Since the summer of 2008 our nurse specialist service has been reduced to one nurse for the entire Irish MND community. To date, we have worked tirelessly to seek state funding for the second post in order to:

(a) Care and attend to the entire MND population and their families.

And

(b) Address the risk of exhausting our existing nurse specialist.

We have learnt that there will be no state provision for the nursing post and therefore the IMNDA has had to look to other specialist staff schemes and ideas to re-instate this much needed and valued service.

In response, we have to look to our own community to seek financial help. The hope is that the strength in our numbers will create a way to raise the monies needed to recruit and sustain a second nurse specialist. If the cost of the nurse specialist can be spread out among the entire MND community, our families, friends and supporters, then we will be able to re-instate this service and sustain it. This in turn will mean that any further reductions or cuts to state funding cannot harm our nursing service as we will be the funding mechanism for it.

How can you help?

The IMNDA is inviting you to make a real difference to those managing life with the symptoms of Motor Neurone Disease. There are two ways to take part:

Become a sponsor

Simply fill in the enclosed Nurse Specialist Sponsorship form committing to a standing order for €25.00 per month and return the form to the IMNDA Coleraine House Coleraine Street Dublin 7. Additional forms are available to download from this page, or call the office freefone 1800 403 403, or email and the forms will be inserted in the March edition of the IMNDA newsletter.

Become a team leader

If you think you have the ability or the contacts to find a team of sponsors (up to ten others), then you can become a sponsorship team leader. This will require you to approach your contacts with the sponsorship forms, collect them when they are completed and return them in bulk to the IMNDA Coleraine House Coleraine Street Dublin 7. Again the forms are available to download from this page, or call the office freefone 1800 403 403, or email and the forms will be inserted in the March edition of the IMNDA newsletter.

Note: In addition to your commitment to sponsor the nurse with a standing order, all PAYE individuals can complete a second form which entitles the IMNDA to tax relief on the donation made. In effect, this process, increase and strengthens the income from the scheme. Once again the CH2 tax relief form is attached or is available from the revenue website www.revenue.ie or we can provide one so simply call freefone 1800 403 403 or email .

In order to maximise the potential of the scheme, we are looking for as many sponsors as possible to return their completed form to us by Monday 22 March. It is hoped that if we can begin processing the standing orders by the end of March, we could realistically look to start the recruitment process for a second nurse specialist by the summer 2010.

Obviously we welcome any and all completed sponsorship forms during 2010 regardless of whether you make the March deadline.

As a community, the people, families and friends who have been affected by this disease have shown terrific strength and character and we are hoping to use that strength to complete this project together.

If there is any further information we can provide you with, or if we can be of any help when taking part, then please do not hesitate to contact us at freefone 1800 403 403 or .

CH2 Tax Relief form
0.26 MB (266.13 KB)
Wednesday, 7th July 2010 Nurse Sponsorship Form
0.38 MB (391.06 KB)
Wednesday, 7th July 2010