November 21, 2013
This past year we have achieved many milestones at HSC including:
- Funding in part, Dr Ray Truant’s discovery that the huntingtin protein produced by the disease-causing HD gene folds into a different shape than the protein produced by the typical gene. This discovery will speed up the hunt for treatments.
- Creating and launching our leading edge Youth Mentorship initiative.
- Increasing our social work support to families.
- Organizing a successful web-based symposium that interested parties could access while with a gathering of Chapter members or from the comfort of their homes.
- Bringing together HD clinicians and researchers from across Canada to discuss mechanisms that we could implement to strengthen the foundation for clinical trials in Canada.
- Making significant steps to end genetic discrimination in Canada.
- Launching our new website.
We could never achieve what we do without the support of our donors and volunteers.
We also have a dedicated staff team that isn’t afraid to raise the bar higher and work incredibly hard to achieve what needs to be done to realize the positive outcomes that our HD community deserves.
Given that we support families from across Canada it is rare that we have the opportunity for the entire staff team to meet at the same time, in the same place. Last week our Resource Centre Directors (RCDs) met in Kitchener for their semi-annual team meeting and we took the opportunity to gather the Kitchener team and RCD’s together. We were not able to bring our contract Family Services Workers to the meeting but it was energizing to have most of our team present to share our successes and ideas going forward.
The Huntington Society of Canada is a small organization finding answers for a very big disease. It all starts with a dedicated team having a “can do” approach and a community of supporters that believes, we “will do”.
Bev Heim-Myers
CEO & Executive Director