for all who need them.
The Wellbeing Centres are a crucial component of MS Plus’s vision to provide a safe and supportive environment for individuals living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Our goal is to create multiple spaces where the growing number of people with MS can access a range of specialist supports that target both their physical and mental wellbeing.
Dr Phu has been working continuously as a researcher and clinician in MS rehabilitation for the last 21 years. His focus is on clinical trials to address unanswered questions in MS, and to restore mobility to people living with MS. Today, he is answering some common questions about Project Wellbeing.
Dr Phu“I’m a researcher and clinician who specialises in the rehabilitation of movement and mobility for people with MS. It’s not just physio.”
Help build and expand the new Wellbeing Centres to support the five pathways to wellbeing:
- to community. The Wellbeing Centres are a space for people living with MS to come together and share their experiences.
"Everyone's got MS or another neurological condition at the MS Plus Wellbeing Centre. So, you're not judged, you're not having people look at you as some sorry soul. We have a good laugh." - Alison, living with MS
- new state-of-the-art gym equipment will help people meet their rehabilitation activity goals, improving MS symptoms and mental health.
"With specialised equipment, we can offer people with MS, at different stages of the disease, exercise based on their level of disability. This can help them to improve their symptoms." - Dr Phu, Clinician and Researcher at MS Plus
- the centres will educate people living with MS and their loved ones on symptom management, and will facilitate social workshops and classess
"Besides the exercise, we will also have an area dedicated to yoga and dancing groups for people with MS, especially for those in wheelchairs." - Dr Phu, Clinician and Researcher at MS Plus
- Wellbeing Centres will allow people to give their time to volunteering, supporting each other and working on regaining employment.
"When I couldn't work anymore because of my MS, I felt my worth in society had dropped." - Alison, living with MS
- research at MS Wellbeing Centres will help people who access services to get the very latest in treatments and raise the standard of care.
"Without Dr Phu and MS Plus, I think I'd be using a wheelchair by now." - Alison, living with MS
The Lidcombe MS Plus Wellbeing Centre’s build is currently underway, with the goal of opening in early 2024. Only 33% of the funding for this life-changing structure has come from the government – meaning we really need the support of kind people like you.
Also currently underway is a state-of-the-art facility in Footscray, and next will be a Wellbeing Centre in Hobart. These will be the first-ever specialist MS Plus Wellbeing Centres and will bring enormous change to the lives of people living with MS in NSW, VIC and Tasmania.
Your help is needed to equip and develop each of these sites with:
Through the building of the MS Plus Wellbeing Centres at Lidcombe, Footscray and Hobart, MS Plus hopes to transform thousands of people’s lives living with MS and other neurological conditions when these MS Plus Wellbeing Centres are all completed by 2024.
Furniture, fixtures and equipment:
- Lidcombe Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment
