The project began through a long-standing friendship between Rotarian Pip Asphar and his school friend, orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Tim Keenan. Tim had been assisting doctors in a number of overseas countries including the Kossamak hospital in Phnom Penh. Pip and Tim were having a coffee together discussing their interests. Tim shared his frustrations at seeing the Doctors in Cambodia having to work in very basic conditions with patients lying on mats on the floor.The Doctors were using antiquated equipment. In contrast the advances in technology and surplus in Australia sees hospital equipment being superseded and eventually taken to the rubbish tip. Through friends in Rotary contact has been made with a range of hospital engineers and others in Perth who were more than happy to organise the donation of surplus equipment from their storerooms to the Rotary Club of Osborne Park, which organised and funded the shipment to Cambodia.
The logistics of the project have seen the Rotary members of Osborne Park working very closely together; using their networks, their fund-raising ability, their time and their physical strength. Their networks have identified a range of hospitals who have surplus equipment that they would like to donate. This has included the Osborne Park Hospital, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, the Mount, Peel Health Campus, Narrogin Hospital, St John of God Subiaco, Murdoch, Fremantle, SJoG Geraldton & Bunbury and many others. The ongoing collections have been made possible by Rotarians using their vehicles to collect and transport the equipment to their static container which was s located at the Ship Air premises in Welshpool. A club member, Peter Stewart, donated the static container and Brian Savage, (CEO of Ship Air) allowed us free storage space at his factory. When Brian retired, we transferred our static container to Goldstar Transport on Kewdale.
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When they had enough money from their fund-raising activities, such as sausage sizzles, movie nights, footy tipping, wine sales and all of the other ingenious ways that Rotarians raise funds – they would arrange to have container delivered to the factory in Osborne Park. The club would then have a “working bee” to load all of the equipment, at the same time arranging a comprehensive inventory of what equipment was in the container.
“Brian Savage would give us ‘mates rates’ and the container was shipped by Transitainer , again a ex neighbour of myself who only charge I us basic rates. The Doctors in Cambodia have organised a system with the Cambodian Army and others who collect the container from the docks, making sure that it is transported safely to the Kossamak hospital in Phnom Penh, without any further expenses. Since then we have been able through my network to secure a Budget 4tonne Van with a hydraulic Tail Gate from Budget Burswood FOC.
Another part of the Rotary wheel has seen the camaraderie and support extend to Doctors, Nurses and technicians from hospitals in Perth going to Cambodian during their annual leave to assist with calibrating the equipment, teaching the staff how to use it and transferring more knowledge and expertise. The range of equipment that they have sent has included hospital beds and mattress, C arms, X ray machines and other orthopaedic equipment, paediatric cribs, wheelchairs, heart monitoring equipment, defibrillators and infusion pumps, theatre beds and theatre lights, ultrasound transducers and so the list goes on. To date the Rotary Club of Osborne Park have sent thirty-eight containers worth of equipment to Cambodia and 1 to Mongolia. This hospital & medical equipment, if purchased new, would have cost an estimated $20 million dollars. This has cost the club in excess of $133,000, but what a great deal! We have been environmentally friendly, avoiding additional land fill in Australia and our efforts have benefited the Cambodian people with equipment they could never have bought.
Over the last nine (9) years the systems have improved. We have more referrals from other hospitals about equipment they would like to donate. The Cambodian organisers have now included about twelve regional hospitals in the equipment sharing process. The club has undertaken more ambitious fund-raising activities including the Team Challenge event, a multi distance, run/ bike ride or walk in the country parks between Northam and Swan View. Sadly, this has now been canned as MSS have gone onto other projects. We have been trying to facilitate a sponsorship system with larger companies who can help us with this aspect of the project.
To ensure that the equipment and supplies are utilized correctly our Club was able to obtain a grant of $25,000 to send Nurses and Hospital Technicians to Cambodia. They have no Technical College system so David Nash from SJoG Subi & another Technician have been going up in their holidays and teaching the hospital staff how to operate some of the equipment.
Kareen Dunlop and Samantha Jenaway (Nurses) have also gone up to teach the Nursing Staff and introduced a basic Infection Control system, which from a post-operative surgery point of view has more than halved the number of fatalities. We help the graduating nurses from ECU go to Cambodia and India for a 2-week visit. They also assist where they can. Applecross Rotary have paid for wash basins and taps to be installed in all the wards of the main public hospital.
On a holiday to Cambodia two of our Club members met up with Dr Tim Keenan in Phnom Penh and saw firsthand the results of the work that the club and its hard-working members have been doing. Likewise, my wife (a Nurse) and myself also visited Cambodia a few years back. “We were blown away by the gratitude and respect the Doctors and staff have for our efforts,” “The equipment is acknowledged as being a donation from Rotary and Perth Hospitals. The patients are receiving a higher quality and a standard of medical care as a result of our efforts.” The feedback is that the equipment, which has been sent to about twelve regional hospitals, as well as the main Government hospitals in Phnom Penh has been greatly appreciated. They have a system where the inventory that is sent is reviewed by the regional hospitals who then send a truck to the Kossamak hospital and the equipment is transferred directly to them to avoid double handling and storage. “As Rotarians we are helping a severely disadvantaged group of people to have a better quality of life” .
“There is still a lot to do”. “Ass you have seen there were people lying on the bare bed springs with only a rattan mat. Or half way up a stair well. The hospitals are very overcrowded. They are built by foreign governments and then presented bare. We help fit them out with hospital equipment and medical supplies.
Whatever we can do to share our good fortune is worthwhile and fulfils our Rotary motto of ‘Service above Self’.”
