Major award for Disability Essex

The European Council of the Regions hosted an international conference at their HQ in Brussels, on 24th June 2008. The subject was "Climate Change and the Challenges for Public Health". Co-sponsors were the European Regional and Local Health Authorities (EUREGHA) and the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL).

Part of this high profile event was the presentation of two awards. (One, in recognition of outstanding innovation and mitigation to deal with climate change was awarded to Disability Essex) and the second, for health adaptations went to the Municipality of Tatabanya in Hungary. 38 projects were considered by the judging panel, of international experts, from throughout the European Union. All, except that from Essex, were prepared by regional governments, City or state councils, or public health and transport undertakings. In fact, Disability Essex was the only charity in the competition.

The award certificate was presented to Richard Boyd (CEO of Disability Essex) by Dr. Bettina Menne on behalf of the European Office of the World Health organisation (WHO). Genon Jensen, Executive Director of the Health and Environmental Alliance, congratulated the charity and its architects on the design of the eco-building and the unique health and retraining projects which will take place within it."You are an example to other organisations, far larger and richer than you, who have yet to address the issue of climate change and its impact on vulnerable people." she said.

60 representatives from regional and local authorities, and health organisations, attended the conference. Members of the European Parliament, Permanent Representatives from 6 countries, plus University, and Governmental authorities from 18 EU states were joined by delegates from Taiwan, Australia, and Switzerland.

After the award ceremony, Richard Boyd said "The kindness and warmth shown to the work and aspirations of our charity, by the hosts and delegates, has made this award truly memorable. The organisers even paid for all our travel costs, recognising that we are a tiny organisation compared to all the other players here today. Our experience, to date, was that our efforts to create this unique building had been a struggle where no-one appeared to care how much we were spending to meet the bureaucracy hurdles put in front of us."

He thanked the organisers by saying "This is the first European award that our charity has ever achieved. I thank you on behalf of my team, most of whom are disabled and the 12,000 individuals in Essex who are part of the Disability Essex network."