Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children
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| Founder | Barrie Cooper |
|---|---|
| Focus | Children’s medical care |
| Location | |
Area served | Oceania |
| Product | Life-giving or dignity-restoring surgery for children from Oceania |
| Website | www |
Formerly called | Rotary Overseas Medical Aid for Children (2002-2004), Reaching Overseas with Medical Aid for Children (2004-2007) |
Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) is a charity which provides treatment in Australia and New Zealand for children from developing countries in the Oceania region in the form of life-giving or dignity-restoring surgery not accessible to them in their home country. It is an organization established in collaboration with Australian and New Zealand Rotary Clubs. Rotarians raise all funds and provide voluntary work for ROMAC.
History
In 1988, Barrie Cooper, a Rotarian from Bendigo, Australia, went on a humanitarian visit to Fiji and found the local surgical facilities inadequate for treating children.[1] He had the idea of getting his Rotary club to sponsor children from Oceania to be brought to Australia to be treated by Australian surgeons. Other Rotary clubs subsequently joined in, followed by clubs in New Zealand. ROMAC became an Australian public company registered as a charity with deductible-gift-recipient status in 2002.[2][3] Former test cricketer Max Walker was the patron of ROMAC up to this death in 2016 and did much to promote the organization.[4]
Services provided by ROMAC
A doctor in one of the Oceania countries can refer a child to ROMAC.[1] However, referrals often come from Australian or New Zealand medical personnel who have gone to an Oceania location to do some voluntary medical work and come across a patient who could not be treated locally.[1] The surgical intervention must not be available locally, has to be life-saving or dignity-restoring, the cost is affordable, and no long-term care of the patient is needed. [1] ROMAC organizes and pays for visas, passports, accommodation, hospital costs and clothing, while offering emotional and practical support.[5] Rotarians volunteer to accommodate the child (when it is not in hospital) and the accompanying family member. ROMAC also provides interpreters when needed.
ROMAC has a memorandum of understanding with some major hospitals to provide free care for a number of children.[6] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program of bringing children to Australia and New Zealand was halted in 2020.[7]
As of 2020, ROMAC had assisted over 500 patients under the age of 15.[8]
Key people
Chairman of the Board: Harold Sharp
Patrons: Max Walker (until 2016),[4] Bill Boyd (current) [9]
References
- ^ a b c d Sankaran, S. (2014). The ROMAC program: Managing Complex “Family” Crisis Projects in Developing Countries in the Asia-Pacific. Proceedings of the 58th Annual Meeting of the ISSS - 2014 United States, 1(1). Retrieved from https://journals.isss.org/index.php/proceedings58th/article/view/2392
- ^ Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits. "ROMAC. ROTARY OCEANIA MEDICAL AID FORCHILDREN LTD". Retrieved 8 August 2021.
- ^ Australian Government Australian Business Register. "Current details for ABN 17 101 370 003". Retrieved 8 August 2021.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ a b 9 News. "Friends and colleagues remember Max Walker". Retrieved 8 August 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ NZ Herald. "Pride of NZ Awards: Aid programme brought a new challenge". Retrieved 8 August 2021.
- ^ ABC News. "Donated surgeries in Canberra save Solomon Islands babyborn with detached oesophagus". Retrieved 8 August 2021.
- ^ The Canberra Times. "Vincent to fly back to the Solomon Islands after 16 months of life-saving medical treatment in Canberra". Retrieved 8 August 2021.
- ^ ROMAC. "ROMAC". Retrieved 8 August 2021.
- ^ ROMAC. "Our Patrons and Ambassadors". Retrieved 8 August 2021.