We are seeking assistance from other Rotary Clubs to help us pay for our next container. It normally costs $3500 per container. Your members would be welcome to help us pick up, or pack a container on a Saturday morning . It normally takes 2 hours 9-11am.
The logistics of the project have seen the Rotary members of Osborne Park working very closely together; using their networks, their fund-raising ability, their time and their physical strength. Their networks have identified a range of hospitals who have surplus equipment that they would like to donate. This has included the Osborne Park Hospital, Sir Charles Gairdiner Hospital, the Mount, Peel Health Campus, Narrogin Hospital, St John of God Subiaco, Murdoch, Fremantle, SJoG Geraldton & Bunbury and many others. The ongoing collections have been made possible by Rotarians using their vehicles to collect and transport the equipment to their static container which was s located at the Ship Air premises in Welshpool. A club member, Peter Stewart, donated the static container and Brian Savage, (CEO of Ship Air) allowed us free storage space at his factory. When Brian retired, we transferred our static container to Goldstar Transport on Kewdale.
In the early days they were able to send one container to Cambodia per year. As the equipment became available Rotarians would arrange to collect it and it would be stored in a member’s factory warehouse. When they had enough money from their fund-raising activities, such as sausage sizzles, movie nights, footy tipping, wine sales and all of the other ingenious ways that Rotarians raise funds – they would arrange to have container delivered to the factory in Osborne Park. The club would then have a “working bee” to load all of the equipment, at the same time arranging a comprehensive inventory of what equipment was in the container. “Brian Savage would give us ‘mates rates’ and the container was shipped by Transitainer , again a ex neighbour of myself who only charge I us basic rates. The Doctors in Cambodia have organised a system with the Cambodian Army and others who collect the container from the docks, making sure that it is transported safely to the Kossamak hospital in Phnom Penh, without any further expenses.
Since then we have been able through my network to secure a Budget 4tonne Van with a hydraulic Tail Gate from Budget Burswood FOC.
Another part of the Rotary wheel has seen the camaraderie and support extend to Doctors, Nurses and technicians from hospitals in Perth going to Cambodian during their annual leave to assist with calibrating the equipment, teaching the staff how to use it and transferring more knowledge and expertise. The range of equipment that they have sent has included hospital beds and mattress, C arms, X ray machines and other orthopaedic equipment, paediatric cribs, wheelchairs, heart monitoring equipment, defibrillators and infusion pumps, theatre beds and theatre lights, ultrasound transducers and so the list goes on. To date the Rotary Club of Osborne Park have sent thirty-eight containers worth of equipment to Cambodia and 1 to Mongolia. This hospital & medical equipment, if purchased new, would have cost an estimated $20 million dollars. This has cost the club in excess of $133,000, but what a great deal! We have been environmentally friendly, avoiding additional land fill in Australia and our efforts have benefited the Cambodian people with equipment they could never have bought.
Over the last 9 years the systems have improved. We have more referrals from other hospitals about equipment they would like to donate. The Cambodian organisers have now included about twelve regional hospitals in the equipment sharing process. The club has undertaken more ambitious fund-raising activities including the Team Challenge event, a multi distance, run/ bike ride or walk in the country parks between Northam and Swan View. Sadly, this has now been canned as MSS have gone onto other projects. We have been trying to facilitate a sponsorship system with larger companies who can help us with this aspect of the project.
To ensure that the equipment and supplies are utilized correctly our Club was able to obtain a grant of $25,000 to send Nurses and Hospital Technicians to Cambodia. They have no Technical College system so David Nash from SJoG Subi & another Technician have been going up in their holidays and teaching the hospital staff how to operate some of the equipment.
Kareen Dunlop and Samantha Jenaway (Nurses) have also gone up to teach the Nursing Staff and introduced a basic Infection Control system, which from a post-operative surgery point of view has more than halved the number of fatalities. We help the graduating nurses from ECU go to Cambodia and India for a 2-week visit. They also assist where they can. Applecross Rotary have paid for wash basins and taps to be installed in all the wards of the main public hospital.
On a holiday to Cambodia two of our Club members met up with Dr Tim Keenan in Phnom Penh and saw firsthand the results of the work that the club and its hard-working members have been doing. Likewise, my wife (a Nurse) and myself also visited Cambodia a few years back. “We were blown away by the gratitude and respect the Doctors and staff have for our efforts,” “The equipment is acknowledged as being a donation from Rotary and Perth Hospitals. The patients are receiving a higher quality and a standard of medical care as a result of our efforts.” The feedback is that the equipment, which has been sent to about twelve regional hospitals, as well as the main Government hospitals in Phnom Penh has been greatly appreciated. They have a system where the inventory that is sent is reviewed by the regional hospitals who then send a truck to the Kossamak hospital and the equipment is transferred directly to them to avoid double handling and storage. “As Rotarians we are helping a severely disadvantaged group of people to have a better quality of life” .
“There is still a lot to do”. “Ass you have seen there were people lying on the bare bed springs with only a rattan mat. Or half way up a stair well. The hospitals are very overcrowded.
The Hospitals are built by foreign governments and then presented bare. We help fit them out with hospital equipment and medical supplies.
Whatever we can do to share our good fortune is worthwhile and fulfils our Rotary motto of ‘Service above Self’.”
We are seeking assistance from other Rotary Clubs to help us pay for our next container. It normally costs $3500 per container. Your members would be welcome to help us pick up, or pack a container on a Saturday morning . It normally takes 2 hours 9-11am.
For Pip's Power Point presentation Click here
For more information or if you can assist the Rotary Club of Osborne Park in any way please contact then on http://rotaryosbornepark.org.au/.