Supporting those affected by MND.
It is our pleasure to welcome you to the Mid Kent MND Association website. From wherever it is in the world you have found us, we hope that you will find this information useful.
Welcome to the website of the Mid Kent Branch of MNDA.
I am Professor David Oliver and have had the pleasure of being the Branch President since its formation in October 1993.
‘I have seen first-hand how the Branch provides invaluable support to people diagnosed with MND. I hope the website provides you with any information you need and please do contact the Branch who I know will be happy to help.’
The Branch was established in October 1993 to provide support and contact for people affected by Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in Mid Kent.
The Branch covers Maidstone, Medway, Sheppey , Sittingbourne and some areas of Gravesend. Specifically, we cover all ME postcodes (with the exception of ME13) as well as DA11, DA12 and DA13 postcodes.
If you live in another area of Kent, there are separate MND Branches that cover these areas. Please find the relevant contact details for these branches under LOCAL MNDA BRANCH GROUPS.
We do hope you will find what you need on our site, but if you would prefer to speak to someone from the branch please get in touch via the contact details on our Contact page or contact Joan Simpson, our branch contact on 01634 686685.
What we do
The branch is run entirely by volunteers and aims to provide the best possible support to local people, their families and carers.
We provide practical and emotional support in the following ways to ensure people can access the best possible quality of life. We are happy to be involved as much or as little as you would find helpful, so please do not hesitate to contact us and let us know if there is anything we could help with that would make a difference.
Support Group Meetings
We regularly run meetings for people living with MND throughout the year, we also run groups specifically for carers and also have open meetings to which everyone is invited. There are also groups that meet regularly on zoom.
Our Branch committee meets every six weeks and joining the committee is a great way to connect with others, find out what’s coming up and discover new ways to get involved.
For more details of all of these groups please go to Support Page
Funding Assistance
We understand that it can be incredibly difficult to cope with the financial issues associated with this condition. We are able to help you to apply for grants or to support you with a grant request. We also have access to some loan equipment that may be helpful to you if there will be a delay in getting things from statutory services in a timely manner. So please do not buy any equipment before checking with us if we have something we can loan you. Please speak to your Association Visitor or contact the branch if there is something we can do to help.
Association Visitors.
We have 10 trained and supervised MND Association Visitors in our branch. These are all volunteers many of whom have personal experience of MND. Association Visitors (AV’s) are always on hand whether at the end of the phone or in the comfort of your own home, to help you with managing expectations, accessing benefits, obtaining required equipment or just being a friendly face. If you have not got an AV and would like one please let us know.
Fundraising
We hold awareness and fundraising events throughout the year in order to provide funds that can be used to support people diagnosed with MND in the Mid Kent Area. Some events are organised by the branch themselves, others by members or family groups. All the events we know about are posted on our events page, so please let us know if you are planning an event as we can promote it for you, and also hopefully support you. If you have any ideas or time and can help us we would love to hear from you. Events Page
Awareness and Campaigning
Championing the cause of those affected by MND is an important aspect of what we are about. We engage with organisations and institutions locally and nationally to try to secure better support, care understanding of living with the challenges of MND.
Research
The branch supports the national MND Association charity in its endeavours to fund and promote research that will lead us to new understandings and treatment, and, hopefully bring us closer to a cure. MND research Blog
Newsletter
We publish a local Newsletter “Mid Kent Matters”, which includes articles of interest and helps to keep you in touch with reports of events and forthcoming activities. You can read the newsletter. Read here
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