Better quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries

A spinal cord injury changes lives in an instant – for the person affected and for their loved ones. With your community coins from SWICA Benevita, you can help the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation to provide holistic support for people with spinal cord injuries: from primary care at the scene of an accident to rehabilitation and lifelong support in their everyday lives.

Overview

Living with spinal cord injuries in Switzerland

Every other day in Switzerland, a person suffers a spinal cord injury as a result of an accident. This affects far more than mobility. It has an impact on every area of life, including housing, work, health, family and social participation. Many challenges only become apparent once acute treatment and rehabilitation are over.

People with spinal cord injuries therefore need long-term support and care. What matters most is having a reliable network that provides security and fosters independence – regardless of where you live and throughout all phases of life. This is where the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation comes in.

What your community coins are doing

With your community coins, you enable specific support in areas not covered by health or social insurance. The Swiss Paraplegic Foundation uses the funds in a targeted manner to fill gaps in care and further develop innovative services. This includes:

  1. Comprehensive rehabilitation, which paves the way back to family, work and society. This benefits everyone – those affected as well as the wider community.
  2. Lifelong support by means of medical advice enabling people with spinal cord injuries to lead independent lives. The focus is on each individual’s living situation, fostering independence, and strengthening personal resources.
  3. Social and occupational integration: More than 60% of spinal cord injury sufferers can return to their studies or job through a variety of offers and targeted measures. This makes Switzerland a global leader.
  4. Exchange of knowledge and networking: Digital platforms and communities enable people with spinal cord injuries and their families to exchange experience and knowledge – regardless of where they live.

This is the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation

Founded in 1975 by the doctor and politician Guido A. Zäch, the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation (link in German) is now one of the largest charitable organisations in Switzerland. With its two million members, the Benefactors’ Association is well established among the Swiss population. It offers a globally unique network of services for the comprehensive rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injuries. The vision of the organisation is to enable those affected to live an independent life with the best possible health.

Past successful projects

These donation projects have already been supported with the help of your community coins.

Protecting native wild bees with Benevita: Your contributions enabled the WWF project “Nature creates connections” to successfully plant hedges, look after pastures and biodiverse meadows, and conduct public awareness campaigns.

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Your community coins supported WWF's educational and political activities. The donations also supported efforts to promote renewable energy as a replacement for fossil fuels. All these measures may help to reduce glacial melting.

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Peatlands cover just 3% of the world's land area but store twice as much carbon as all of the world's forests put together. However, these fragile ecosystems are under threat from overexploitation. In addition to raising awareness, WWF is using the community coins to actively conserve and manage intact peatlands.

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Seen as a tree of the future, the silver fir is a climate-resistant alternative to the endangered spruce. With your community coins you can support the WWF on "Tannätag", a volunteer-led initiative in which silver fir stands are maintained.

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The aim is to reintroduce salmon to Swiss rivers and lakes. Your community coins benefited WWF's Salmon Comeback, an initiative committed to making obstacles such as power plants surmountable for fish and promoting the rewilding of rivers.

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The charitable organisation Pro Audito provides support for people with hearing problems. Your community coins went directly towards funding its work, which includes improving access to hearing aids and providing training and day-to-day assistance for sufferers.

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Dreaming and making dreams come true. A Million Dreams has dedicated itself to this task. The organisation fulfils the dreams of disadvantaged people and encourages everyone to pursue their own dreams and find their personal happiness.

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The non-profit organization Pink Ribbon is committed to breast cancer prevention. It raises awareness of the disease through creative, high-impact initiatives such as the Pink Ribbon Walk at Zurich's Letzigrund Stadium.

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Sports Aid supports young emerging talents as well as performance-driven elite athletes on their journey to success.

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Rheumatic diseases are among the most common in Switzerland – the Rheumatism League actively supports those affected and carries out valuable awareness-raising work. Together with Benevita, donations were raised specifically for the osteoporosis campaign.

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SWICA and the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation – working together for autonomy

Through Benevita, SWICA supports organisations that have a lasting impact. Our collaboration with the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation focuses on areas where long-term support is crucial. Your community coins help to give people with spinal cord injuries security, opportunities and quality of life – both now and in the future.

Together we can achieve more – enabling people with spinal cord injuries to lead independent lives.

Benefits of Benevita

Live healthily with Benevita

Physical fitness, a balanced diet and regular relaxation are important for a healthy lifestyle. Benevita is a health coach and bonus programme that supports your personal commitment in these areas of health.

Doing good together

When you complete challenges in the Benevita app, in addition to the points you can swap for generous discounts, you also receive community coins that you can pool with those of other users to support charitable projects.

Benevita challenges

Get active yourself. In the Benevita app, you’ll find exciting and practical challenges on the topics of exercise, nutrition and wellbeing – in text, video and podcast formats.

Live healthily with Benevita

Physical fitness, a balanced diet and regular relaxation are important for a healthy lifestyle. Benevita is a health coach and bonus programme that supports your personal commitment in these areas of health.

Doing good together

When you complete challenges in the Benevita app, in addition to the points you can swap for generous discounts, you also receive community coins that you can pool with those of other users to support charitable projects.

Benevita challenges

Get active yourself. In the Benevita app, you’ll find exciting and practical challenges on the topics of exercise, nutrition and wellbeing – in text, video and podcast formats.