Bringing the 60 Summits idea to Montreal, Quebec

The 60 Summits Project is entering Canada for the first time.  [The "60" in our name comes from the number of US states (50) plus Canadian provinces (10).] 

I'll be in Montreal the week of August 20, and among other planned activities have invited a small number of people to join me in exploring the feasibility of creating a stakeholder summit to propagate the new work disabiltiy prevention paradigm there -- in other words, to bring The 60 Summits Project to Quebec.   

The purpose of the meeting is to answer these questions:

1.  Is the time ripe in the province of Quebec to build a widely-shared positive vision of how the stay-at-work and return-to-process should function -- and then make that a reality? 

2.  Should we capitalize on the new paradigm embodied in The American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine's work disability prevention guideline and use it as the framework for discussion at a Stakeholder Summit on Preventing Needless Work Disability by Helping People Stay Employed?

3.  Are there desirable future outcomes that such a Summit might make possible?

4.  Are there enough people of good will with gumption and commitment to "improving the system" available and willing to do the work to plan and produce a Summit for Quebec?

Stay tuned -- We'll wait to see who shows up, and how they react to the idea.  For me, this meeting is going to be especially fun because I enjoy listening to and speaking French -- even though my ability is at about the level of a nursery school age child.  It will be fascinating to appreciate how these issues look to Canadians and particularly the Quebecois.

I'm also going to be in Montreal to give a lecture on disability prevention and the use of disability duration guidelines that will be filmed as part of an on-line curriculum for physicians who are working in the area of insurance and legal medicine.  Three Canadian physicians will be part of the session.  Again, it will be fun to engage in dialogue with physicians in a different country (and thus a different environmental context) about a topic of shared interest.