The German TM Society

We are so very proud of Ursula and the German TM support Group members for their work in establishing a formal TM Society.  By going through the process of becoming a formal society, in accordance with the laws and administrative rules in their country, they are able to operate and receive benefits that are otherwise not attainable as an informal organization.  They join the United Kingdom TM Society in achieving this very important goal.  We encourage all of our international support groups to pursue this approach in your own countries.  The Transverse Myelitis Association will assist you in any way we are able.  The officers in the German and UK TM Societies will also be able to help you in this process. 

Hello, I’m Ursula Mauro, the leader of the German TM support group.  On May 6th 2006 we held a German support group meeting in a beautiful hotel in a city near the French border.  There were 17 people in attendance from all over Germany, nine people with TM, six caregivers and two children.

In October 2005 our group decided to set up a formal society.  We receive financial support from German insurances.  They were requiring us to set up a formal society in order for us to continue to receive this support in the future. 

Our meeting began with a social hour as people arrived from their long journeys.  This gave all of us time to meet and relax before starting our formal meeting.  We next began the process of setting up the formal German TM Society.  As much of the preparation work had been accomplished before the meeting, we were able to complete our work on the Society in a little more than an hour.  Our Committee consists of seven people; a president, a vice president, the secretary, the treasurer and three committee members.  I will serve as the first president of the German TM Society.

This part of our meeting was followed by an excellent dinner.  We then started our first general meeting of the German TM Society.  Our meeting focused on the process of creating more German translations of TM articles.  We also talked about how to raise more awareness of TM in Germany, how to support people who email or call for help, and how to manage our internet message forum.  We closed our meeting with a discussion about our plans to apply to some of the German health insurances for financial support.

It was a demanding program and we were all pretty tired.  We were thrilled that everything went so well and that we were able to complete all of the important items on the agenda.  Unfortunately, there was not much time for personal interchange and speaking about our experiences with TM, but our next meeting in autumn will be more relaxed.

One of our members, the secretary of the committee, created a German leaflet for raising awareness and finding new members.  Last year we applied for new grants from some health insurances for 2006 and were successful.  We have the money for more German translations of articles from the TMA website and for printing our German flyer.  All of these translated articles are available at the TMA website.  It is our hope that we can help German-speaking peoples with TM and their caregivers attain a more profound understanding about TM.

If you live in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, please get involved in our support group.  We are glad about each new member!

Take care!
Ursula

Ursula Mauro
Germany TM Support Group
Neugasse 32
77743 Neuried
phone: 0049-7807-3154
umauro@t-online.de
http://www.myelitis.de